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
Well, when you put it that way. How important could TWO BUILDINGS possibly be? Or have you forgotten?
How is that a lie?
Self-portrait?
No, that's Howard the maintenance man, come to clean up your mess again.
This mess is all your creation.
HOW DARE YOU TAKE THAT DAY, THOSE BUILDINGS AND THOSE PEOPLE, FOR YOUR VERY OWN?
And it was NOT just "TWO BUILDINGS"! Who care about the damned UGLY buildings? IT WAS WHAT THE PEOPLE SUFFERED AND THEIR FAMILY AND FRIENDS!
And guess WHAT? None of this is about what happened that day!
You came onto this thread, tongue blazing, saying that Holwin had called YOU a liar.
Guess what? YOU ARE A
Tell it to Howie, while he sweeps up your Fruit Loops.
BTW........do you post to clownposee? Is that your avatar over there?
Are you too drunk to realize it's Emmett Kelly?
It's Emmet Kelly, one of THE most renowned clowns who ever lived! He was absolutely BRILLIANT and astoundingly talented.
Some of us haven't forgotten the importance of those two buildings, another building, four planes, and thousands of people. Then there are those among us who let politics get in the way of their memories. Sad.
She's obviously far too uneducated to recognize one of THE major talents of the 20th century. Poor thing........
Nobody on this thread has forgotten 911, so what's your point?
It would be a little difficult to post a file named emmettkelly2.JPG without realizing it's Emmett Kelly. However, at the Florida Room Bar & Grille, this photo of him represents Howard the maintenance man, who cleans up the fruit loops spilled by drunk patrons.
You said that Howlin called you a liar.
She did not.
You have now hijacked this thread and turned it into your own pity party and insult forum.
STOP IT!
My point is that some people are putting politics ahead of what's really important.
I am for the port deal and I was against the barbaric treatment of Terri Schiavo. I was for Miss Harriet Miers also. Don't want to rock your world. I just hate to see my fellow Free Republicers stuck on stupid. It is time to shift gears and move the deal forward. Type these words: "I want the deal" and send it to you favorite representative.
So much for that theory, huh?
I don't air my personal life to strangers. It's none of your business who I know, and who I don't.
I have not made the WTC my own personal thing. It matters to me, and obviously doesn't matter to some others.
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