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The two strongest arguments from President Bush's backers on this issue tend to greatly contradict each other.

One argument is similar to yours; they claim that the P & O is one of the few companies in the world who are capable of such a big maritime operation, and that no U.S. companies exist which can move right in and do the job. This is their rationale for the immediate approval of the UAE's maritime company taking over the job at the 6 eastern ports.

The other argument is that this UAE maritime company will not be changing any operational procedures or switching management , security personnel, dock workers and the like. They claim everything will remain static, the only difference being that the new owners will now reap the profits.

Now, if the latter is true, then how can they claim that the UAE are one of the "few maritime companies in the world who can do the job", when all they're in fact doing is paying out 6.8 billion dollars for the contractual right to profit from this company?

People can see through this charade, and the more lame excuses that are tossed out there, the more of a rat people will smell.

Worth repeating. This Bush cult following is going to discredit the Republican Party - they will say or do anything in support of their false prophet in the WH.

This Bush cult following is going to discredit the Republican Party - they will say or do anything in support of their false prophet in the WH.

It's irrational and bizarre personal attacks like this that make reasonable people leave threads like this.

If you Bush haters would stick to facts, you might get some traction around here. But when you insist on dealing in the netherworld of insanity, you make yourself nothing but a laughingstock.

Get your act together, ARCADIA, and discuss the issues, and stop indulging in emotionally charged bile like this.

One argument is similar to yours; they claim that the P & O is one of the few companies in the world who are capable of such a big maritime operation, and that no U.S. companies exist which can move right in and do the job. This is their rationale for the immediate approval of the UAE's maritime company taking over the job at the 6 eastern ports.

The other argument is that this UAE maritime company will not be changing any operational procedures or switching management , security personnel, dock workers and the like. They claim everything will remain static, the only difference being that the new owners will now reap the profits.

Now, if the latter is true, then how can they claim that the UAE are one of the "few maritime companies in the world who can do the job", when all they're in fact doing is paying out 6.8 billion dollars for the contractual right to profit from this company?

Actually, I don't see how these contradict as you claim.. as in the case of most m&a's the value of the combined company is greater than the sum of its parts. Why would they pay 6.8 billion to keep 'business as usual'? Because 6.8 billion (US) (which, by the way, is for the entire P&O company, not just the container operations in the US) is a bargain considering it runs only about a 10% premium on P&Os share value at the time of the transaction.. In comparison, the merger that brought us Verizon gave MCI wireless shareholders over a 20% premium on their stock transaction. What DPI is doing here is taking a gamble on the future earnings of this company. There is no contradiction in the least.
The most management that will most likely shift hands will be the BOD. If one looks at the current operators of DPI, it isn't all UAE as is often misstated. Their current BOD actually only has only 2 UAE nationals.. the rest are Americans, Brits, Norwegians, and Indians:

http://www.dpiterminals.com/members.asp?MCatID=3&PageID=10&SubPageID=4&PSID=1

I would also argue that this wasn't a 'rush job' as implied.. the negotiations and regulations of the DPI purchase of P&O has been going on for months. The 30 days often cited is the review of the extension of the existing port contracts to the newly merged company. This comes on the heels of months of review by the UK into DPI & their operations, all info the State Department, Treasury, DHS, and other branches would have access to... the work was already done for them.. The US container facility aspect is a drop in the bucket in the entire transaction.