Posted on 02/21/2006 11:08:07 AM PST by Reaganwuzthebest
CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- Gov. Jeb Bush said he has faith in his brother's administration over its decision to allow an Arab-owned company to operate major U.S. ports, including in Miami.
Dubai Ports World, a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates, is expected to take over a British company that has been running six U.S. ports.
Several South Florida Congress members and politicians believe the deal should be closely examined.
U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said she has no specific concerns about the company, although the fact that UAE was where a number of the Sept. 11 hijackers were being harbored warrants further examination.
However, a former security director said there is little cause for concern.
"Being regulated by the federal government and by the state government puts a very high threshold of security standard for any operator at the Port of Miami," Nelson Oramas said.
Florida's governor, who attended a breakfast meeting at the Biltmore Hotel on Tuesday promoting the Central American Free Trade Agreement, said he thinks criticism by some Congress members is unwarranted because his brother, President George W. Bush, could press for more details by the time the sale is supposed to go through on March 2.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has said that the company went through a "very extensive" review process.
Nevertheless, the Republican governors of New York and Maryland said they might try to cancel lease arrangements at ports in their states.
Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Robert Menendez are planning to introduce legislation that would prevent the sale of port operations to foreign governments.
"Being regulated by the federal government and by the state government puts a very high threshold of security standard for any operator at the Port of Miami," Nelson Oramas said.
Well that clinches it, there's no reason to be concerned terrorists might infiltrate the ports.
Gov. Jeb Bush said he has faith....
That's ridiculous. GW is probably himself trying to figure out how to get out of this gracefully, and Jeb is pushing the knife in deeper.
Ha! Coffee right out the nose on that one.
NOTHING TO SEE HERE. ALL IS WELL.
Question: who runs/ owns all the other US ports?
Well...ummmmmm..that's sort of racist..isn't it?
All symbolism I suspect.........from those two.
As far as I understand it, no US company made a bid for this contract.
Is the port to be shut down?
About the time we think we've vanquished the MSM they prove they can frame the debate to the harm of the President..in the blink of an eye.
This deal was closely examined. That's what makes all this hysterical reaction so amusing (in a sad sort of way).
Rush Limbaugh said today that there are no American firms who do port operations anywhere in the world. That may be true, but that doesn't mean all our ports our under the control of foreign firms.
The Port of Houston Authority is a quasi-government agency that runs that busy port, for example.
par for the course:
U.S. Money Aids Worlds Worst Dictators
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1579234/posts
Sorry, Jeb. But as he has still done nothing about our open borders, particularly the one with Mexico, and there have been numerous "middle-eastern" looking men with ties to terrorism found along that border. I do not believe we should give over our ports to a nation that has close ties to terrorism.
Just to be clear...I'm not sure what you mean.
Are you saying that every single deal made in the US should be examined by the Government. If so, you're talking about a whole lot of growth in government and a huge raising of taxes.
"That's what makes all this hysterical reaction so amusing (in a sad sort of way)."
Agreed. Why leave to the experts when we have FR? ;)
Chi-coms I believe. (but that's ok since that happened mostly under Klintoon.)
To have this kind of thing happen to a sovereign country, without some form of debate, is wrong. It used to be that American companies ran things in other countries, now we allow others to control things that we should control ourselves. We have the Republicans to thank for this slide into a "One World Govt", which is at the heart of this story. You don't blame the children(Dims) for being ignorant and troublesome, you expect the adults(Republicans?) to control things that are important. There is nothing more important to Americans, than making sure our country remains strong, and independent from the corruption that is inherent in nearly every other political kingdom.
"Are you saying that every single deal made in the US should be examined by the Government?"
No, just every government deal. The quote made it seem like they hadn't been paying much attention before but this deal would be "closely examined". Well, I though it was their job to closely examine EVERY deal the U.S. government enters into.
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