Posted on 02/22/2006 6:31:33 AM PST by rattrap
I've tried ... tried hard ... but it's no use. I just can't understand why George Bush is so invested in this idea of turning the operations at six essential U.S. ports, New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia, over to a foreign government ... and an Islamic foreign government at that.
Security experts are pretty much in agreement that if -- and I think it's a "when" rather than an "if" -- a nuclear device is ever smuggled into this country, the weapon will arrive in a container through one of our ports. Do you think that these containers are screened? Actually, many of them are. But where and how they are screened is critical. Most of the screening actually takes place in a foreign port before the containers are loaded onto a ship for the trip to America. Are any of those containers screened here? Yes. A few. A very few. The primary method of screening is for our security officials to look at the container manifests while those containers are at sea to determine which containers will be opened for further screening. What is being proposed here is to put a foreign government, an Islamic government, in virtual control over just how those manifests are prepared and how they will read ... especially the manifests for containers being shipped from a port operated by an Islamic government TO a port being operated by an Islamic government.
Let this swirl around in your brains for a moment. The wonderful, peaceful religion of Islam is involved in most of the shooting "hot" conflicts around the world. I can't cite the exact numbers right now, but we probably have factions shooting at one another in about 130 or so locations on every continent --- with the possible exception of Antarctica. In about 97% of those conflicts you will find Muslims on one side or another. There is only one major world religion out there that has as one of its basic tenants the goal of world domination. That religion is Islam. There is only one religion out there with a sizable faction that has declared war on our country, and which is dedicated to the goal of killing as many of us as they possibly can. That religion is Islam.
Though far too many people don't realize it, the Western world now finds itself smack in the middle of World War IV, the war against Islamic terrorism. (World War III was commonly referred to as the "Cold War." It was a world war nonetheless.) On just what level does it make sense to the President of the United States to turn over the operations of six critical American ports to an Islamic government ... especially an Islamic government with established ties to terrorists who have already struck and killed thousands of Americans?
So this is where George Bush wants to use his first veto? How many budgets has he signed? Six? We've seen non-defense government spending increase throughout his administration at record rates, and never a veto. Never. Not even a hint of a veto. So now Bush has finally found something he wants to veto? He wants to veto any bill that would prevent the turnover of six critical ports to a Muslim government? Pardon me, but what the hell is going on here?
Bush pretends .. and it has to be pretending .. not to see why people are so worked up over this. On the one hand he suggests that this is all about anti-Arab prejudice. Please, Mr. President. Give us a bit more credit than that. Then Bush says: "I want those who are questioning it to step up and explain why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard than a [British] company."
OK ... where do we start. As you read through this list keep this fact in mind: Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, the company selling the American ports operations to Dubai Ports World, is a private company. Peninsular is not owned by the government of Great Britain. Dubai Ports world is a state-owned company, owned by the United Arab Emirates. So, what we have here is a private company selling its rights to operate these six ports in the Untied States to a government ... an Islamic government. (96% Muslim) So, to answer Bush's question as to ...why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard than a [British] company." let's start with this correction. It's a Middle Eastern government that's being held to a different standard than a British company. Governments often use deadly force to accomplish their goals. Private companies do not. There, President Bush is your reason No. 1 for a different standard. Now that we've established that rather important difference ... let's move on to compare Great Britain to the UAE.
Great Britain is not an Islamic Nation. The de facto state religion there is Anglican, the Church of England. My extensive research shows that the Anglican Church has never, at least in modern times, committed an act of terror against the United States. Nor has the Church of England demanded that Israel be wiped off the face of the earth. Additionally, the Anglican Church has not announced it's intention to subjugate the entire world under Anglican rule.
The UAE IS an Islamic Nation. Review Item No. 2 above.
The 9/11 hijackers did not use Great Britain as an operational and financial base for the planning and funding of their attacks on the United States.
The 9/11 hijackers DID use the United Arab Emirates as an operational and financial base for the planning and funding of their attacks on the United States.
