Posted on 02/22/2006 6:19:30 PM PST by iPod Shuffle
Arab Co., White House Had Secret Agreement
Feb 22 9:03 PM US/Eastern
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By TED BRIDIS
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON
1d08c5bfc6d0@news.ap.org The Bush administration secretly required a company in the United Arab Emirates to cooperate with future U.S. investigations before approving its takeover of operations at six American ports, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. It chose not to impose other, routine restrictions.
As part of the $6.8 billion purchase, state-owned Dubai Ports World agreed to reveal records on demand about "foreign operational direction" of its business at U.S. ports, the documents said. Those records broadly include details about the design, maintenance or operation of ports and equipment.
The administration did not require Dubai Ports to keep copies of business records on U.S. soil, where they would be subject to court orders. It also did not require the company to designate an American citizen to accommodate U.S. government requests. Outside legal experts said such obligations are routinely attached to U.S. approvals of foreign sales in other industries.
"They're not lax but they're not draconian," said James Lewis, a former U.S. official who worked on such agreements. If officials had predicted the firestorm of criticism over the deal, Lewis said, "they might have made them sound harder."
The conditions involving the sale of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. were detailed in U.S. documents marked "confidential." Such records are regularly guarded as trade secrets, and it is highly unusual for them to be made public.
The concessions _ described previously by the Homeland Security Department as unprecedented among maritime companies _ reflect the close relationship between the United States and the United Arab Emirates.
The revelations about the negotiated conditions came as the White House acknowledged President Bush was unaware of the pending sale until the deal had already been approved by his administration.
Bush on Tuesday brushed aside objections by leaders in the Senate and House. He pledged to veto any bill Congress might approve to block the agreement, but some lawmakers said they still were determined to capsize it.
Dubai Port's top American executive, chief operating officer Edward H. Bilkey, said the company will do whatever the Bush administration asks to enhance shipping security and ensure the sale goes through. Bilkey said Wednesday he will work in Washington to persuade skeptical lawmakers they should endorse the deal; Senate oversight hearings already are scheduled.
"We're disappointed," Bikley told the AP in an interview. "We're going to do our best to persuade them that they jumped the gun. The UAE is a very solid friend, as President Bush has said."
Under the deal, the government asked Dubai Ports to operate American seaports with existing U.S. managers "to the extent possible." It promised to take "all reasonable steps" to assist the Homeland Security Department, and it pledged to continue participating in security programs to stop smuggling and detect illegal shipments of nuclear materials.
The administration required Dubai Ports to designate an executive to handle requests from the U.S. government, but it did not specify this person's citizenship.
It said Dubai Ports must retain paperwork "in the normal course of business" but did not specify a time period or require corporate records to be housed in the United States. Outside experts familiar with such agreements said such provisions are routine in other cases.
I am listening to the Tony Snow show, and he said he even sent out a couple people to the ports to find out how they work....and what, if anything would change with this sale...
Tony is about the ONLY really calm person who is totally on board with this...and Tony does NOT hesitate to critsize Bush when he wants to..
OOPSY....Tony just admitted to Dan Bartlett that Griff had to "sneak" in to find out this information...yikes!
Besides my respect for a lot of Freepers?
LOL! That's great!
No, Howlin is their gadfly.
--"Better to rule forever in Hell, than serve one day in Heaven" seems to express the Dem ambition.--
Thus spoke Satan (Milton, "Paradise Lost")
Ergo, they really are the Demon-crats!
don't bother with that one
Oh, dear.......facts.
You will be purloined!
It's also bad when someone makes major bucks off the taxpayers who get suckered in to financing sports stadiums.
The P&O manages approximately 2,000 linear feet on the East bank.
You do realize that this completely destroys the "no American company can do it" argument.
"Their" who?
And don't call me a "gadfly" again till I look it up. :-)
"The Bush administration secretly required a company in the United Arab Emirates to cooperate with future U.S. investigations before approving its takeover of operations at six American ports, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press."
Bush made them secretly agree to comply with the law?
This whole freaking thing stinks of lies, deceit, corruption and treason.
"It promised to take "all reasonable steps" to assist the Homeland Security Department, and it pledged to continue participating in security programs to stop smuggling and detect illegal shipments of nuclear materials."
Oh, gee-whiz, how big of them.
There comes a point when the adults have to take charge...Tantrums about loss of respect or not.
I agree. I'm trying to be very objective about this, but something in my gut tells me this just ain't right and that we're gonna pay for it somehow, known or unknown. It's just a matter of time before there's another terrorist attack(s) that can be traced to stuff coming in through our DPW controlled ports. Then what?
I know that the going party-line is that UAE is our "ally" as it were. But how on earth would we be able to tell how much of relevant port information came from inside sources within this company. The UAE is almost all muslim and 80% are Sunnis. It is somewhat of a hodgepodge ethnically however.
I'm also still not clear, in spite of the host of lipservice on talk radio w/ Snow/Rush etc. as to exactly what DPW will be doing. It seems as if the party line is that all they'll do is finance the venture, but what needs to be financed and why can't some other company do this?
This whole thing about it being an insult to yank the deal from them is asinine. If they're gonna freak b/c we pull such a deal, then they weren't that great an ally to begin with, were they.
Somethin' about this just ain't right in spite of the backing by some of the conservative biggies.
Oh, don't start with me now.
And don't call me a "gadfly" again till I look it up. :-)
At DU, they think paradigm means 20 cents.
Name that American company.
The AP is full of BS.
Welcome to Free Republic.
"The headline makes it sound like President Bush is sneaking aroung making secret agreements..."
As we all know, Bush didn't wasn't even AWARE that we were giving our Ports over the an Islamic Kingdom.
Yeah I know. But this one is tabloid sensationalism at it's best, eh.
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