Posted on 03/08/2006 7:50:10 AM PST by SmithL
When the story broke that the Bush administration had approved a British-owned company's sale of U.S. port operations to one headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, all hell broke loose.
The company at hand, Dubai Ports World, is owned by the United Arab Emirates, so not only would we be handing over operations of our ports to yet another foreign company, but also to a foreign government. The fact that the deal was approved without the legally authorized 45-day investigation normally required when acquisition by a foreign government and security concerns are involved, certainly doesn't help. Then there was President Bush's claim that he knew nothing about the deal until after it had been approved, which wasn't terribly reassuring.
On top of it all, the original report that only six ports were affected by the deal turned out to be misleading. It is in fact 21 ports that are at stake, which would give the United Arab Emirates control over almost every major shipping terminal on the Eastern Seaboard. For some reason, much of the media continues to report the lower figure.
The firestorm over the ports deal has exposed a rift on the right and a political opportunity for the left.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
But, who directs operations?
How many times have we been attacked on our soil in the half century, or so, prior to that?
By FR's poll's results, today, it appears that 48.9 of us here take security so seriously, enough to makes us feel adamant about surrendering our security to ANY foreign power (even the English, yes). Pre 9/11 this would not have been a big deal, after 9/11, it is...a BIG deal. That many countries already own this or that?... well, let's change or else! We are dealing with politicians if you know what I mean.
Conclusion: I support the president on actions related to NSA (and on anything else that helps securing our country) and I do not support him of the "port" deal with Arabs or any other nationalities. Critical infrastructure in the US, should be in the hands of the U.S. When (not "if") something happens, like in Katrina, I want the luxury of blaming my government if nothing else. Is that too much to ask? :)
At least 2.
Explain what you think "direct operations" means, please....I gotta go exercise....be back later.
How about 7/11 stores - can those be owned by Arabs?
That would be about every 25 years between attacks then. It's only been 5 since 911 so what's the purpose in saying what did?
:) well, let me think? Are they "critical infrastructure"... No I don't think so. Arabs can have them. Same thing for gas stations.. :)
Just use the standard English language meaning for those two words.
A deal will be done to merge this arrangement with Halliburton or some US company and it will all fade away. The 45 day review will buttress this. Off the radar screen in 3 mos, max.
Tactics trump policy every single time, people. DeLay won his primary. The Democrat scenarios for winning the House all included him losing the primary and that seat having no incumbent.
Come 3 weeks into November the Democrats will be gutting each other at not having taken either house of Congress. This will hit their 2008 fundraising hard.
Funny you should bring up "gas stations" - what do you think the impact on America would be if 20 gas stations were blown up every day? To a lesser extent, what if every 7-11 stopped serving coffee one morning?
There is no AMERICAN company that current runs this many large terminals!!! What if making Halliburton or som other "approved" company take over actually makes it EASIER for a terrorist attack. Then whose fault will that be?
I suppose many doubt that a concern for the security of America is what is driving the political reality of the day since leaders refuse to defend our borders.
I rely largely in my common sense - which can be wrong from time to time - but all in all, it has served me well :)
Changed my mind, add the 7/11's to the list.. life w/o coffee? meaningless!... :) I need coffee to function at all. But seriously, what does common sense tells me? ah... I give the terrorist more credit than that. Whatever next hit we get from them, it has to be BIG, as big as they can manage, right? (we know what happens when they give their identity away)... 20, 40 gas stations in fire? Common-sense says, Naaaaahhhh :)
[snip]The Department of Homeland Security frequently proclaims it's doing everything possible to protect us and this country from a terrorist attack. It turns out, however, the truth is somewhat different.
The Department of Homeland Security itself is anything but secure. It turns out private guards at the department's headquarters in Washington now say they don't have enough training, nor equipment to provide security to headquarters.
At one point, guards emptied an envelope containing suspicious white powder into the air outside the building. The company that provides those guards, Wackenhut Services, is, by the way, owned by a firm based in Great Britain.
