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
ping
Really, as if I as an American am going to shup up and stand behind some Middle Eastern country with past terrorist ties.
http://michellemalkin.com/archives/004627.htm
Meanwhile, the WSJ reports today:
"Dubai is believed to have been one of the most important conduits for Iran's nuclear technology acquisition program, according to U.S. court cases and interviews with experts in the field."
"More generally, according to sanctions experts and numerous U.S. court and regulatory cases, Iran uses Dubai to evade U.S. economic sanctions on Iran and other Middle Eastern countries. The UAE doesn't recognize those sanctions."
Iranian front companies in Dubai routinely obtain prohibited U.S. goods, federal court records show. In one undercover investigation by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency that resulted in a November 2005 guilty plea in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the representative of an Iranian front company was caught on tape assuring an undercover agent posing as a businessman not to worry about sanctions regulations.
"You are going to export to Dubai, which does not have any regulations. It's a free, uh, country for importing, exporting," said Khalid Mahmood, according to his guilty plea. Asked if the equipment would then be shipped to Iran, Mr. Mahmood replied, "Once it comes here, we'll ship it anywhere in the world, no problem."
Similarly, in 2003, UAE officials refused a U.S. request to intercept a shipment of nuclear technology bound for South Africa by a smuggler named Asher Karni, according to University of Georgia sanctions expert Scott Jones, who works with U.S. agencies on proliferation issues. Mr. Karni was convicted of violating sanctions against weapons of mass destruction last year in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The UAE also was believed to be a nexus for Pakistan's nuclear program and hosted at least two front companies that forwarded material to Islamabad.
I can tell you why.
The Dubai/P&O sale issue is a trojan horse rolled into the heart of republican America. Inside the horse is the DNC and the likes of Kerry, Dean, and Kennedy. They mean to use the republican tendency towards xenophobia against us, forcing us into isolationism.
For Gods sakes, Slick Willie leased shipping ports to comapanies controlled by the Chinese Red Army, up and down the West coast of the USA in the 90's, and nobody so much as farted. Now we see all this caterwalling about security. The USA conrols the security at the shipping point of origin and at destination. Also remember that port is being taken by the general public as a whole harbor and port authority. This is not true.
The P&O facilities consist of ONLY dockage among many other shipping companies at each port, as well as cranes and warehousing.
The liberal wing nut press is speaking of "port" in its media as if sovereignty was being handed over. Such is NOT the case.
Let Dubyah do his job, and support his initiative instead of joining in with the caterwalling Dickocraps and their trojan horse.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/jihadmanual.html
The Al Qaeda Training Manual discovered in the UK describes seaport workers as making good recruits:
------ "TWELFTH LESSON: ESPIONAGE " ----
Information needed through covert means: Information needed to be gathered through covert means is of only two types:
First: Information about government personnel, officers, important personalities, and all matters related to those (residence,work place, times of leaving and returning, wives and children, places visited)
Second: Information about strategic buildings, important establishments, and military bases.
Examples are important ministries such as those of Defense and Internal Security, airports, seaports, land border points, embassies, and radio and TV stations.
Candidates for Recruitment Are:
1. Smugglers
2. Those seeking political asylum
3. Adventurers
4. Workers at coffee shops, restaurants, and hotels
5. People in need
6. Employees at borders, airports, and seaports
Would you like to try again? Perhaps construct a sentence that is actually comprehensible.
Take a deep breath and try again. Don't let your zeal to shill for the GOP/RNC Big Tent mess up your composition skills.
Such as they are.
Unbelievable and very disheartening to see people ignoring the obvious.
We won't be 'handing' the UAE the responsibility for Port Security.
But thanks for your input.
L
LOL! You can hyperventilate if you wish, it doesn't change the fact that claiming DPW will somehow manage, operate or run a U.S. port remains a lie.
Thse containers MUST be full of T-shirts with the same Muhammed logo on them!!!!
ROTFL!!!!!
We get to send our stuff right on over! Seal the Deal!
The title and body of the article are so riddled with falsehood as to be humorous...
I am sure the more and most informed on FR will stop buy to tell you that and suggest sources of information so you can become more fully informed...
Somehow I doubt you will avail yourself of their facts and suggestions...
They're struggling.
Come on now, they're our friends, as pure as the white driven snow.
LOL!! bad, very bad
Who is Cal Thomas? If he always this muddleheaded?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.