From history book of the 22 century:
Trojan Horse, delivered by the Ragheads to the gates of America around 2006 A.D.,
Posted on 02/20/2006 7:28:25 AM PST by standingfirm
WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is defending the Bush administration's review of an international shipping deal two days after one company in the Port of Miami sued to prevent an Arab-owned firm from taking over port operations.
Meanwhile, lawmakers also are considering legislation to stop foreign-owned companies from running U.S. ports.
Chertoff on Sunday said the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, had carefully reviewed the Dubai Ports World purchase of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which runs commercial operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.
"We make sure there are assurances in place, in general, sufficient to satisfy us that the deal is appropriate from a national security standpoint," Chertoff told ABC's "This Week."
That doesn't sit well with Miami firm Continental Stevedoring & Terminals Inc., a subsidiary of Ellery & Company Inc. Representatives from that company asked a judge to block the takeover of P&O,
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
"I believe the Saudi stake is around 5% of stock."
That 5% stopped a hostile takeover. If Fox displeases the Saudis, the Saudis sell, and Fox is once again facing a hostile takeover. That 5% is an awfully important 5%.
In politics preception is what matters and the preception of this deal looks really bad. Once again the President Bush appears to have a tin ear. Couple this with the total lack of illegal immigration law enforcement and you have the preception of soft on security.
You do know that the port container contracts were with a foreign concern already and that no American company bid on P&O's contracts.
What do you think you can do, twitch your nose and voila, a huge American port container company?
What stinks here is the hysteria and ignorance of "Conservatives" who should know better then to fall for a Democrat directed Press smear job.
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Sad to say, this hysteria started with Frank Gaffney's report of the sale going through. It took a week to get traction, since the media were fixated on VP Cheney and Mr. Whittington all last week. Now this item will fill the vacuum caused by Mr Whittington's discharge from the hospital. People like Schumer are opportunists. Not one of these "outraged" congresscritters appear to have known that these port operations were owned by a foreign company already.
I was very pleasantly surprised this morning to read an editorial by the Baltimore SUN urging calm and common sense.
Immediately attacking DPW because it is Arab is racist. I am sad that conservatives have such knee-jerk reactions without learning facts, or even asking questions.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bal-ed.port21feb21,0,3610258.story?coll=bal-opinion-headlines
From the editorial:
-----Potentially lost in this uproar is a clear understanding of what a stevedoring firm such as P&O does. For the record, its employees do not touch cargo. They aren't in charge of port security. They do not oversee shipping manifests. Stevedores are the middle managers who tell longshoremen when and where to load and unload cargo. That's pretty much it. In Baltimore, P&O employees are local people, most with extensive port experience, who help manage container operations at the Seagirt and, to a lesser extent, Dundalk marine terminals. -----
Sometimes it is really difficult to bring logic into an argument about "feelings."
Those monster cranes that unload nine million containers per year in American ports are what these companies manage. I wonder who paid for the massive cranes and the docks they stand on? I bet they were mostly done with private money, not taxpayer funded. We all reap the benefit of this world-wide transshipment of goods. The UAE is on our side - capitalist - not jihadist.
The President is a great and brave man but I worry about things like this...as you said perception is key and having an arab enterprise with an inside role in such a vital function should have triggered immediate concerns.
Furthermore it diminishes public confidence in the administration as the failed Supreme Court nomination did. It doesn't take a Machiavelli to know that your enemies will strive to bring you down...hence, one should not lightly hang a 'kick me' sign on your shirt locker loop.
btw, welcome to FR. You have certainly jumped into this fray from your Day One - even actually spamming threads. Quite enthusiastic even while limiting yourself to this one subject.
So, not only are we leaving the fort doors open as we are off dong battle, we are putting the enemies in charge of them...
LOL, Makes sense to me!/Sarcasm.
Yes, this has been quite an serious subject for me, especially since 1 1/2 weeks ago I was writing many officials concerning this and had not yet heard from one single leader objecting. That is what irritated me and got me wound up. So, I spent ALOT of time doing research and sharing it which has about burnt me out. So, you won't have to worry about my imput anymore. Spamming threads? Naa, just adding the links so you don't have to take my word for information.
By the way, the first leaders to object was on 2/16 when 4 republicans & 3 democrats sent a letter to Snow. Since then, it's been turning into popularity & partisan contest - which is a shame.
Thank you for the thoughtful and well stated reply.
Operator cooperation is integral to effective port security. The Canadian PIP program, the US Customs CIS program, the Container Seal Verification Regime, and the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC), are just a few of the security regimes that require operator initiative, cooperation, and reporting.
As a small example, TWIC, a uniform personal credential that will vet the identity and background of individuals with access to cargo and to secure areas of a marine cargo handling facility, is implemented by the operator pursuant to explicit operator duties under the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002. The operator duties under the 2002 Act include requirements that marine cargo handling facility operators submit facility security plans that designate "secure" areas of the facility for control of access by vessels, vehicles and individuals.
You also say "Not one of these "outraged" congresscritters appear to have known that these port operations were owned by a foreign company already."
Honestly. What hogwash. P&O is British company. DP World is a state owned company of the UAE. The difference is readily apparent. You are aware, are you not, that Dubai has a lengthy history of terrorist financing and transit, including significant direct connections with 9/11.
Finally, you say "Immediately attacking DPW because it is Arab is racist."
My goodness. How PC of you. Perhaps you are not aware of Dubai's terrorist connections, after all.
And your solution to the security lapses that led to this disaster is to turn over operation of critically vulnerable infrastructure to a state known to foster, finance, and supply Islamic terrorists?
What the heck are you talking about?
