Chairman Ka-Ching! financed the DNC and Bubba in the 1996 campaign... and now they are getting the payoff!
PING for another knee jerk reaction...
5. World Class Container Port - & More!
The Hutchison Port Group now owns 50% of Freeport Harbour and Freeport International Airport. The Harbour has been transformed from a Cruise Liner & Roll-on/Roll-off Port to a magnificent and modern container port. The port, with hard standing for 10,000 containers (including 150 refrigerator spots) and the most sophisticated Straddler and Ship-to-Shore cranes, is able to handle 400,000 container moves per annum. Freeport Harbour has been dredged to 47' at low tide, giving it a considerable advantage over Eastern Seaboard ports. As the Hutchison Group already owns 14 container ports worldwide, Freeport os expected to accrue significant benefits. Hutchison has also acquired 50% of Freeport International Airport, and plans are in hand to develop it for airfreight handling in conjunction with the container port. AND THEN.......HUTCHINSON PLAN TO BUY THE LUCAYAN HOTEL, STRIP/UPGRADE AND BUILD 1335 **** HOTEL ROOMS - INVESTING $150,000,000.
Well now, isn't that special? This is the same Chinese company that now has the Long Beach Naval Base, the Panama Canal, the largest port in the Bahamas, and it's the same company that Clinton was taking money from! Now we're going to trust them to scan for nuclear bombs? Riiiiiight! I wonder how many other traitors in DC are in bed with them. Greed and the lust for power have caused the sellout of America!!
I acknowledge that I know nothing about port security, but I am still concerned about contracting out important security operations that are supposed to protect the US to foreign countries, especially foreign countries that we do not have long-term, friendly relationships with. Also, do we really want China or the Philippines to have access to this "sophisticated U.S. radiation detector"? (Note that this is the "first time a foreign company will be involved in running a ... U.S. radiation detector at an overseas port without American customs agents present.")
It will be interesting to see how much these two contracts have been "vetted" in light of the DPW deal. It would seem that the Bush administration would have dotted all the "i"s and crossed all of the "t"s. I suppose we'll find out because Schumer is quoted in the article and does know about at least the Chinese transaction. So, I'm sure he'll follow up and we'll hear about it again.
I am cognizant of the fact that the MSM is probably exploiting these kinds of deals to make Bush and Republicans look bad. However, my reaction is not "knee-jerk". I'm more concerned about national security than Democrats vs Republicans.
What I do not understand is why we need Communist China scanning our ships. IT really does sound like having the fox guard the henhouse. Also, has America fallen so far with taxes, regulations, and just plain government bureaucracies that we have no American Company to do this? Who is looking our for American Jobs? Dell just reported that it will be hiring 3,000 employees IN INDIA. In the USA all we here are layoffs, jobs going overseas, and now who we are selling off security issues to our enemies. Why are these contract NO BID? It sounds as though we have a “Godfather” in the Whitehouse, giving away American gems for his own enrichment. Can’t we get good negotiators who will help us and not worry about their next job with those they are negotiating with?
Both President Bush and the US Congress are selling out the American people, repenting foreign interests, and I am not reading or hearing these stories in so called mainstream news.
What’s the deal with the no-bid contracts?
I don't fear this deal either, but for different reasons than the Dubai deal.
However, how hard would it be to get an untrained but cleared american to take a full-time assignment in the bahamas?
They don't have to be trained, the equipment operates itself. Surely the port company doesn't care about that one job, and if they do the customs guy can sit shotgun.
Of course, it will be hard to get to this simple, common-sense solution because the argument will turn to a screaming match about chinese taking over our ports again.
Congress, if it wasn't too busy sending political messages to save it's sorry behind, could have passed a law a few weeks ago requiring a U.S. government employeee to be full-time at every US port terminal run by a foreign company, and at every foreign port terminal loading cargo bound for the U.S.
It wouldn't make us safer, but then we wouldn't have to put up with Chuck Schumer lying (I wonder if Eller wants this contract?) and stupid republican lawmakers trying to out-schumer schumer.
I don't think I'll get any more involved in this discussion, as if all the revelations of the last two weeks about how the opponents to the Dubai deal were taken for a ride haven't changed anybody's opinions, nothing I say will.
The headline is completely dishonest.
Why can't they just get a West Virginia Company??
Foreign countries scan containers at their own ports. If the Bahamas government wants to hire professionals more capable than its own government employees, it should be applauded.
If they let a nuke through they might just lose the contract! Wow, that should make 'em think!