Posted on 03/01/2006 1:20:56 PM PST by STARWISE
The Dubai Ports World deal can’t work.
Dubai Ports World, the subsidiary of the United Arab Emirates, has now asked for a 45-day review from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to investigate security concerns over the control of six U.S. ports. This is to the good, calming calls for congressional action as well as subsequent threats of a presidential veto. Many lobbyists have been hired, charges alleged, fact-sheets disseminated, and polls put in the field. Still, questions remain to be asked, questions that none of the above D.C. responses have addressed.
(snip)
But better than asking questions, a back-channel message should be sent to the UAE to withdraw this deal, much as China withdrew its UNOCAL bid last year. This deal will not stand public deliberation; it confuses things.
(snip)
Never has the president been further from the base on these issues than now. But, by having the UAE withdraw its offer, the issue will be taken off the table — it can be corrected and ended; otherwise it will live and bleed for at least another 45 days.
(snip)
No matter how many assurances we are given that our government will remain in charge of this security, the cargo will be managed and coordinated by a foreign-owned company whose country has anything but a strong record in preventing terrorism. In short, when all the smoke is cleared, the UAE is not a country of tried and true reliability like, say, Great Britain. There is a difference between Great Britain and the UAE, many differences in fact, and we should not be instructed otherwise.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
"...it can be corrected and ended; otherwise it will live and bleed for at least another 45 days."
This is the unescapable truth. The damage this is causing to the party is real and long lasting.
OOOOhhh....did I miss a VDH column about this???
I heard Rush read the one about Iraq the other day...but, I didn't know if he gave an opinion about this subject yet.
exactly what is a lie, johnnie? the fact that they support terrorism in israel??
no matter how many times i have presented the facts regarding UAE funding HAMAS-- who has killed jews AND AMERICANS ABROAD, you still continue on with your mantra. facts are facts, and i have plenty on my freeper homepage.
as i said before- people like yourself like to point out that saddam funded suicide bombers in israel as evidence that he was a threat. but when the UAE does it, you dismiss it and call it a lie.
Sorry but the Port Deal Supporters are right. A lot of the Critics are nothing more then Bigots with an irrational fear of Muslims. Like Most White Trash they cannot conceive that the world is much more complex then their "Us Good Guy-Them Bad Guys" comic book reality. The Port Deal Argument really has demonstrated just what a bunch of ignorant Chicken Little bone heads far to many Americans have become. The sheer unwillingness to learn even FACT ONE after two weeks on this topic really is a sorry statement of what the Conservative Movement has no degenerated into. Take Joy Republicans. We are back to our roots, the Know Nothings ride again.
Sorry but the Port Deal Supporters are right. A lot of the Critics are nothing more then Bigots with an irrational fear of Muslims. Like Most White Trash they cannot conceive that the world is much more complex then their "Us Good Guy-Them Bad Guys" comic book reality. The Port Deal Argument really has demonstrated just what a bunch of ignorant Chicken Little bone heads far to many Americans have become. The sheer unwillingness to learn even FACT ONE after two weeks on this topic really is a sorry statement of what the Conservative Movement has no degenerated into. Take Joy Republicans. We are back to our roots, the Know Nothings ride again.
"A lot of the Critics are nothing more then Bigots with an irrational fear of Muslims. Like Most White Trash they cannot conceive that the world is much more complex then their "Us Good Guy-Them Bad Guys" comic book reality."
Ripped straight out of the DUmp. And where's the psychobabble? You need more psychobabble.
Good post.
"how much did the Long Shoreman's Union pay the source of those Stories?"
You speak as if this ill-considered UAE ports deal would lead to the replacement of American workers employed by the various port authorities. And why would that be, when we've been repeatedly assured that DP World would have no such authority themselves?
"I recall you making plenty of anti-muslim comments, johnnie. like " statistically, they probably will. their birthrates are twice ours Which is why God gave the Cluster Bombs only to the Christians" and "You DO realize the Muslim world produces NOTHING but Oil?"
He was a white trash xenophobe, before he was against white trash xenophobes. (sarcasm)
"The message of the Bush doctrine has been blurred."
He told us the State of the Union address that we are addicted to oil and we are supporting terrorism when buying it. That sounded pretty clear.
LOL!!!
The level of fundamental ignorance on display here is inexcusable. There are NO security implications of this deal. Port Ownership and Security remain wholly in the hands of the US Local, State and Federal Agencies. The Company from UAE is buying the company that operates 9, out of 300, terminals in 6 ports. Despite the repeated Lies by the Long Shoreman's Unions bought and paid for talking heads, the Port Terminal Company has NO special access to US Security info.
Security and police groups do NOT share info on means and methods with anyone. The MORE people who know security info, the LESS secure it is. They go to great lengths to keep that info classified. People running the terminals have NO need to know that info. That info is NOT going to be shared with the hundreds of people who operate the 300 Terminals. People who make this statement are knowingly lying. This has been one of the really maddening thing. The people who go out and make statements that they KNOW are not true. This mindset "well I am lying but it is ok because I mean well" is childish.
It is hard to decide which is more appalling in this matter. The arrogant unwillingness to learn fact one about the Deal by the Deal Hysterics or their rabid, aggressiveness in pushing their factual ignorance on everyone around them
I strongly feel that the definition of "port" and the definition of "terminal" are being confused by a few posters here.
I trust Pres. Bush.
What? Are you saying it's OK for liberals to gamble but not conservatives? You've got to be kidding, right?
"There are NO security implications of this deal."
Tell that to the Coast Guard, CFIUS and DHS. I guess they were just putting on a dog and pony show.
"At the end of the day, we should not risk being perceived as forgiving or rewarding the people who played a role in the slaughter of 3,000 of our countrymen."
So why then do we support Germany? Everything people have accused the UAE of in regards to 9/11 has been done by Germany as well. Yet Lufansa flies airplanes into this country every day hundreds of times. The planes are not searched before or after arrival, neither are the crews. The air force does not meet planes prior to landing to check papers.
"There is a difference between Great Britain and the UAE, many differences in fact, and we should not be instructed otherwise."
here's a difference. Not one of the 9/11 hijackers grew up and became radical within the UAE. Not one! The only one who was born in the UAE became radical in Germany. Yet in britain 4 men grew up and became radical within the country and then blew themselves up in July.
"that a Zogby poll taken in October of 2005 found that over 70 percent of those in the UAE have an unfavorable opinion of the United States? Are such opinions the fuel that drove the UAE's policies toward al Qaeda prior to 9/11? That is not something that can be asked about Great Britain.'
Pure racism. 80% of people in the UAE are not truely citizens, which is a very good arguement against a full democratic government (imagine if people from Iran could just flood the country to vote), but rather are expats from other countries. And what policies did the UAE have towards Al-Qaeda? None, they helped our counterterrorism before 9/11, ask richard clarke. They wanted to play the Taliban off of Iran because they hate Iran. The UAE has more literate women then men, they have more female college students then male. Media is not officially censored but rather censors themselves. Despite freedom house in 1997 an article was printed that criticized the president. Was the author taken away and executed? No. Did the author get tortured? No. Was the author even arrested? No. Was the news company fined? no. Rather the only punishment was an admonishment of the company by the government, something that happens here all the time.
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