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The Dubai Ports World controversy of 2006 is making a comeback, only this time the Arab principal has actually gained control of the container contract for a major U.S. port. The site is Port Canaveral, near the Kennedy Space Center on Florida’s east coast, which is frequented by U.S. and NATO-ally nuclear submarines. A 35-year contract signed last year and set to go operational next month allows a United Arab Emirates-based company managed by Badr Jafar to operate a cargo terminal managing containers. The UAE has been a major donor to the troubled Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation. And...

ABU DHABI — A leading Gulf firm in the United Arab Emirates whose plans to operate six U.S. ports was last year rebuffed by Congress, has been certified as a partner in a U.S. port security program. The state-owned Dubai Ports World has been certified as a partner in the Customs-Trade Partnership against Terrorism. DP World underwent a successful audit that determined the company met international ISO 28000 security standards required by C-TPAT. In 2007, DP abandoned plans to purchase a British company that operated six major ports in the United States, Middle East Newsline reported. Congress was opposed to...

MIAMI - Miscommunication led to the detainment of three men at the Port of Miami on Sunday after authorities became suspicious of their documentation and the contents of their cargo truck, officials said. Authorities initially said the men — two Iraqis and one Lebanese national who are legal permanent U.S. residents — had been caught trying to slip past a checkpoint at the port's entrance. A port security officer became suspicious when the truck driver could not produce proper paperwork in a routine inspection to enter the port about 8 a.m., Miami-Dade police spokeswoman Nancy Goldberg said. The driver also...

Three men detained at Port of Miami after giving suspicious statements By Vanessa Blum South Florida Sun-Sentinel Posted January 7 2007, 4:22 PM EST MIAMI -- Three men were detained Sunday after trying to gain access to the Port of Miami, according to a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The driver drew suspicion at the port's delivery entrance around 8 a.m. after making inconsistent statements, said Judy Orihuela. The driver could not produce the requested paperwork to identify himself and his cargo. The vehicle was subsequently searched and two additional men were found in the truck's cab, Orihuela...

DUBAI DUETS Late Friday, Department of Justice lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel were attempting to determine if former President Bill Clinton had registered as an "Agent of a Foreign Principal." Federal statute requires that anyone -- even a former President -- doing political or public affairs work on behalf of a foreign country, agency or official must register with the Department, and essentially update his status every six months. It was not clear the Clinton had done so. If his status is less clear, here is what we do know: If Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton did not know...

DUBAI — DP World, on target to achieve 40 per cent growth in four years, will spend up to $3 billion to boost container traffic at the 52 port terminals it currently operates around the globe. Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Chairman of the world's third largest port operator, said the new investments would be used to expand cargo handling facilities and new equipment at the existing ports spread across 30 countries —currently boasting a combined annual throughput of more than 50 million TEUs. Announcing the formal launch of Dubai World — the holding group comprising a collection of companies, including...

USArabiaPart I - The Islamization of AmericaSo they've cancelled the Dubai Ports World deal.Feel better now? Safer?I don't.Because the problem is not just Dubai Ports World. It isn't even the recent reports that indicate the National Guard has been stretched too thin by the loss of both manpower and equipment to Iraq, or the upcoming release of two "Virginia Jihad" members, or the enrolment at Yale University of a former Taliban spokesman.It isn't the recent relaxation of security rules on airplanes (knives, scissors and knitting needles allowed on board and fewer bag searches at airports), and the continuing lack of...

There is a tale that George Bernard Shaw asked a lady, a doyenne of society, if he could bed her for a million pounds. When she replied “but of course” he offered her ten pounds. “Who do you think I am?” asked the enraged grande dame. Shaw retorted: We’ve established that and now we are just negotiating your fee.” This story is apposite as our former top officials troll for money among the Arab states. In the September 2004 Outpost I wrote about former diplomats and legislators who lobby for Saudi Arabia. This seedy group has recently been joined by...

   Idiom(t?)s March 23, 2006 The now eviscerated DPW (Dubai Ports World) deal brings to mind some good idioms for the idiots in Congress who: (1) should shut their mouths and open their eyes; (2) can't see beyond the end of their noses and (3) cut off their noses to spite their faces.  The first being an insurmountable challenge for Chuck Schumer.  It’s absolutely amazing that the entire political population of Washington, D.C can’t stop talking long enough to just open their eyes and look at a map.  I would suggest a map of the Strait of Hormuz. If you really...

DUBAI — DP World, which has just weathered a storm over its aborted takeover of six US ports following a $6.8 billion acquisition of P&O global operations, is facing unexpected yet snowballing opposition from India on fears that the Dubai-based company will have a monopoly of the subcontinent's container terminal operations. With the acquisition of P&O assets, DP World has under its control India's three major container terminals: Nhava Sheva, Mumbai; Chennai Container Terminal, Chennai; and Mundra International Container Terminal, Gujarat; apart from a share in the Vishaka Container Terminal at Vishakapatnam and the new container terminal in Vallarpadam, Kerala...

