FOX Poll: Most Oppose Port Deal; Republicans Lose Ground

Fox News Website ^ | 3/02/2006 | Dana Blanton

[Dave S]

03/02/06 FOX Poll: Most Oppose Port Deal; Republicans Lose Ground Thursday, March 02, 2006 By Dana Blanton PHOTOS

Most Americans oppose allowing a Dubai company to run some U.S. ports, even as a majority understands the U.S. would continue to control port security, according to a new FOX News poll. One in four sees the United Arab Emirates as a strong ally, but most either disagree or are unsure.

In addition, the poll shows Republicans have lost ground on the issue of terrorism, and by a wide margin voters now think it would be better for the country if Democrats win control of Congress in this year’s midterm election.

For only the second time of his presidency, the poll finds that President Bush’s overall job approval rating has fallen below 40 percent — today 39 percent of Americans say they approve and a 54 percent majority disapproves. Late last year the president’s approval hit a record-low of 36 percent (8-9 November 2005).

[sinkspur]

WTC investigators should follow the money trail. It could provide critical information about the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Another KOOK. You think the Jews were behind 9/11?

LOL!!!!

[processing please hold]

Tinfoiler? Then post #394 should interest you. They broke the lease early...fact. Tinfoil not needed.

[sheik yerbouty]

I think not. I would have less of a problem if this involved Trinidads or Taiwan..

[sinkspur]

Link posted upthread.

Post it here. I'm not going "upthread."

[Democratshavenobrains]

"I don't understand why "americans" who respond to these moronic "polls" are all over Bush for this and they were all as quiet as mice when Slick Willie was letting the RED CHINESE do the same thing at the ports in Long Beach. Sorry folks! I don't get it. To me, it's some kind of freaky Commie Pelosi/Boxer thing. This is a "scandal" created by the morons at the DNC and in the Liberal MSM that is being pimped by "outraged" Republicans."

You captured my thoughts exactly. And his WIFE is the one leading the charge.

[processing please hold]

Not the Jews. A business. Money makes the world go 'round.

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

The Taliban (plural) and Al Qaeda, to name a few.

Emirates Looked Other Way While Al Qaeda Funds Flowed

LA Times: 20 January 2002

by Stephen Braun

Until Sept. 11, Osama bin Laden's terrorists in Afghanistan used the Persian Gulf crossroads of the United Arab Emirates as their lifeline to the outside world. Poor oversight in the loose federation of seven tiny sheikdoms allowed Bin Laden's Al Qaeda network and Taliban agents to set up clandestine arms-trading and money-laundering operations, according to accounts from American, United Nations, Afghan and U.A.E. sources.

In the emirate of Sharjah, Afghan-based militants linked up with Victor Bout, a Russian arms dealer accused of repeatedly violating United Nations weapon sanctions. And millions in Al Qaeda funds cascaded through the freewheeling financial institutions of the neighboring emirate of Dubai. Terrorists used a Somali warlord's money exchange, an Islamic bank once headed by the emirates' finance minister and currency houses that touted their ability to wire $1 million abroad overnight.

The U.S. investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon already has exposed trails leading back to the U.A.E. More than $120,000 was channeled through emirate bank accounts to suicide pilot Mohamed Atta and other suspected hijackers.

The suicide attacks finally prompted U.A.E. officials to crack down on Al Qaeda and its front ventures. But the sudden burst of urgency followed years of passivity.

The U.A.E. was one of only three countries that maintained diplomatic relations with the now-toppled Taliban regime. Despite quiet but persistent prodding by U.S. and other Western diplomats, the emirates' ruling elite was hesitant to reckon with the growing terrorist presence. Regulations that would target terrorists would also interfere with a laissez-faire economy that has bolstered the wealth of their entwined desert kingdoms.

Strategically located between the Arabian Peninsula and South Asia, the emirates' oil-rich confederation is barely 30 years old, a cash-stoked economic wonderland. The emirates are one of the world's busiest sea and air trade hubs, where both legal and illicit freight travels on ancient dhow sailing ships and aging Soviet-era cargo planes.

