Posted on 02/25/2006 4:21:24 PM PST by SwordofTruth
On Sunday, the Australian government issued the following alert to its citizens: "We advise you to exercise a high degree of caution in the United Arab Emirates because of the high threat of terrorist attack. We continue to receive reports that terrorists are planning attacks against Western interests in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Commercial and public areas frequented by foreigners are possible terrorist targets."
The United States has approved a business deal that would turn over the operation of six major American ports to a company that is owned by the UAE, the very country Australians are to be wary of visiting. The obvious question: If it is dangerous for an Australian to travel to the UAE because of terrorism, isn’t it even more dangerous for a company owned by the UAE to own the rights to American ports where terror might be directly, or indirectly, imported?
There have been some dumb decisions since the United States was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001, including the "welcoming" of radical Muslim groups, mosques and schools that seek by their preaching and teaching to influence U.S. foreign policy and undermine the nation. But the decision to sell port operations in New York, Newark-Port Elizabeth, Baltimore, Miami, Philadelphia and New Orleans to a company owned by the UAE may be the dumbest of all.
Security experts repeatedly have said American ports are poorly protected. Each year, approximately 9 million cargo containers enter the United States through its ports. Repeated calls to improve port security have gone mostly unheeded.
In supporting the sale decision by a little-known interagency panel called the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the Bush administration dismissed security concerns. National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones said the sale of the ports for $6.8 billion to Dubai Ports World was "rigorously reviewed" by the committee, which, he said, considers security threats when foreign companies seek to buy or invest in American industry. Apparently, money talked louder than common sense.
In a rare display of bipartisanship, congressional Republicans and Democrats are forging an alliance to reverse the decision. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has announced plans for her Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs to hold hearings. Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Frank Lautenberg, DN.J., who are members of Collins’ committee, have raised concerns. New York’s Democratic senators, Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton have also objected to the sale. Clinton and Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., expect to offer a bill to ban companies owned or controlled by foreign governments from acquiring U.S. port operations.
In the House, Reps. Chris Shays, R-Conn.; Mark Foley, R-Fla.; and Vito Fossella, R-N.Y., are among those who want to know more about the sale. In a House speech, Foley said, "The potential threat to our country is not imagined; it is real."
The UAE was used as a financial and operational base by some of the 9/11 hijackers. A New York Times editorial said the sale takes the Bush administration’s "laxness to a new level."
Members of Congress may wish to consider that the UAE was an important transfer point for shipments of smuggled nuclear components bound for Iran, North Korea and Libya by a Pakistani scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan. The UAE was one of only three countries to recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan’s legitimate government before the U.S. invasion toppled it.
The Department of Homeland Security says it is legally impossible under Committee on Foreign Investment rules to reconsider approval of the sale without evidence the Dubai company gave false information or withheld details from U.S. officials. Congress should change that law.
Last year, Congress overwhelmingly recommended against the Bush administration granting permission to a Chinese company to purchase the U.S. oil services company UNOCAL. Six years ago, when a Chinese company took control of the Panama Canal from the United States, retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Thomas H. Moorer warned of a "nuclear Pearl Harbor."
Congress must stop this sale of American ports to foreign interests and, in an era of terrorism, prevent any more potential terrorist targets from falling into the hands of those who wish to destroy us.
Cal Thomas writes for Tribune Media Services.
cal@calthomas.com
"In a rare display of bipartisanship...."
Cal, really, you should have a better sense of irony than that! What's really happening is that selected Republicans have decided to jump the Bush ship (or get off the bandwagon), and the only ship they can jump onto is the one that the Democrats have launched with themselves as Captains and First Mates. Certain Republicans have just decided that it is time to bail out provisionally on this Iraq War they always supported---they think it's not going well, and they don't want to be associated with Bush, who is now perceived, rightly or not, as being at the helm of a sinking ship, with the Dubai World Port situation as the kicker---the Ports thing is being played to the hilt for political advantage in the hopes that even if the War starts to look more "hopeful", hey, "at least we've got the security issue with the Dubai thing going"/
Oh great, now you're slandering Tommy Franks and then claiming that you aren't? Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesh!
LOL -- you're GOOD, but even you can;t make a race horse out of a mule.
And they are. Each company, be it US or foreign keeps that info safe. The US Government also has rules that must be followed if that info is compromised.
Nothing is 100% secure, but precautions are in place. Always have been and always will be.
Thank you.
The quislings like it.
And they are hot on the hunt for nativists, xenophobes, and isolationists.
Your welcome.
Just as much??? or more? I think that is what people are concerned about. Does allowing the UAE (which I think we can all fairly assume is our partner in the WOT), access to all the data, of 10's of thousands of ships, their cargos and crews, make it easier for some low level person to pass on that data to a terrorist organization.
Yes it could happen with a british owned firm, but is it more likely and can you give us assurances based on facts that it won't happen.
I think that is the question here.
Yes, but speaking in the equine sense, some are very good at making asses of themselves.
Hellllllllllllllllllooooooooooooooooooo.............we are NOT selling our ports!
We are NOT having any other nation supply us with port security!
And though you LOVE the word "outsourcing" and it gives you goose-pimples, as well as a sexual glow, we are also NOT "outsourcing", when we lease port terminals to a company which isn't American owned and run.
I'm going to remember that phrase, "fabricated crisis based on a lie". Well put! BTW, thank you for being a voice of reason on this issue....I mean, "crisis". ;)
No more so then P&O having access to that data. Any company can be compromised. DPW does not want to be compromised anymore then a US or UK Company would. It's bad for business.
Exactly right. Other questions;
Are all containers being screened for radiation at the point of origin?
What are the chances that a dirty bomb can be put in a container after it leaves the point of origin?
The same as "precious bodily fluids".
One of these days, a UAE flagged container-boat is going to come to a UAE operated port, and a couple of weeks later, some UAE port guy is going to stroll over to one or more of the containers the boat carried and open them/it. Instantly a fully fueled F-16 that the U.S.A. sold to the UAE will zoom out and begin attacking all across the U.S.
I dare anybody to name one U.S.A. operated (not owned) port. Just one, anywhere in the world. When was the last time any port in the world was operated by the U.S.A?
Don't know? I'm alarmed that you don't know that.
ROTFLMAO! Hey Tex!
GO READ ALL THE THREADS ABOUT THIS, ON FR, AND EDUCATE YOURSELF!
What is c-tpat? Did I make that policy up?
You are very welcome and it is my pleasure. I no longer wear the uniform but I still take the concept of protection this country from all enemies, foreign and domestic, seriously. National security is too important an issue to allow it to be hijacked for crass political purposes.
Speaking just for myself, I would like to see every container that comes into this country screened, every crew member pass a security check, and every ship screened.
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