Posted on 03/10/2006 8:26:48 AM PST by indcons
President Bush said Friday he was troubled by the political storm that forced the reversal of a deal allowing a company in Dubai to take over take over operations of six American ports, saying it sent a bad message to U.S. allies in the Middle East.
Bush said the United States needs moderate allies in the Arab world, like the United Arab Emirates, to win the global war on terrorism.
The president said he had been satisfied that security would be sound at the ports if the Dubai deal had taken effect. "Nevertheless, Congress was still very much opposed to it," Bush said. He made his remarks to a conference of the National Newspaper Association, which represents owners, publishers and editors of community newspapers.
"I'm concerned about a broader message this issue could send to our friends and allies around the world, particularly in the Middle East," the president said. "In order to win the war on terror we have got to strengthen our friendships and relationships with moderate Arab countries in the Middle East."
"UAE is a committed ally in the war on terror," Bush added. "They are a key partner for our military in a critical region, and outside of our own country, Dubai services more of our military, military ships, than any country in the world.
"They're sharing intelligence so we can hunt down the terrorists," Bush added. "They helped us shut down a world wide proliferation network run by A.Q. Khan" — the Pakistani scientist who sold nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya, he said.
"UAE is a valued and strategic partner," he said. "I'm committed to strengthening our relationship with the UAE."
After a storm of protest in the Republican-controlled Congress, DP World announced Thursday that it would transfer six U.S. port operations to a U.S. entity. The moved spared Bush from a veto showdown with GOP lawmakers. Yet the larger issue highlighted by the DP world controversy — U.S. port security — shows no signs of going away.
"The problem of the political moment has passed, but the problem of adequate port security still looms large," Sen. Lindsey Graham (news, bio, voting record), R-S.C., said.
Republicans and Democrats alike welcomed DP World's decision to give up its aspirations to manage significant operations at the six ports, but they warned that the move doesn't negate the urgent need for broad legislation aimed at protecting America's ports.
"I'm sure that the decision by DP World was a difficult decision to hand over port operations that they had purchased from another company," Bush said.
"There are gaping holes in cargo and port security that need to be plugged," Sen. Patty Murray (news, bio, voting record), D-Wash., said.
The Bush administration also announced Friday that free trade talks with the United Arab Emirates were being postponed.
The talks, which were supposed to begin Monday, were postponed because both sides need more time to prepare, according to an announcement from the office of U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman (news, bio, voting record). USTR spokeswoman Neena Moorjani refused to say whether the postponement was related to the controversy over the port operations.
Legislation on the issue has piled up in both the House and the Senate in the weeks since the flap over DP World erupted and divided Bush from the Republican-led Congress.
Before the United Arab Emirates-based company's announcement, the House and Senate appeared all but certain to block DP World's U.S. plan despite Bush's veto threats — a message that GOP congressional leaders delivered personally to the White House.
Facing a disapproving public in an election year, a House committee overwhelmingly voted against the plan Wednesday. And House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., warned the president in a private meeting Thursday that the Senate inevitably would follow suit.
Within hours, Sen. John Warner (news, bio, voting record), R-Va., one of the few members of Congress to back the administration's position on the issue, went to the Senate floor to read a statement from the company.
"DP World will transfer fully the U.S. operations ... to a United States entity," H. Edward Bilkey, the company's top executive, said in the statement. It was unclear which American business might get the port operations.
The White House expressed satisfaction with the company's decision.
"It does provide a way forward and resolve the matter," said Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary "We have a strong relationship with the UAE and a good partnership in the global war on terrorism, and I think their decision reflects the importance of our broader relationship."
The company's decision gives the president an out. He now doesn't have to back down from his staunch support of the company or further divide his party on a terrorism-related issue with a veto.
It was unclear how the company would manage its planned divestiture, and Bilkey's statement said its announcement was "based on an understanding that DP World will not suffer economic loss."
"This should make the issue go away," Frist said.