And as for your claim that the Dubai/UAE connection is somehow "irrelevant," here's just a small sample of the relevance:
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December 29, 2005:
"Retired Professor Emeritus in the mathematics department of Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, M C Puri, was killed and four serving scientists were injured when an unidentified gunman opened fire indiscriminately on a group of scientists as they were coming out of a conference hall in the prestigious Indian Institute of Science campus in Bangalore on Wednesday."
"The explosions were carried out by Dawood Ibrahim, then based in Dubai, with the help of some Mumbai-based Muslims, who were taken to Pakistan via Dubai and got trained and armed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence."
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"In April of this year, Treasury released a list of Saddam front companies its investigation has so far uncovered, including a major Oil-for-Food contractor in the UAE, Dubai-based Al Wasel & Babel. Along with trying to procure a sophisticated surface-to-air missile system for Saddam, Al Wasel & Babel did hundreds of millions' worth of business with Baghdad under Oil-for-Food, and was just one of some 75 contractors authorized by the U.N. to deal with Saddam out of the UAE."
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Just a little 9/11 connection?
"One of Moussaoui's associates and co-conspirator was Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, the key financier of the WTC attack. Al-Hawsawi first opened a bank account in a Standard Chartered Bank branch in Dubai, UAE with a cash deposit. On the same day, another of his friends, Fayez Rashid AH Alqadi Bamihammad too opened an account in the same bank. Less than a month later, Bamihammad gave a power of attorney to Hawsawi to operate his accounts. Hawsawi picked up Bamihammad's Visa and ATM cards from the Dubai branch and shipped them to Florida between July 18 and August 1, 2001. Bamihammad was one of the terrorists who flew the United Airlines flight 175 into the World Trade Center's south tower. . . . On September 11, 2001, al-Hawsawi flew from Dubai to Karachi to take shelter."
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U.A.E.: Central Bank Freezes 62 Accounts:
"In response to the U.S. Bulletin the central bank of the U.A.E. has frozen the banking accounts of 62 organizations and individuals suspected of connections with Al-Qa'ida. Among these are two prominent Muslim banking and money-changing organizations, the "Al-Taqwa" and "Al-Barakat." The following is a partial listing of these entities as an indication of the width and breadth of their activities and geographical expansion:
Al- Barakat Bank: Somalia, Dubai (U.A.E.)
Al-Barakat International (a.k.a. BARACO Co.): Dubai, U.A.E.
Barakat Wiring Service: Minneapolis, MN
Barakat International: Sweden
North America Barakat, Inc.: Toronto, Canada
Barakat Telecommunications (a.k.a. Btelco): Somalia, Holland
Barakat Enterprise: Columbus, OH
Barakat Wire Transfer: Seattle, WA
Taqwa Trade, Property and Industry Co: Vaduz, Liechtenstein
Bank Al-Taqwa Ltd.: Nassau, Bahamas
The United States has accused Bank Al-Barakat and Bank Al-Taqwa and their subsidiary financial institutions of operating unofficial money transfer known as "hawala" in the millions of dollars from their extensive network system to terrorist organizations and for keeping no records of their transactions."
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"Financial investigators tracking al Qaeda assets rely heavily on data and paper trails from commercial banks and financial regulators in pursuing and investigating leads. Such data have included the tracing of wire transfers between suspected hijacker Mohammed Atta and Shaykh Saiid of Dubai, believed to be one of Osama bin Laden's key financial operatives. Unfortunately, these efforts have achieved little success to date in reaching the core of the al Qaeda financial network."
"The problem is that much of the organization's funding mechanisms—like its cells—are small and inconspicuous, often using a traditional Muslim method of money exchange called Hawala."
"Although Pakistan, India, and the Persian Gulf states are home to the largest concentration of Hawala organizations, Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, perhaps handles the largest volume of transactions. The system has global reach. Investigators believe Hawala organizations exist throughout the United States and Europe."
And you conclude from this that it was therefore Americans who were the terrorists, and not Islamic radicals?
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sorry, we are having trouble communicating
I never wrote that Americans were terrorists, but that terrorists used American items and situations to work their terror.
To state that two of the Sep 11 nineteen being from Dubai is a valid reason to withhold a business contract from a multi-billion dollar corporation seems a weak reason to me.
Obviously, we are failing to communicate. This is not the only reason for objecting to DP World terminal operations. Read the news. Heck, read my last post.
And by the way, what you apparently perceive as mere trivialities are, in sum, rather significant to say the least:
-- DP World, a Dubai state owned company, will be acquiring ownership rights over existing North American terminal infrastructure and operations at approximately 31 container, general cargo, and passenger terminals in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami, New Orleans, and Vancouver, complete with extant leasehold, stevedoring, wharfage, and seaway rights;
-- DP World will also own half of Norfolk's CP&O Ports Virginia, the largest stevedoring service in Hampton Roads;
-- DP World itself has been quoted as stating that "We intend to maintain and, where appropriate, enhance current security arrangements," making the claim that DP World will have no responsibility for security a rather strange little piece of spin;
-- Indeed, operations cannot be segregated from security, and to pretend that the two can be segregated is pure fantasy;
-- The base technology related to terminal security was principally the product of ITO's efforts (the terminal operator that preceded P&O Ports), and this technology will pass with the sale to DP World;
-- Dubai and Dubai-based companies and banking institutions have an ignoble and disturbingly direct history of ties to 9/11 and terrorist funding and transit (oh yeah, and that little triviality about the 9/11 perpatrators from Dubai); and
-- Curiously, given the importance of the decision to national security, the CFIUS did not conduct a 45-day investigation on top of the initial 30-day review that it usually gives to foreign purchases of U.S. businesses.
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