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
What's up with the argumentation, what is it you don't agree with? Get the deal over with and people will forget by next November. The way everyone is angry now if the GOP lets it go through they could lose the House, that's my opinion and I'm standing by it.
It won't be forgotten by our friends in the ME. If you think it will, you are seriously mistaken. Doors will begin to shut for us all over since we will have proven ourselves to be untrustworthy and....frankly....bigoted.
And you can't, for the life of you, even begin to imagine what throwing a monkey wrench into this deal, by us, would do, nor how it could possibly effect the WOT!
You also can't see what role POLITICS is playing with this? WHY NOT?
The deal is NOT going to be overturned. Period.
Welcome to that club! :-)
".....forest for the trees" comes to mind :)
Well it was Muslims who flew planes into our buildings and so I happen to think the concerns about the deal are legitimate.
You could be right, if I could predict the future I'd be richer than Bill Gates but my hunch is it's dead. We'll have to wait and see.
Our one and only true friend in the Middle East is Israel. The UAE does not even recognize the state of Israel, they do not recognize our greatest ally in the region and you think we are the bigoted ones for not wanting them to run operations at these ports? Surely you jest.
Stuck on stupid is what I have been saying.
Do you have a point, or are you just here to jerk people's chains as usual?
The point is people are LYING about what is going on in this deal.
Now, if you have to lie to win your arguments, how good is your principle?
That's putting it mildly :)
Show where I lied. Put up, or shut up.
We can't exactly "nuke" the area because of that little fall out thingy. Therefore, the best possible solution is to bring the ME into the 21st century. The only way to do that is through dialog. Best way to dialog is through business and exposure. Best place for business and exposure is in the US.
Show me where I said YOU lied.
Put up, or shut up.
Or what, Butch?
You know I could be wrong about this, but IIRC the same people that were for starving and dehydrating Terry to death are the same ones that are for this port deal on FR. Hmmmm...
You have that right. We will see, come 2008, what kind of grassroots campaign effort the GOP purists can inspire.
It doesn't take you long to start with the personal attacks, does it? I've watched you offend people left and right to get them to leave these threads. There is no need for you to call me names. You've already shown everyone how vile you can be.
Yes, and they're using the same tactics they used on the WPPFF threads.
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