Posted on 03/09/2006 9:02:17 AM PST by prairiebreeze
Dubai is threatening retaliation against American strategic and commercial interests if Washington blocks its $6.8 billion takeover of operations at several U.S. ports.
As the House Appropriations Committee yesterday marked up legislation to kill Dubai Ports World’s acquisition of Britain’s Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation (P&O), the emirate let it be known that it is preparing to hit back hard if necessary.
A source close to the deal said members of Dubai’s royal family are furious at the hostility both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill have shown toward the deal.
“They’re saying, ‘All we’ve done for you guys, all our purchases, we’ll stop it, we’ll just yank it,’” the source said.
Retaliation from the emirate could come against lucrative deals with aircraft maker Boeing and by curtailing the docking of hundreds of American ships, including U.S. Navy ships, each year at its port in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the source added.
It is not clear how much of Dubai’s behind-the-scenes anger would be followed up by action, but Boeing has been made aware of the threat and is already reportedly lobbying to save the ports deal.
The Emirates Group airline will decide later this year whether it will buy Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner or its competitor, Airbus A350. The airline last fall placed an order worth $9.7 billion for 42 Boeing 777 aircraft, making Dubai Boeing’s largest 777 customer.
Dubai in mid-February also established the Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, a $15 billion investment to create a company that will lease planes, develop airports and make aircraft parts to tap into growing demand for air travel in the Middle East and Asia.
The family-ruled sheikhdom may buy as many as 50 wide-body aircraft from Boeing and Airbus during the next four years, according to Aerospace Enterprise officials.
The UAE military also bought Boeing’s Apache helicopters. Meanwhile, Boeing has been in talks with the emirates to try to sell its AWACS planes.
An industry official with knowledge of Boeing’s contracts with Dubai said that the company has been involved in the emirate and that it would take a lot “to knock” those relationships.
“Nothing about the [ports] controversy diminishes our commitment to the region,” said John Dern, Boeing’s corporate spokesman. He added that at this point the company has no indication that there is or will be an impact on the company.
Any repercussion to Boeing could put House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) in a delicate position. Boeing’s decision to move its headquarters to Chicago has been seen as calculated to facilitate a close relationship with Hastert. He is against the ports deal, and his office did not return calls by press time.
Several businesses have expressed concern that the controversy over the $6.8 billion ports deal could damage trade with the UAE. Dubai is one of the seven emirates. The United States and the UAE are meeting next week for a fourth round of talks to sign a free-trade agreement. The American Business Group of Abu Dhabi, which has no affiliation with the U.S. government, said that Arabs may hesitate to invest into the United States, according to a report by Reuters.
A Republican trade lobbyist said that because the ports deal is a national-security issue blocking it would not be in violation of World Trade Agreement rules.
“In terms of them retaliating legally against the U.S. … I don’t think there are many options there,” the lobbyist said.
But when it comes to the emirates’ cooperation in the war on terrorism and in intelligence gathering, there is concern that some help may be pulled.
“If we reject the company in terms of doing the [ports] work, they are going to lose a lot of face. In the Arab culture, losing face is a big deal,” a former government official said. “We risk losing that help. It is not an empty threat.”
Dubai is a critical logistics hub for the U.S. Navy and a popular relaxation destination for troops fighting in the Middle East. On many occasions since the ports story erupted, the Pentagon has stressed the importance of the U.S-UAE relationship.
Last year, the U.S. Navy docked 590 supply vessels in Dubai, plus 56 warships, Gordon England, deputy secretary of defense, said in a Senate hearing last month. About 77,000 military personnel went on leave in the UAE last year, he added.
During the hearing, he warned about the implications of a negative decision on the ports deal: “So obviously it would have some effect on us, and I’d not care to quantify that, because I don’t have the facts to quantify it. It would certainly have an effect on us.”
Although owned by the Dubai government, the company at the heart of this controversy, Dubai Ports World, is trying to distance itself from any kinds of threats, said a lobbyist closely tracking the deal.
Another lobbyist monitoring the controversy said K Street still believes there will be a compromise that allows the Dubai deal to go through while meeting congressional security concerns, even though a bill aimed at that result, put forward by House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King (R-N.Y.), was widely repudiated amongst lawmakers Tuesday.
Senate leaders have indicated that they would wait to take action until the new 45-day Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) review is completed.
Meanwhile, in London, DP World cleared the last hurdle for its take over of P&O. The Court of Appeal in London refused Miami-based Eller & Co., which opposed the deal, permission to appeal against clearances for the legal and financial measures necessary to implement the takeover.
P&O said it expects to file the requisite court orders, making the takeover terms binding on DP World, according to the Financial Times.
Elana Schor contributed to this report.
LOL!!!
PresReagan didn't let the Soviets push us around, PresBush shouldn't let some Arab skeikdom threaten the worlds only superpower. Let's get energy independent ASAP. Drill in ANWR, off the California coast and drill even more in the Gulf of Mexico. If the UAE is angry about this event, wait till they see what their region of the world will look like without the US military killing terrorists for them. Screw the UAE!
I'm with you. I thought people here were pretty supportive of Rumsfeld. Now I see they want to actually make the guy's job HARDER than it is!
Sheesh. Why don't the FR people just start posting pictures of Abu Ghraib? That would be easier for Rumsfeld to handle than this backstapping of an ally.
So you're blaming the backward mentality of Arabs on Christians now? Oh, that is logical.
Because Congress didn't do them the courtesy of waiting for the 45-day review to end before trying to squash the deal.
And there's a difference between "blackmail" and "consequences".
Didn't you hear? The Koran has been re-written. We're no longer infidels.
This country supports Hamas and won't recognize Israel's statehood. Are you people out of your minds? Or is the greed just blinding?
Yes we would pefer that they not participate in the boycott, they pay lip service to the boycott, while winking and nodding and allowing Israeli goods in and out every day. Much like the Moroccans, who don't "recognize" Israel, while doing a lot of commericial activity. The realities of that part of the world are such that you need to work with the relatively moderate and draw them in.
If you stand off and wait until they spontaneously become like Minnesota, you'll wake up one day and find Indianapolis, Chicago and Orlando incinerated and wonder which of the 40 nuclear-armed islamic nations it came from.
Looks like a flame war to me.
Jihadi nations like the UAE et al love to threaten, bully, and intimidate other nations. The UAE's reaction is another good reason why we should not allow the port deal to go through.
You're as reprehensible as Mike Weiner.
So you support the Emir's blackmail campaign? Do we deserve his threats because of Congress' actions yesterday and today?
Warner is reading a press release from DPW
http://www.c-span.org/watch/cspan2_wm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS2
Now there's the UAE we all knew existed under that sweet, innocent, Jew-hating exterior.
If we lose the WOT you can kiss Israel goodbye.
So Dubai's ending support of the WOT, is "consequences", not "blackmail"?
BTTT
Looks like the dems and some pubbies screwed us in ways we never thought we could be screwed in.......
Do you think the UAE will demand that clinton give them back their money?
Agreed, but approving a deal to sell ownership of our port security to the UAE is beyond reasonable. You don't have to want to "nuke 'em all" to see that.
Agreed.
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