None of the 9/11 hijackers came from Great Britain.
Two of the 9/11 hijackers came from the United Arab Emirates
Great Britain did not recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. The Taliban, you may remember, provided the operational base for the operations of Al Qaeda.
The United Arab Emirates DID recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. Good move.
Great Britain recognizes the government of Israel.
The UAE does NOT recognize the government of Israel.
Supporters of this move will tell you that there are already foreign companies already running most of American port operations.
We're not talking about a foreign company here. We're talking about a foreign government. There just must be something here under the surface. Something unseen. Something undisclosed. The Bush White House just can't be this blind to the legitimate concerns of the people and of those in Congress who are concerned about this move.
As I recall, there was a lot of FRoutrage over China getting control of those ports as well.
I've been a vocal Bushie here at FR.
This one has me stumped! (as well as a couple others.)
What is the Prez thinking?
LOL
I've been listening to the debate on every network. The deal stinks. For Bush to stake his Presidency on this by playing the veto card is nuts. What an insult to his supporters.
"So this is where George Bush wants to use his first veto? "
No kidding. Of all the things he should have fought for on behalf of We the People and used his veto power, he fights for a foreign interest.
I dont know, it must have been before I was a member here, I dont remember hearing anything about it in the news.
If thsi was Clinton doing this people would be screaming not supporting the idea.
"Turning off the oil spigot" would have been impractical, if not impossible. More likely, what they would do is stop selling oil in U.S. dollars and start pricing it in euros instead.
And who could possibly blame them? They can't eat dollars, so when they sell oil to us they have to use those dollars to buy/invest in assets that are priced in dollars (U.S. government securities, U.S. real estate, etc.). If the U.S. government impedes them from buying legitimate, profitable business interests in the U.S., then our currency isn't worth a damn thing to them.
Is that supposed to be funny? How childish.
ok, they send day to day operations of their ports. Is it worth losing them as an ally? I think thats what people are forgetting, this country allows us to have AIR Bases on their soil. They also share intel with us.
I want the borders closed, and I'll vote that way,
but it will never happen, unless states do it individually.
I think the ports are a different issue, but I'm listening.
For those who claim that UAE has been a good friend in the GWOT, remember this:
UAE was one of only 3 govt's to recognize the Taliban as a legitimate gov't.
UAE was also a key shipping point of nuclear weapons components transportation for the whole A.Q.Khan fiasco.
They were so quick to jump on the band wagon and I believe they will come to regret it. When the story first surfaced, Schumer and the media blew it out of proportion without all the facts (as usual). The Coast Guard is still running the show when it comes to security on U.S. waters.
My bad, Lippo is from Indonesia and it's Pauline Kanchanalak, not Elaine. She has ties to Singapore businesses but was born in Thailand.
Wait a second-- are you saying that if we have crazy Hilary write a bunch of goofy laws screwing up DPW's buying out P&O, then some how terrorists will not be able to own computers and have offices overlooking ports?
I'm guessing a lot of people here on FR aren't aware of this, but container ports are open-air facilities where all cargo activity -- both on the ship and on the pier -- takes place outside. With a group of three or four people I could do the following (starting this afternoon):
1. Identify a container ship entering the Port of New York and New Jersey.
2. Identify the exact time of berthing at one of the seven terminals in the port.
3. Visually select a few random containers on the vessel. Identify the exact time when each of these containers was unloaded from the ship.
4. Identify the exact location on the pier where each container was placed.
5. Identify the date and exact time when each of these containers is picked up by the consignee.
6. Identify the warehouse or distribution center where each container is taken, the routes taken to get them there, and the exact time they arrived at each location.
Now I wish someone would please tell me this . . . from a national security standpoint, what kind of information could someone possibly want that is worth paying $6.8 billion to acquire?
I wonder if Dubya struck a deal with Dubai to build an air or naval base there? After all, it is just a hop, skip and jump across the Strait to Iran. Has he already got the invasion of Iran planned?
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