SQUAWK! NOTHING TO SEE HERE! SQUAWK! MOVE ON! SQUAWK!
Have another glass...
Posted on 02/17/2006 7:51:42 AM PST by presidio9
Two U.S. Democratic senators said on Friday they would introduce legislation aimed at blocking Dubai Ports World from buying a company that operates several U.S. shipping ports because of security concerns.
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Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Hillary Clinton of New York said they would offer a measure to ban companies owned or controlled by foreign governments from acquiring U.S. port operations.
"We wouldn't turn the border patrol or the customs service over to a foreign government, and we can't afford to turn our ports over to one either," Menendez said in a statement.
P&O, the company Dubai Ports World plans to buy for $6.8 billion, is already foreign-owned but the concern is that the purchaser is backed by the United Arab Emirates government.
The UAE company would gain control over the management of major U.S. ports in New York and New Jersey, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Miami, sparking national security concerns.
"I will be working with Senator Menendez to introduce legislation that will prohibit the sale of ports to foreign governments," Clinton said in a statement.
Officials with the United Arab Emirates Embassy in Washington could not be immediately reached for comment.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a U.S. inter-agency panel that reviews security implications of foreign takeovers of strategic assets, has already reviewed the transaction and did not object.
Despite that review, some Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress urged the Bush administration to conduct a more rigorous review. They expressed fears that the UAE was used as a conduit for parts used for nuclear proliferation and that the local banking system had been abused by financiers with possible links to terrorist organizations.
U.S. officials have said the UAE has been a solid and cooperative partner in the fight against terrorism, and have praised the UAE for steps to protect its booming financial sector against abuse by terrorism financiers.
Money for the September 11 attacks was wired through the UAE's banking system, according to U.S. officials. Two of the September 11 hijackers were UAE citizens.
U.S. seaports handle 2 billion tons of freight each year but only about 5 percent of containers entering the United States are examined on arrival.
Similar concerns were raised when a China state-controlled oil company tried to acquire the U.S. oil company Unocal. After pressure from American lawmakers, the foreign company eventually dropped out of the bidding.
Peter King is the point man on taking this down.
DP World said it won approval from a secretive U.S. government panel that considers security risks of foreign companies buying or investing in American industry.
Critics of the proposed purchase said a port operator complicit in smuggling or terrorism could manipulate manifests and other records to frustrate Homeland Security's already limited scrutiny of shipping containers and slip contraband past U.S. Customs inspectors.
"When you have a foreign government involved, you are injecting foreign national interests," Kreitzer said. "A country that may be a friend of ours today may not be on the same side tomorrow. You don't know in advance what the politics of that country will be in the future."
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the FBI has said the money for the strikes was transferred to the hijackers primarily through the UAE's banking system, and much of the operational planning for the attacks took place inside the UAE.
Many of the hijackers traveled to the U.S. through the UAE. Also, the hijacker who steered United Airlines flight into the World Trade Center's south tower, Marwan al-Shehhi, was born in the UAE.
After the attacks, U.S. Treasury Department officials complained about a lack of cooperation by the UAE and other Arab countries trying to track Osama bin Laden's bank accounts.
-PJ
I hate this too. But, I already blasted W over it in an email. And if the Dems can get this through, so be it. It actually is a good bill.
DITTO.
I'm not 100% sure I followed all you said. Can you reiterate that?
Thank you both. With so many scandals and outrages filed under "Clinton," it's hard to keep them all sorted out.
Pinz
I'd love for someone to explain to my why Congress was so incensed about the Chinese trying to buy an American oil company (during a time of high gas prices), but they almost let a Middle-East country trying to control our ports (while complaining about lack of cargo container inspections) go under the radar for so long.
Of course no one talks about the Castro-wannabe nut job that runs the company that owns Citgo Petroleum
FGS.
What is the matter with you?
Open borders and now you think it's okay for an ARAB company to operate our ports?
I heard that Schuckie Chumer is on board as well.
Boy...Hillary stuck that finger in the air....saw the wind was blowing against this from ALL SIDES..
and really stuck her neck out, didn't she???
Again, this is neither a dem bill nor a republican bill. There is no bill. It just so happens that the AP quoted Hillary Clinton talking about it, so that she gets a future sound bite/bullet point. She hasn't actually proposed anything yet.
SQUAWK! NOTHING TO SEE HERE! SQUAWK! MOVE ON! SQUAWK!
Have another glass...
While they're at it, I think it's about time they ban the sale of any U.S. soil to foreign companies, foreign countries, or foreigners.
And hot damn, were Freepers up in arms about it.
LOL, i never get sick of that little graphic :)
"Pete King said yesterday that no American company had bid on this and that bidding was secret and only lasted 20 days."
wow....
My heroes..the Democrats huh?? zzzzz..This was such a no brainer for the Republicans...Asleep at the wheel. Maybe it is time for some major sweeping out the our closet.
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