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
If you have repeated the lies, then I guess you have lied by proxy, but I read Howlin's posts and she didn't say that YOU lied. Reread her post and then read all of your own.
I guess now we know what pushed pat buchanan the rest of the way over on this issue.
You are the one who is feigning victimhood. You falsely accused me of threatening you. When did I threaten you?
"Put up or shut up is usually considered a threat, pal.
She falsely accused me of threatening her, and she's refusing to say when I threatened her. She's playing "victim" again.
Yep, how dare the UAE do business with ISRAEL! LOL
ROFL - You have got to be kidding! Nobody's that stupid.
By calling in the MOD; for NO reason whatsoever!
Apparently you are.
Lou Dobbs: "The UAE stonewalled U.S. efforts to track al Qaeda bank accounts after 9/11. In addition, the Emirates does not recognize Israel as a sovereign state. And the UAE was a transfer point for shipments of nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya."
Can you refute any of this information that Mr. Dobbs has reported on national TV?
I called in the mod for a good reason. Personal attacks are a violation of the rules, even if it's Howlin doing the attacking. If I called her "Butch" I'd be suspended. What makes Howlin exempt?
You came on this thread and accused Howlin of saying that YOU lied.
BTW, have you lied? Have YOU repeated the LIES told about the UAE deal? Is that why you are so angry?
Two sentences with no sourcing? That's like the lie that DPW is going to control U.S. ports...as reportedon national TV 7/24 for over a week now.
Show me where I said YOU lied.
Put up, or shut up.
Or what, Butch?
and since then, you've been trying to make this about me, not you.
Anybody with a brain can see you came on this thread loaded for me.
Now you're whining?
I never said YOU LIED, so the rest of your posts are FOS, but you knew that, didn't you?
You're babbling now.
Can YOU refute that the UAE does business with Israel?
Can YOU refute the fact that Gen. Franks and Ollie North have both stated that the UAE has been of immense help with our WOT?
So you can't refute it either, right?
LOL! What to refute...an unsourced quote.
Get over yourself, Howlin. You lied. Somewhere you got the idea that it's okay for you to attack people and lie about them. I pity you.
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