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.
"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."
who is on this committee, who approved this?
Uh the people who first approved this were the P&O shareholders. Are you saying that CCFAIS should get in the way of how shareholders vote on their business?
when the assets are strategic in nature, yes.
Well gee, some Brits(the previous owners of the port facilities) aren't all pure either, such as george galloway, saddam's best buddy in the UK.
Apparently, Bush wants a Democratic Congress. As far as I'm concerned, Bush has lost a lot of trust on this. Bush has hurt the party BIG TIME. I am starting to think that Bush and the Clintons are in bed together.
I am starting to believe that the Bush administration did this to help the unelectable Hillary Clinton get elected. George W. Bush is no Ronald Reagan.
The Bushes are a helluva disappointment-- there motives and their allegiance to conservatism are very, very dubious.
its premature to say that. remember, this was approved by some committee at Treasury, not by the white house. its only this week that it has reached the political circles and is making its way up the ladder.
Let's see if the right thing will be done here, and this deal will be killed.
Well, why the Hell didn' the Bush administration recognize the national security and political ramifications of it and scuttle it before the Clintons seized the issue?
Good F*ching question, eh?
A lot of trust has gone down the sewer pipe on this one.
Just said Hillary Clinton has introduced legislation to block it.
Locally not much interest, don't want to name the station.
Go Dems!!!!!!!!!
/cough
/gag
/BARF
Why would they give Hillary and the Democrats this coup that can only improve their national security numbers. Why does he seem to actively be pursuing a course that can only cost him the congress and his historical legacy?
He WILL be investigated to death (maybe even impeached) if the Rats take back the Congress.
Why does he want this fate? Whose minding the effing store?
I am effing stunned by the bad governance and bad politics.....
he didn't, not deliberately. but I grant you, being slow to react to a story like this is a problem. its always the same problem for this administration, the slowness to react - not getting out there on a story as soon as it breaks, hurts them time after time.
once Peter King picked up the phone this wendesday and told the white house to wake up on this, the white house should have announced this deal was going to be killed the next morning.
I'm not following you.
Is it more clear now?
SERIOUSLY.
THE POLITICAL AND COMMUNICATIONS SHOP OVER THERE SUCKS.
IT AIN'T INCOMPETENCE, IT'S SOMETHING DARKER. The Bush & Clinton dance is nasty and worrisome.
Normally he doesn't mention freepers.
1/2 hour left on the show means you are not talking about WABC, because Levin is 6:00-8:00. Savage it 6:00-9:00 (And he's a moron). Is there some conservative program that ends at 7:00 ET that I am not aware of?
This is our local afternoon show, not a national syndicated one. I don't want to give the station to protect my privacy/location, as if it does a whole lot of good. Otherwise, I would.
If I was a conservative host, I would not mention FReepers either. FR is a conservative website in theory only. In reality, this place is badly infested with libertarians.
It runs from 3:00 to 6:00 CST.
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