This is a partial transcript of "Special Report With Brit Hume" from March 10, 2006, that has been edited for clarity. JIM ANGLE, GUEST HOST: Different people draw different lessons from the two-week debate over port security and whether to let a company from the United Arab Emirates own the unloading operations at six U.S. ports. Several experts repeatedly tried to tell Congress that it was focusing on the wrong thing. One of them is John Carafano of the Heritage Foundation and author of "Winning The Long War." He argues that the U.S. is less safe without the deal than...

The top objective of the U.S. Coast Guard's anti-terrorism strategy is to protect what's called the "U.S. Maritime Domain," including American ports. But it is hard to take seriously the idea that ports are being effectively protected when the Coast Guard spent more tax dollars last year fighting the war on drugs than has been spent in total on port security since Sept. 11, 2001. Since becoming part of the Department of Homeland Security in early 2003, the Coast Guard reports interdicting at sea some 340 tons of cocaine bound for the United States. For 2005 alone, it was 150...

In the past three weeks, there has been a political firestorm caused by misreported facts about the purchase of P&O by Dubai Port Works, and scurrilous attacks on the UAE by pundits, which has led to the betrayal of America's most loyal and useful an ally in the Persian Gulf. The fallout from this betrayal will make it difficult to recruit future allies in the war on terror. The attacks on the UAE have the potential to do what Osama bin Laden has not been able to do with over a decade of bombings, the hijacked airliners, and fatwas. Just...

The controversy over Dubai Ports World was a great victory for them—but a defeat for candor and sensible security and economic policies. Untruth by Robert Samuelson March 20, 2006 issue - The idea of letting an Arab-owned company, Dubai Ports World, run container terminals at five U.S. ports struck many Americans as an absurdity. Why not just turn control directly over to Al Qaeda? In late February, a CBS News poll found that 70 percent of respondents were against the deal and only 21 percent in favor. The company's withdrawal last week can be seen as a triumph of public...

According to a Gulf News poll, 64 per cent of readers say the DP World affair "changed their opinion for the worst" about investing in the United States. A number of businessmen told the newspaper yesterday that Arab investors would think about other destinations. The majority agreed that DP World has been forced out of the US port operations due to "racism". President George W. Bush admitted Congress has sent the "wrong message" to the rest of the world. We don't feel that DP World lost. It in fact won the respect of the international business community when it won...

First it was P&O and now the Doncasters Group. The US phobia over the potential security risks in the two Dubai acquisitions exposes the Americans' typical approach towards free trade and globalisation. When things work out in their favour these are sanctified tenets that nobody can touch. But when it involves American interests, free trade is just a matter of convenience.The acquisition of Britain's Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co by Dubai Ports World at a cost of $6.8 billion is, of course, a milestone in the company's history. But the change of management hardly makes a difference on the...

DP World will not manage six ports in the US as initially agreed, but the aborted deal has achieved for Dubai an outstanding triumph by any yardstick. First, and as Ghassan Tahboub, media manager in the executive office of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, said, it is an invaluable lesson. "It was an exercise you have to live with, win and then learn from. This was America. There are lobbies, politics and interest groups, and Dubai found itself in the middle of a jungle. In the end I have...

Chicago: Dubai Ports World is unlikely to find many bidders for its six US port terminals embroiled in a political storm over US security concerns, making a sale or spinoff difficult, ship brokers said on Friday. DP World pledged on Thursday to transfer those operations to a US entity to allay concerns that its control of the ports posed a threat to US national security. Potential buyers seem limited to three US companies, brokers said, citing SSA Marine Inc of Seattle, a unit of Carrix Inc; Maher Terminals Inc of Berkeley Heights, New Jersey; and Marine Terminals Corp of Oakland,...

Dubai: Blocking of the DP World ports deal appears to have put the UAE-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations in jeopardy. The scheduled fifth round of the FTA negotiations between the UAE and the US, which was to begin tomorrow in Abu Dhabi, has been postponed. Although UAE government officials didn't comment on the delay, Ministry of Finance and Industry officials told Gulf News that the joint FTA process will continue. The US Trade Representative's team, due in the UAE yesterday, did not arrive. No alternative date for the talks has been set. Shaikha Lubna Al Qasimi, UAE Minister of...

Dubai: US Congressmen have sent a wrong message to the Arab world by opposing DP World's bid to manage container terminal operations at six American ports. The hostility against DP World will further dent US credibility in the region, said Abdul Khaleq Abdullah, a professor of political science at UAE University. "Dubai was forced out [of US port operations] as a result of racism and politicisation of a purely business transaction," he said. DP World said on Thursday it would transfer P&O's American assets to a US entity. Contacted by Gulf News yesterday, DP World chairman Sultan Ahmad Bin Sulayem...