Even critics of the deal expressed cautious optimism that DP World's move would quell the controversy surrounding that company's plan to take over some U.S. terminal leases held by the London-based company it was purchasing.
"The devil is in the details," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said, echoing sentiments expressed by other lawmakers.
DP World on Thursday finalized its $6.8 billion purchase of Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co., the British company that through a U.S. subsidiary runs important port operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia. It also plays a lesser role in dockside activities at 16 other American ports.
The plan was disclosed last month, setting off a political firestorm in the United States even though the company's U.S. operations were only a small part of the global transaction.
Republicans were furious that they learned of it from news reports instead of from the Bush administration. They cited concerns over a company run by a foreign government overseeing operations at U.S. ports already deemed vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
Democrats also pledged to halt the takeover and clamored for a vote in the Senate. They sought political advantage from the issue by trying to narrow a polling gap with the GOP on issues of national security.
Senate Republicans initially tried to fend off a vote, and the administration agreed to a 45-day review of the transaction. That strategy collapsed Wednesday with the 62-2 vote in the House Appropriations Committee to thwart the sale.
"Last I checked, as of February 26th, the UAE was still sponsoring Hamas and the families of terrorist suicide bombers."
and more!!
would an "ally" do the following:
http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/3/4/92458.shtml?s=ic
in a press release issued Thursday, the Duncan Hunter noted:
• United Arab Emirates officials and private companies have regularly waived-through or turned a blind eye to the shipment of nuclear triggers to Pakistan and nerve gas precursors to Iran.
• In 2003, over U.S. protests, United Arab Emirates customs officials allowed sixty-six American high-speed electrical switches, which are ideal for detonating nuclear weapons, to be sent to a Pakistani businessman with longstanding ties to the Pakistani military.
Seventy tons of heavy water, a component for nuclear reactors, were sent from China to Dubai. The shipping labels were then changed to mask the transaction, and sixty tons of the heavy water were forwarded to India, where it enabled the government to use its energy-producing reactors to create plutonium for its atomic weapons program. The other ten tons went to Argentina.
• A Greek intermediary offered Iraq an atomic-bomb design from Dr. A. Q. Khan in Pakistan, with a guarantee that "any requirements or materials" could be bought from Western countries and routed through Dubai.
• Two containers of gas centrifuge parts from Dr. Khan's labs were shipped through Dubai to Iran for about $3 million worth of Untied Arab Emirates currency.
• A Dubai company ordered American-made impregnated alumina - a substance that can be used for making nerve gas ingredients - and tried to pass it along to an Iranian purchasing agent in violation of American export control laws.
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""Opponents of the deal also argue that the FBI found that the UAE's banking system filtered much of the money used for the operational planning before the Sept. 11 attacks, and many of the hijackers traveled to the United States through the UAE. On top of that, the UAE was an important transfer point for shipments of smuggled nuclear components sent to Iran, North Korea and Libya by a Pakistani scientist."
Fox News, February 20, 2006 "
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,185347,00.html
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from the WSJ:
"dubai is one of the most important conduits for iran's nuclear technology acquisition program, according to U.S. court cases and interviews with experts in the field"
"in 2003, UAE officials refused a U.S. request to intercept a shipment of nuclear technology bound for South Africa by a smuggler named Asher Karni,"
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there is more info on my freeper homepage on how the crown prince of dubai purchased the HQ in washington dc for CAIR (a hamas front group). it led the effort to get michael graham of talk radio fame silenced, and seeks to silence any criticism of islam. additionally, they're working to get sharia law implemented in canada. according to david horowitz's site (discoverthenetworks.org) they are also funded by george soros, have leadership/affiliations with ACORN, A.N.S.W.E.R., CODE PINK, Vietnam Veterans Against the War (john kerry's friends), LA RAZA, National Laywers Guild, People For The American Way, and so on.
additionally, uae funds hamas which kills jews and has murdered AMERICANS abroad.
the president of UAE just met with abbas the other day and stated that they stood with the palestinian people to help create a palestinian state with JERUSALEM as the captial.
