Also to be read: "Homeland Transparency", by Kenneth R. Timmerman in today's frontpagemag.com/articles/readarticles.asp?ID=21943.
The Real Threat To American Security Is China Not Dubai
imo
1) Mr. Wang's arms trading company received special permission to import 100,000 assault weapons, along with millions of bullets, into the United States despite the assault weapons ban.2) On March 18, 1996, Federal agents surreptitiously seized a Poly shipment of 2,000 AK-47 assault rifles in Oakland, California. These weapons had left China on February 18 aboard a vessel belonging to another state-owned company, the Chinese Ocean Shipping Company (`COSCO'). On May, Federal agents hastily shut down the operation when they learned that the Chinese had been tipped to its existence. The stories indicate that the Department is currently investigating to determine the source of the leak.
3) Smuggling the weapons into the United States has not harmed the fortunes of COSCO.
A) In April 1996, with the support of the Clinton Administration, COSCO signed a lease with the City of Long Beach, California to rent a now defunct navy base in Long Beach, California.The Administration has made all of these concessions since the coffee with Mr. Wang. That COSCO participated in the shipment of illegal arms does not appear to have dampened the Administration's enthusiasm in any of these matters.B)...the Clinton Administration has allowed COSCO's ships access to our most sensitive ports with one day's notice rather than the usual four
C) [the Clinton administration] has given COSCO a $138,000,000 loan guarantee to build ships in Alabama.
This is a really stupid argument.
We should not have the Chinese OR UAE running our terminals.
Getting tired of this insanity. Thank God that foreign interest have purchased terminals. I doubt that security could be any tighter because I just can't picture a foreign terminal owner bombing his own business. What stupidity. And I'm sure that the foreign interest that are using their own ships would not want to deep six their own vessels or vessels of another registry that use their terminal who have other interest in the US ports and businesses.
And lets take this a little further, any business doing business with the US would be careful that their containers are inspected and sealed before taking to the terminal for shipping. If one of these containers blew up, we have the source. If by chance a weapon was transfered by a container, that poses another problem that no matter what we try with the exception of inspection of each container of its contents would involve hundreds of thousands of port security officers and an almost impossible task.