Posted on 02/21/2006 12:56:16 PM PST by Jeremiah2911
WASHINGTON — In a rare display of his veto authority President Bush said Tuesday he will put the kibosh on any legislation that attempts to stop the purchase by a United Arab Emirates-owned firm of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which runs six major U.S. ports.
Breaking a gaping silence during the debate of the purchase by Dubai Ports World, Bush said the deal should go forward and won't jeopardize U.S. security.
Officials from the Cabinet departments that participate in the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States, which approved the sale last Monday, are appearing in a briefing Tuesday afternoon to defend the process by which CFIUS reviewed and approved the deal.
Officials from the Treasury, Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security will participate.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I have to say my intial reaction was more like other people here. But I've calmed down and think this is really overblown and the Dems are loving it & using it to their advantage.
So, what Pres. Bush needs to do, is give the public an explanation for why this deal is perfectly safe. That's what everyone wants to hear. Then the hoopla will be over.
Bush knows what he's doing. Again. The UAE is a strong ally in War on Terrorism. To discount the entire country because 1 or 2 of them were terrorsits is absurd. Timothy MacVeigh was an American should we discount all American companies to? By telling a company from the UAE that you can not do any business with the US you're basically telling the Middle East that the U.S. doesn't trust ANY arabs.
"Wait, the president has the power to veto legislation? When did this start?"
I read about the Presidential veto somewhere, but it's been so long since it's been used that I though it didn't exist any more. Apparently I was mistaken.
I can thing of 100 other times Bush should have used the veto pen (mostly budgetary) and did not.he spends like a drunken sailor and his favorite port of call seems to be for buying arab whores.
Yes, but those ports are still an important strategic and economic asset to the country.
A lot of harm could be done and a lot of confusion caused just by screwing up the business side of things.
Since this company isn't going to be able to just replace the current employees it would be very difficult for them to screw things up on purpose without it being noticed very quickly, but does seem to still be a significant risk to allowing a company owned by the monarch of the UAE to run the business of these ports.
And its probably safe to have UAE as owner of the Company that runs the ports, but me thinks Carl Rove was BYPASSED on this.
But the Democrats will be all over this like a CHEAP SUIT, and hope or even create an incident that could be blamed on BUSH.
"They're popping up all over the place. I'm willing to bet that today ends up setting a record for "new" members."
Could be. Whenever there's a disturbance in the FR "force," newbies by the score come flying in, attempting to disrupt things further. They think they're so clever.
It's amazing how quickly they're spotted. I never check dates on posters unless I think they're trolling newbies. I'm rarely wrong.
I believe that we have actually witnessed a sitting President be driven certifiably insane.
And that why he's waving the veto pen? For a guy who hasn't used it even once, including the several (I won't say many, but I will say several) times it SHOULD have been used, I think he's going to have a hard time backing down from this.
And I cannot imagine the calamity that would be caused to the pubbies by an OVER RIDE of this veto.
Somebody messed up big time on this and our beloved W is either covering for him, out of his over developed sense of loyalty (and I have one, so I can criticize) or because he's just damned and determine to prove all that the UAE are our friends, TROP CR*P. I guess he thinks the public buys this nonsense. How can he be so tone deaf and ill informed.
Let the Dems try and make it an issue. I'm glad Bush came out swinging today. They wouldn't have hired this company if they didn't know what they were doing. The fact Bush is threatening a veto means he knows that he is right.
We'll see who blinks first, won't we!!!!!!!
But 'conservatives' didn't have this problem when a British company ran it....they're not running the security aspect of it.
in other words, then it'll be like the West coast has been for a while-in the hands of the Chicoms- just like the Panama Canal prez Jimmah helped hand over to them. The fact Carter favors this makes me think it's idiotic on that point alone.
logistics?
It might be best logistically for a single firm to physically handle cargo, but shouldn't this firm be contracted by some sort of governmental authority that oversees the port operation? Why doesn't the New York Port Authority control the Port of New York? Would it be OK for a foreign firm to control US airports?
I think this veto thing was tried around the last time we tried someone for treason and sedition.
You are being sarcastic, aren't you? If you're not, just a small sampling of Dubai's "alliance" in the war on terror:
________________________________________________________
December 29, 2005:
"Retired Professor Emeritus in the mathematics department of Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, M C Puri, was killed and four serving scientists were injured when an unidentified gunman opened fire indiscriminately on a group of scientists as they were coming out of a conference hall in the prestigious Indian Institute of Science campus in Bangalore on Wednesday."
