Posted on 02/22/2006 3:54:45 AM PST by LouAvul
WASHINGTON - Lawmakers determined to capsize the pending sale of shipping operations at six major U.S. seaports to a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates said President Bush's surprise veto threat won't deter them.
Bush on Tuesday brushed aside objections by leaders in the Senate and House that the $6.8 billion sale could raise risks of terrorism at American ports. In a forceful defense of his administration's earlier approval of the deal, he pledged to veto any bill Congress might approve to block the agreement.
The sale's harshest critics were not appeased.
"I will fight harder than ever for this legislation, and if it is vetoed I will fight as hard as I can to override it," said Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y., chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. King and Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record) of New York said they will introduce emergency legislation to suspend the ports deal.
Another Democrat, Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, urged his colleagues to force Bush to wield his veto, which Bush — in his sixth year in office — has never done. "We should really test the resolve of the president on this one because what we're really doing is securing the safety of our people."
The White House and supporters planned a renewed campaign this week to reassure the public the sale was safe. Senior officials were expected to explain at a press conference Wednesday what persuaded them to approve the deal, the first-ever sale involving U.S. port operations to a foreign, state-owned company.
The sale — set to be completed in early March — would put Dubai Ports in charge of major shipping operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia. "If there was any chance that this transaction would jeopardize the security of the United States, it would not go forward," Bush said.
Defending his decision, Bush responded to a chorus of objections this week in Congress over potential security concerns in the sale of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co.
Bush's veto threat sought to quiet a political storm that has united Republican governors and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee with liberal Democrats, including New York Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Schumer.
To assuage concerns, the administration disclosed some assurances it negotiated with Dubai Ports. It required mandatory participation in U.S. security programs to stop smuggling and detect illegal shipments of nuclear materials; roughly 33 other port companies participate in these voluntarily. The Coast Guard also said it was nearly finished inspecting Dubai Ports' facilities in the United States.
A senior Homeland Security official, Stewart Baker, said U.S. intelligence agencies were consulted "very early on to actually look at vulnerabilities and threats."
Frist said Tuesday, before Bush's comments, that he would introduce legislation to put the sale on hold if the White House did not delay the takeover. He said the deal raised "serious questions regarding the safety and security of our homeland.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., asked the president for a moratorium on the sale until it could be studied further. "We must not allow the possibility of compromising our national security due to lack of review or oversight by the federal government," Hastert said.
Maryland's Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich, during a tour of Baltimore's port, called the deal an "overly secretive process at the federal level."
Bush took the rare step of calling reporters to his conference room on Air Force One after returning from a speech in Colorado. He also stopped to talk before television cameras after he returned to the White House.
"I can understand why some in Congress have raised questions about whether or not our country will be less secure as a result of this transaction," the president said. "But they need to know that our government has looked at this issue and looked at it carefully."
A senior executive from Dubai Ports World pledged the company would agree to whatever security precautions the U.S. government demanded to salvage the deal. Chief operating officer Edward "Ted" H. Bilkey promised Dubai Ports "will fully cooperate in putting into place whatever is necessary to protect the terminals."
Bilkey traveled to Washington in an effort to defuse the growing controversy.
Bush said protesting lawmakers should understand that if "they pass a law, I'll deal with it with a veto."
Lawmakers from both parties have noted that some of the Sept. 11 hijackers used the United Arab Emirates as an operational and financial base. In addition, critics contend the UAE was an important transfer point for shipments of smuggled nuclear components sent to Iran, North Korea and Libya by a Pakistani scientist.
Sen. Susan Collins (news, bio, voting record), R-Maine, and Rep. Jane Harman (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., said they would introduce a "joint resolution of disapproval" when they returned to Washington next week. Collins heads the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Harman is the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
Bush's veto threat didn't stop local efforts to block the deal. New Jersey's governor, Jon S. Corzine, said the state will file lawsuits in federal and state courts opposing the agreement. Corzine, a Democrat, cited a "deep, deep feeling that this is the wrong direction for our nation to take."
Mcain supports the prez on this one while just about everyone else doesn't...uhhhhhh...This should backfire on all the hypocrites/dems/libs/repubs...Flat out racist looking to all the world to see...Pretty embarissing..Folks need to read between the lines...
He's going to use his first veto on *this*? Is he a ringer? Seriously, is he a Democratic plant, meant to make our party look ridiculous?
It was not a back room deal. It was vetted, in the Press as early as October of last year, and NO other companies wanted to do it. Just keep watching this thing a few more days. Many will regret words that will not so easily be forgotten. I am not speaking of you, however.
LLS
Of course it will. He and his BigBiz cronies stand to benefit.
The Bush Administration is merely the Clinton Administration with cleaner rugs.
You heard wrong. DP World is state-owned by the royal family of Dubai. The chairman is Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem who directly represents the crown prince Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.
I understand the arguments that the ragheads won't control security.
Not entirely true. They won't control security per se, but they will have knowledge of the security set-up. Arabs unloading cargo at these vital ports??? PU-LEEZE....
No, it wouldn't. A look at the map would find that our military facilities in the Persian Gulf are not in the United Arab Emirates and a study of geopolitical realities would confirm that the UAE is of token consequence to any military operations we might conduct in the Persian Gulf.
And what on earth are you babbling about here? I haven't told you to distrust anyone and if I had any advice to give you it would be for you to educate yourself before the next time you feel the impulse to sound ignorant.
Sorry - there is nothing I have seen or heard that has ever led me to believe that Miss Harriet's nomination was part of a master plan.
Too many variables to calculate this as part of a master plan from the git-go.
A brilliant rescue of a blunder seems more realistic.
Hey - any other Freepers out there who thought the whole Miers thing was calculated from the very beginning to turn out this way in its entirety?
Exactly. Even if the UAE company personell are squeaky clean today, it could easily be infiltrated by Jihadists ONCE the see that the UAE has access to American ports.
The UAE doesn't even recogonize Israel. What have they done exactly to earn my trust?
I'm just waiting for the Bushbots to tell me how wonderful the deal is or how its some grand Machevillian scheme.
That's what Rush has been saying and that's what I was thinking --until this morning. Today I see an open debate on the freerepublic with the thinking people either saying they don't know (yet) or saying the deal is good. I'd have expected the issue to be taken over by the nuke-Mecca crowd, but evidently they're becoming a dieing breed.
This is reason for hope.
Of course it does. What is the Arab world to think when a country that is working with the US in the war on terror is forced out of a contract simply because it is an Arab country?
The American public has been stampeded into a position by opportunistic Democrats who are using this purely for political purposes, and cowardly Republicans who are afraid the Democrats are getting to their right on national security.
Bush, meanwhile, tries to keep the lines of communication open with Arab countries that want to work with us.
Not knowing how this port deal actually works, the public is stuck on stupid.
Well, except that the Strait of Hormuz is controlled by Oman, opposite Iran.
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