Feeling reassured now?
Still ahead here, charges of bribes, green card giveaways and fraud inside the U.S. immigration bureaucracy. Ready for a guest worker program? We'll have a preview of an explosive new report here next. And how the agency responsible for investigating foreign transactions has consistently violated U.S. law.
DOBBS: A shocking new government report is expected to charge the Bush administration with gross mismanagement of this country's immigration system. The report says the Bush administration's so- called temporary guest worker program has no chance of succeeding because of widespread fraud within our nation's immigration bureaucracy.
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT : The Bush administration's top homeland security official is again promoting the temporary worker program opponents say is a thinly-disguised illegal alien amnesty.
MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: If we don't do some kind of a temporary worker program, I think it's going to be impossible to address the challenge of what could be eight to 11 million illegal migrants who are currently in this country.
WIAN: That estimate is probably low, and even so, the agency that would be in charge of a guest worker program is already overwhelmed and plagued by fraud. What's more, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service is not expected to be up to the task for at least five years. Those are just some the findings of a Government Accountability Office draft report now in the hands of two congressional committees and the Department of Homeland Security.
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley recently gave colleagues a preview, saying, "You'd all be shocked if you learned about the internal fraud and abuse at CIS. Officials are being bribed. Visas are being given away. Green cards are being sold."
The year-long study found CIS denied 19,000 applications for citizenship or immigration benefits due to fraud last year. Many of the other 800,000 rejected applications were also likely frauds but denied for other easier to prove reasons. Fraudulent applications are rarely prosecuted.
ROSEMARY JENKS, NUMBERSUSA: If your application is denied based on fraud and you're not prosecuted, then there is nothing that bars you from continuing to apply again and again and again until you get what you're looking for. In the 1986 amnesty, we gave a green card to at least one of the terrorists who blew up the World Trade Center in 1993. And here we are, we're set to do it again.
WIAN: More than 5,000 applicants for immigration benefits are identified as potential national security threats each year. The Bush administration last month asked Congress for nearly a quarter of a billion dollars for the citizenship and immigration service this year to begin implementing its temporary worker program.
DOBBS: The anti-fraud effort, of course, the fraud on the part of those applying for visas and even citizenship in this country. But at the same time, Casey, you're reporting that the institution, the bureaucracy itself, has corruption within it, at least according to Senator Grassley.
WIAN: And Senator Grassley was very clear about that in a hearing on Thursday that received very little attention. The overwhelming fact from this report is that the Citizenship and Immigration Service has absolutely no idea how widespread the fraud is because so many of these applications are denied for other reasons.
DOBBS: None of this even goes to the issue of compatibility of computer systems and databases that are absolutely critical to following the flow of those entering this country.
WIAN: Actually, there is a mention of the computer systems, and that's -- they're five years away of getting computer systems up and running that would detect fraud across the different homeland security agencies.
Senator Chuck Grassley will be talking about his efforts to uncover fraud inside our immigration bureaucracy on Wednesday.
TUCKER: The latest poll by Quinnipiac University found that 88 percent of those asked think illegal immigration is a serious problem. Put another way, 94 percent of Republicans and 86 percent of Democrats see illegal immigration as a serious issue .
Perhaps you have forgotten the chaos of SINGLE sniper shootings at certain gas stations a few years back - your common sense tells you that life in America would be just hunky dory if TWENTY gas stations were blown up per day? That's 620 per month, assuming just 5 deaths each per average gives you more than the WTC. You need your "common sense" checked.
No, is more than that! Over 2000 of our soldiers have given their lives and many hurt for the rest of their lives. Why? For our SECURITY, according to our dear president. Ok, I buy that.. but what about the open borders TODAY!... still.. doesn't that "affect security?" (where is the consistency here!... I am amazed). So... I think to myself... we have people dying in the name of security but president sees nothing wrong with letting the border wide open. HUH!????????????
It's a good thing I don't have any relatives in Iraq or I would be even angrier... (oh, did I say "angry"? sorry :)
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