"The explosions were carried out by Dawood Ibrahim, then based in Dubai, with the help of some Mumbai-based Muslims, who were taken to Pakistan via Dubai and got trained and armed by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence."
______________________________________________________
"In April of this year, Treasury released a list of Saddam front companies its investigation has so far uncovered, including a major Oil-for-Food contractor in the UAE, Dubai-based Al Wasel & Babel. Along with trying to procure a sophisticated surface-to-air missile system for Saddam, Al Wasel & Babel did hundreds of millions' worth of business with Baghdad under Oil-for-Food, and was just one of some 75 contractors authorized by the U.N. to deal with Saddam out of the UAE." ______________________________________________________
Just a little 9/11 connection?
"One of Moussaoui's associates and co-conspirator was Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, the key financier of the WTC attack. Al-Hawsawi first opened a bank account in a Standard Chartered Bank branch in Dubai, UAE with a cash deposit. On the same day, another of his friends, Fayez Rashid AH Alqadi Bamihammad too opened an account in the same bank.
Less than a month later, Bamihammad gave a power of attorney to Hawsawi to operate his accounts. Hawsawi picked up Bamihammad's Visa and ATM cards from the Dubai branch and shipped them to Florida between July 18 and August 1, 2001. Bamihammad was one of the terrorists who flew the United Airlines flight 175 into the World Trade Center's south tower. . . . On September 11, 2001, al-Hawsawi flew from Dubai to Karachi to take shelter." ___________________________________________________
U.A.E.: Central Bank Freezes 62 Accounts:
"In response to the U.S. Bulletin the central bank of the U.A.E. has frozen the banking accounts of 62 organizations and individuals suspected of connections with Al-Qa'ida. Among these are two prominent Muslim banking and money-changing organizations, the "Al-Taqwa" and "Al-Barakat." The following is a partial listing of these entities as an indication of the width and breadth of their activities and geographical expansion:
Al- Barakat Bank: Somalia, Dubai (U.A.E.)
Al-Barakat International (a.k.a. BARACO Co.): Dubai, U.A.E.
Barakat Wiring Service: Minneapolis, MN
Barakat International: Sweden
North America Barakat, Inc.: Toronto, Canada
Barakat Telecommunications (a.k.a. Btelco): Somalia, Holland
Barakat Enterprise: Columbus, OH
Barakat Wire Transfer: Seattle, WA
Taqwa Trade, Property and Industry Co: Vaduz, Liechtenstein
Bank Al-Taqwa Ltd.: Nassau, Bahamas
The United States has accused Bank Al-Barakat and Bank Al-Taqwa and their subsidiary financial institutions of operating unofficial money transfer known as "hawala" in the millions of dollars from their extensive network system to terrorist organizations and for keeping no records of their transactions."
____________________________________________________
"Financial investigators tracking al Qaeda assets rely heavily on data and paper trails from commercial banks and financial regulators in pursuing and investigating leads. Such data have included the tracing of wire transfers between suspected hijacker Mohammed Atta and Shaykh Saiid of Dubai, believed to be one of Osama bin Laden's key financial operatives. Unfortunately, these efforts have achieved little success to date in reaching the core of the al Qaeda financial network."
"The problem is that much of the organization's funding mechanisms—like its cells—are small and inconspicuous, often using a traditional Muslim method of money exchange called Hawala."
"Although Pakistan, India, and the Persian Gulf states are home to the largest concentration of Hawala organizations, Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, perhaps handles the largest volume of transactions. The system has global reach. Investigators believe Hawala organizations exist throughout the United States and Europe."
"I think I read somewhere about it being Congress's (legislative branch) duty to control commerce between the United States and foreign countries and commerce between the states."
I'm not sure that covers the acquisition of a British firm by a Dubai-based firm.
Now he is going to veto? My guess is there is a payoff to Bush from UAE somewhere down the line.
The man is bought and paid for. No other explanation.
I thought it was strange for him to spend all of his political capital on illegal wiretapping, but do nothing about porous borders. I thought it was merely a strange inconsistency. Now he is willfully handing over more border control to a terrorist haven. I give up. It defies logic, barring all explanations save money. Were this Clinton, agreement on Freerepublic would be 100% that he was bought and paid for. Watch how many Bushbots claim this is just good business, as if that has anything at all to do with security.
George: Islam is not a religion of peace. Islamic countries are not our allies. Democracy is no solution when a foreign electorate wants us dead. You cannot "free trade" away Communism or Islamofascism.
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