the UAE has the same political "rights" as Iran.
percentage of UAE votes AGAINST america at the UN:
2004: 87.5%
2003: 100%
2002: 82.4%
2001: 100%
BTW, they also went to the UN to try to get the international community to force israel to tear down it's wall.
since 9/11 the treasury department has been stonewalled by the emirates in trying to track Osama's bank accounts.
all the information is on my FR homepage (and more)
Bravo! Your one post said it better than my collection of posts. But don't view my posts as attempts to educate others so much as therapy for me! :-)
Still skipping right past that pesky #105...
Bush's issued his veto threat saying we can't send mixed messages and hold Arabs to a different standard. After that, there were no press conferences until today, the day after the deal was killed.
There was no leadership. No press conferences. Only a veto threat.
see #121 for more info
Secretary of Treasury Snow was the problem. He allowed the administration to be blind-sided. Bush really didn't know about the committee's decision. The committee wa in the treasury. Snow didn't inform him.
Since nations contain a complex mix of folks and are hard to finitely characterize - it may be easier to ask one to define the difference between a Moderate and Extremist Muslim...
Where may one go, to get a definition of "Moderate Muslim"? .
Has Islam, as defined in the Koran, been subdivided or reformed to create "Old Testament Muslims" and "New Testament Muslims"??
So far, the only distinction between Moderate and Extremist Muslim I've heard -- is the Moderate Muslim has not yet had the provocation, courage or opportunity to pull the pin on their grenade and toss it into a Jewish or Christian school or place of worship.
Semper Fi
I really have no idea what you are talking about. So the UAE serves as a conduit of funds for attacks that kill 3,000 Americans, but after the attacks occurred they had an epiphany and decided to renounce terrorism? But yet they still support Hamas? And for this we should not only do business with them but cede operational control of our ports? Cut me a break. You keep making my points for me.
Agreed!
Helllooo!!! I'm connected to the Internet thank you very much! The Internet is where I was able to gather the different articles which shed light on this issue. What little television I watched consisted mainly of so-called reporter's wailing about the UAE buying US ports or if they weren't using the word buying, they were using the running meme. As in the UAE would be running the ports and we'd be allowing an Arab country to be responsible for security in those ports.
Maybe you were privy to better reporting than what I heard. When I'd talk to people in my small town (a very definite red town!) most were under the mistaken impression DPW was buying the ports, would be the one's providing security for the ports and thought the UAE was about as backwards a country as Afghanistan is.
I was able to change some minds after I printed off the Port of Houston Authority's position as well as the interview from the chairman of Israel's largest shipping firm.
This is a Victory for those who understand the words Sovereign Nation!
We can no longer appease the money changers, due to 9-11.
What is good for the cash cows is not always for the good of Our Sovereign Nation!
George W. will get over it.
Ops4 God Bless America!
so now let all the Republicans join in .."It's all Bushes fault".
What a joke and so easy to see through.
Congress was to blame for this one folks.
None of those Rinos had better even think about running for POTUS.
Thank you. It's amazing how the Bushbots believe the man is infallible. Can you imagine if the Toon (who had his hand in this anyway) attempted something similar during his Presidency.
Do you mean details like this that was mentioned near the end of the article
DP World on Thursday finalized its $6.8 billion purchase of Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co., the British company that through a U.S. subsidiary runs important port operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia. It also plays a lesser role in dockside activities at 16 other American ports.
No. The internet is free, and searches work well. I've spent all the time I care to on this now that the deal is done.
I suggest the words "UAE Israel" for starters, lots of stuff pops up including discussions of shipping work between the countries.
"Can you imagine if the Toon (who had his hand in this anyway) attempted something similar during his Presidency."
exactly
The spineless Republicans are heading for the porch like a bunch of scalded dogs. They make me want to puke.
Bush is not hated by Republicans. He made a mistake and GOP congress fixed it and now it's time to move on to other things. It was nothing personal.
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