The emirates' rapid economic progress won admiration from American officials. But the U.S. also grew concerned as prominent entrepreneurs forged financial ties with Islamic militants.

The emirates "moved much too slowly and without adequate dedication to really putting controls into place," said Jonathan Winer, a former deputy assistant secretary of State for international law enforcement.

The U.S. pressed the emirates for tighter banking controls but moved delicately, not wanting to offend an ally in an already-complicated relationship. The emirates allow U.S. naval ships to berth in its harbors but also oppose America's pro-Israel tilt.

[Democratshavenobrains]

I don't see why more people would be identifying as Democrats than Republicans. Republicans have lost some battles, but Democrats have lost nearly all of them over the last 5 years. At least Republicans succeeded with our Supreme Court picks, pro-life agenda, and tax cuts. What victory have the Democrats accomplished? Scooter Libby? LOL

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

No she's not.

She was silent on this issue for days.

The fact that she jumped on the bandwagon once people like Peter King, Mark Foley, and Charles Schumer began to sound the alarum about this sham deal doesn't make bipartisan, widespread opposition to it any less credible.

[jec41]

Hmmm...you can't see the problems inherent in your arguments?

The total population of UAE citizens are only 860 thousand. 1/14 the population of NY and the whole thread is shi$$ing their britches over these few. They are going to kill us 300 million in the US. We have 2.1 million Afro Americans Muslims alone. More than 2.5 times the citizens of UAE. they could all be absorbed by one large American City.

[nopardons]

Chicago, though a metropolitan city, with an extensive police force, a one party system of extreme cohesiveness, with eyes and ears in every neighborhood, has had very little success in ferreting out and fixing the excesses of the NOI, street gangs, and al Qaeda members living and plotting under the nose of the duly elected mayor and aldermen and the entire police force. *shrugs*

The same is true for London.

[nopardons]

Tinfoil isn't "the truth".

[Light Speed]

Not the Jews. A business. Money makes the world go 'round.

Exactly : )

Speakin of....follow the money,

Mid-1996-October 2001: Ariana Airlines Becomes Transport Arm of al-Qaeda

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-111801osamair,0,7388562.story In 1996, al-Qaeda assumes control of Ariana Airlines, Afghanistan's national airline, for use in its illegal trade network. Passenger flights become few and erratic, as planes are used to fly drugs, weapons, gold, and personnel, primarily between Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Pakistan. The Emirate of Sharjah, in the UAE, becomes a hub for al-Qaeda drug and arms smuggling. Typically, “large quantities of drugs” are flown from Kandahar, Afghanistan, to Sharjah, and large quantities of weapons are flown back to Afghanistan. [Los Angeles Times, 11/18/01] About three to four flights run the route each day. Many weapons come from Victor Bout, a notorious Russian arms dealer based in Sharjah. [Los Angeles Times, 1/20/02] Afghan taxes on opium production are paid in gold, and then the gold bullion is flown to Dubai, UAE, and laundered into cash. [Washington Post, 2/17/02] Taliban officials regularly provide militants with false papers identifying them as Ariana Airlines employees so they can move freely around the world. A former National Security Council official later claims the US is well aware at the time that al-Qaeda agents regularly fly on Ariana Airlines, but the US fails to act for several years. The US does press the UAE for tighter banking controls, but moves “delicately, not wanting to offend an ally in an already complicated relationship,” and little changes by 9/11. [Los Angeles Times, 11/18/01] Much of the money for the 9/11 hijackers flows though these Sharjah, UAE, channels. There also are reports suggesting that Ariana Airlines might have been used to train Islamic militants as pilots. The illegal use of Ariana Airlines helps convince the United Nations to impose sanctions against Afghanistan in 1999, but the sanctions lack teeth and do not stop the airline. A second round of sanctions finally stops foreign Ariana Airlines flights, but its charter flights and other charter services keep the illegal network running. [Los Angeles Times, 11/18/01] People and organizations involved: al-Qaeda, Ariana Airlines, Victor Bout, United Nations, United Arab Emirates, Taliban.

