OK, here we go jumping the gun without the information.
I will say this is preliminary, I'll get a hold of the facts before making final judgment.
But it seems clear that this "deal" was brokered, possibly by John Warner (I know he was working on this), BEFORE the house action.
If I understand correctly, it is simply that DP World will sell off the U.S. subsidiaries that own the leases to the terminals. They were a small part of the total deal, and DP World is making a business decision so they can move on. Business doesn't usually fight governments, there isn't money in it.
They will make a little money by selling the companies, and the terminals will probably suffer while the new owner comes up to speed, and nothing will change at the terminals for security (we will lose all the security gains we would have gotten when DP World ran the ports).
And we have left a bitter taste in the mouth of one of our allies, for NO REASON. We could have just asked for the extra 45 days, and worked this deal behind the scenes, and ended up at the same place.
This is just like Harriet Miers. She was never going to make it, because she wasn't qualified. But because the opponents ran off like headless chickens, we got a black eye over the issue and we hurt people needlessly.
Just the same, we could have pushed the ports deal behind the scenes, but people wanted to make public attacks instead, and now we've done REAL HARM to the war on terror.
And the opponents will run around talking about how they SAVED us again.
Bingo. Nor will they forget it.
Congress acted like spoiled children. They are a disgrace.