Posted on 03/10/2006 8:16:05 PM PST by crushelits
President Bush said Friday the collapse of the Dubai ports deal could hurt U.S. efforts to recruit Mideast governments as partners in the worldwide war on terror.
Separately, in what may have been an aftershock to the failed transaction, a new round of trade talks between the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates was postponed.
On Thursday, Dubai-based DP World backed away in the face of unrelenting criticism and announced it would transfer its management of port terminals in major U.S. cities to an American entity.
Bush struck a defiant tone Friday with the Republican-led Congress whose new willingness to buck him has taken its most dramatic form with the ports controversy.
The president said he was open to improving the government's method of reviewing such transactions, but he insisted his administration's approval of the deal had posed no security risk — and that the reversal could have the opposite effect.
"I'm concerned about a broader message this issue could send to our friends and allies around the world, particularly in the Middle East," said Bush during an appearance before a conference of the National Newspaper Association. "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."
The United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a part, is just such a country, Bush said.
Dubai services more U.S. military ships than any other country, shares useful intelligence about terrorists and helped shut down a global black-market nuclear network run by Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan, the administration says. This week, though, the State Department's annual human rights report called the UAE's performance "problematic," citing floggings as punishment for adultery or drug abuse.
The president said he would now have to work to shore up the U.S. relationship with the UAE and explain to Congress and the public why it's a valuable one.
"UAE is a committed ally in the war on terror," he said.
En route Friday to a presidential inauguration in Chile, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice echoed Bush. The failed ports deal "means that we are going to have to work and double our efforts to send a strong message that we value our allies, our moderate allies, in the Middle East," she said.
Thursday's action spared Bush an embarrassing showdown, which he seemed likely to lose, over the veto he had threatened of any attempt by Congress to block the transaction.
After weeks of questions from lawmakers of both parties about whether giving a state-owned company from an Arab country control of significant port operations could increase terrorist dangers, the silence from Republicans on Friday was telling. The only statements came from Democrats who sought to keep the issue alive.
Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record), D-N.Y., a chief critic of the Dubai deal, said lawmakers needed more detail on DP World's planned divestiture. It wasn't clear which American business might get the port operations, or how the U.S. entity would be related to the Dubai government.
"Make no mistake, we are going to scrutinize this deal with a fine tooth comb," Schumer said.
And the Democratic Party planned a mobile billboard in Memphis, Tenn., where GOP activists were gathering for a weekend conference, accusing Republicans of standing in the way of providing enough funding for port security. "Republicans owe the American people answers as to where they really stand," said party spokesman Luis Miranda.
Republicans, too, have said the deal's end does nothing to address the nation's continuing vulnerability at its ports, where the vast majority of shipping containers are not inspected. In fact, work continued on Capitol Hill on two fronts: reworking the process under which the government approves foreign investment and boosting port security.
Senate Homeland Security Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, promised a committee vote by the end of April on legislation to strengthen cargo inspections and port security. Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif., was readying a nearly identical measure for the House. Both bills have Democratic co-sponsors.
There were some signs the president's worries about the impact abroad were warranted.
Analysts said the developments could make cash-rich investors in the Persian Gulf, where there is the widespread belief that the furor was rooted in anti-Arab bias, wary of high-profile investments in the United States.
And the latest round of negotiations on a new free-trade arrangement between the U.S. and the UAE, scheduled for Monday in the United Arab Emirates, was postponed.
Both sides hastened to dispel speculation that the delay was the result of the ports controversy.
Neena Moorjani, spokeswoman for U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman (news, bio, voting record), would not directly address that question, but said it's not unusual for delegations to need more time to prepare. A UAE official said there was no connection, and that working groups would continue discussions by phone.
How long before someone suggests we should cut of this trade since some of this equipment will get into the hands of terrorists? The objections to this deal will have long lasting, negative consequences for the U.S. but the Dems, and some on FR, have elected the isolationist point of view.
I do.
And a lot of it is right on this site.
I'm on a mission.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1594311/posts?page=120#120
You two are amusing me. :)
Forget this site. We can't pull this off if we wanted to. All we do is provide information. I want to get to who is screwing up our country's foreign relations for their benefit. And using our media as a means to effect emotional opinions.
Well, here's one clue:
Privately, many Democrats conceded the xenophobic and anti-Arab strains to their rhetoric made them uncomfortable. But opinion polls that showed the issue hurting Bush's popularity and GOP chances in November prompted them to step up their attacks.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1594180/posts
Screw the democrats. Somebody like Soros needs a .50 cal enema to send a message to people that want to alter U.S. foreign policy. This didn't happen in a vacuum.
WOW!
Are you REALLY as ignorant as your post suggests?
Since when is the second-most used port ob the US Navy "terrorist central"? Have you the first freaking idea what you are talking about? Have you EVER been to Dubai? The place is all about BUSINESS, not terrorism.
The UAE is an ALLY, or has Chuckie Schumer so mesmerized you that this fact has passed beyond notice?
And just who is buying "a whole set of transportation hubs"? Dubai's state owned port operations company just bought out a British-owned company, P&O. P&O happens to own operating rights to cargo terminal at several US ports (just as does the shipping arms of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, China, Japan, Korea, Norway, and other US trading partners).
BFD.
Why aren't these terminal American owned, you might ask, thus revealing your ignorance about terminal operations all around the world. They are operated by associate comapnies to world-wide shipping lines, NONE OF WHICH ARE AMERICAN-OWNED.
If you are an American, why don't you buy one yourself? Or, at least read a book. You might come off a little less ignorant than at present.
Yep, the Democrats just can't seem to find the bottom. No matter how far they sink, they always seem to find a way to go lower.
They never fail to amaze me.
BTW, good to see you.
Yes I do. I guess you make a lot of enemies when you're conducting a war and cleaning house at the same time.
I agree that something is going on that we don't understand; there are just too many "concerted" things going on at the same time for it to be coincidental.
I just can't quite put my finger on what it is...
I seem to recall it being used to describe a general level of hysteria.
There is more to this that will come to us. And likely not involving money from the UAE. A third entity is what I'm looking for. A cutout that wants both the U.S. and the UAE to lose respectability.
My best guess would be that the Bush administration is getting too close to something buried deep in the bowels of Washington.
Moderator, could you please change the title of this thread to :
"Enough Already with the Ports Squabble For A While, We'll Be At Each Other's Throats Tomorrow, It's The Weekend, We're Really All On The Same Side In The End Anyway, and It's Time To See Wonderful World of the Magical Robotic Pack Mule."
Thanks!
SerpentDove
Freepers, as a rule, tend to research things, not jump off a cliff following some mindless leader.
no one likes my jokes. :(
You are absolutely correct. I can't believe our fellow conservatives can't see this for what it is.
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