Why so sad Victor......Smile : )

[jec41]

This entire deal stinks.

Yeah, DP bid the highest bid. Corporations don't usually take the lowest bid. However it's over. The contracts and purchase agreements were signed midnight last night and P&Q has 4 days to pull its stock. Game over!!!! DP owns P&Q port terminal leases in the US and

[processing please hold]

The contracts and purchase agreements were signed midnight last night and P&Q has 4 days to pull its stock. Game over!!!! DP owns P&Q port terminal leases in the US and

Yup *sigh*

[jec41]

This deal is toast.

Where have you been. the contracs were signed midnight last night. the purchase has already gone through. DP owns P&Q. They are the new owner and have already stared changing the logos.

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

Yes, but Chicago-despite some unusual characteristics-is not a uniform dictatorship.

The Trucial states are not bound by any laws except those established by the ruling monarchy.

If they want to seize banking assets, close down shady bank accounts, imprison and torture potential terrorists, expel foreigners who are running drug and prostitution rings, they can do so at a moment's notice, and are not obligated to explain these actions to anyone.

Hence, their radical turnaround post 9/11, Sheik Nayhan's immediate closure of his political forum that showcased anti-Semitic and anti-American speakers-after a spate of extremely bad publicity-and their newfound concern for ethical propriety in business dealings.

The relative alacrity with which they accomplished all of the above is an illustration of how they can do something IF they want to.

[Dominic Harr]

Game over!!!!

I'm guessing this is just the 1st quarter.

Next, everyone on the planet who has a motive will dig for their very lives to find some evidence of wrongdoing by this company.

If they succeed, bad news for Bush, but we get safer ports.

If they fail -- then there will be a rebound. If all this smoke is without fire, then the D's look like idiots who cry wolf, while it'll be forgotten that there were R's who look just as stupid.

And this will be the biggest media scandal since Memo-gate. I mean, "Bush is Selling our Ports to Arab Company"??? Come on!

Well, forgotten by most folks. Freepers and our ilk sometimes have looong memories.

[mississippi red-neck]

Since you asked.

This part of a news article written at the time.

There where some others but my memory isn't that good but it seems as if the planning for the Cole bombing was thought to have taken place for a period of several months in the U.A.E.

Also at he time it was thought that there where a good number of Al Qaeda cells located in the Emirates and if I remember correctly they where not very co-operative with the U.S. before or after the bombing in finding these creeps.

Six Yemeni suspects in the bombing of the USS Cole have been identified by sources close to the investigation, who say they share a background as fighters in the anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Jamal al-Badawi, the most senior of the 6 suspects jailed in Yemen told investigators he received telephone instructions for the Oct. 12 bombing from a man in the United Arab Emirates, the Yemeni sources said. Al-Badawi said he had met the man in Afghanistan during the war but had not seen him since, the sources said.

Two suicide bombers detonated their explosives-packed boat next to the U.S. warship as it refueled in Aden harbor at Yemen's southern tip, killing 17 U.S. sailors and wounding 39. Al-Badawi identified his contact as Mohammed Omar al-Harazi, who used the aliases ''Abu al-Mohsin'' and ''Abu al-Hasan,'' the sources said. Al-Harazi remains at-large. Al-Harazi is a Saudi citizen born to a Yemeni family in the rugged Haraz mountain region west of San'a, the capital.

BTW Al-Badawi who was under a death penalty escaped in Yemen along with 22 others last month on Feb.5.

Seems our Arab friends like the Saudis, the PA the Yemeni etc. have a problem hanging on to the killers of Jews, Christians or American infidels.

[Dominic Harr]

I'm curious -- if, 5 or 10 years from now, there is never any complaint or incident connected to this company, this deal, these port operations . . . how will you view your reaction to all this?