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Security was the topmost issue and Dubai offered support over and above our requests.

Right. Another remarkable instance of your inside information, despite the confidentiality of the agreement between DP World and the administration.

And perhaps you'd care to explain what is so "over and above" about this:

"Under a secretive agreement with the administration, a company in the United Arab Emirates promised to cooperate with U.S. investigations as a condition of its takeover of operations at six major American ports . . .
The U.S. government chose not to impose other, routine restrictions.
Under the deal, the government asked Dubai Ports to operate American seaports with existing U.S. managers "to the extent possible." The company promised to take "all reasonable steps" to assist the Homeland Security Department.
The administration required Dubai Ports to designate an executive to handle requests from the U.S. government, but it did not specify this person's citizenship.
It said Dubai Ports must retain paperwork "in the normal course of business" but did not specify a time period or require corporate records to be housed in the United States. Outside experts said stricter provisions are routine in other industries.
Foreign communications companies with American customers are commonly required to store business records in the United States. A senior U.S. official said the Bush administration considers shipping manifests less sensitive. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the confidential nature of the agreement."

That's a couple dozen notches "under and below" what should be even minimally required.

Good post w/ lots of good info. This whole deal just smells...and I have a sneaking suspicion DEAL is the operative word.

I trust what comes out of the White House and Congress just about as much as I could pick up a snake, and I can tell ya, that just couldn't happen.

For starters,I'm all for delegating etc. but I sure do think action as important as leasing the running of our major ports to ANY foreign country(I was totally against China getting a foot in the door on the West Coast port), let alone one from the Mid East, should have been brought to the Pres. attention before it was a done deal.Makes you wonder if anyone is minding the store.

Before anyone starts jumping on me for picking on Pres. Bush, let me say I voted for him twice and admired him getting tough on terrorists......BUT, I'll be darned if I can understand what the sense is in declaring a war on terrorism and letting the border situation get worse by the year. He's been in office 5 yrs., common sense should have told him,after 9/11, closing down the borders and regaining control of who is coming into our country should have been one of the FIRST THINGS ordered.The only reason you're seeing anything done about it now is because of the demands of the people, who are sick and tired of being overrun by illegals and then footing the bill, BIG TIME. The corporations lapping up the cheap labor and getting rich off it should have had their feet held to the fire, but you don't see that happening either, do you? Congress is no better, all most of them are worried about is not to ruffle corporate feathers, else their contributions just might fall off and heaven forbid, they might lose a election.