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Security concerns from DHS ignored in rush to turn over ports

February 25, 2006 09:49 PM / FUBAR .
In the Bush Administration, where the "war on terrorism" reportedly rules all decision, the Department of Homeland Security stood alone in opposing turning over control of six U.S. ports to a United Area Emigrates company.  American intelligence agencies, however, supported the deal.

Reports Ted Birdis of The Associated Press:

The Homeland Security Department objected at first to a United Arab Emirates company's taking over significant operations at six U.S. ports. It was the lone protest among members of the government committee that eventually approved the deal without dissent.

The department's early objections were settled later in the government's review of the $6.8 billion deal after Dubai-owned DP World agreed to a series of security restrictions.

On Saturday, congressional leaders, the company and Bush administration officials reached for a compromise intended to derail plans by Republicans and Democrats for legislation next week that would force a new investigation of security issues relating to the deal. Talks were to continue through the weekend.

Under one proposal being discussed, DP World would seek new approval of the deal from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, given the company's surprise decision Thursday to indefinitely postpone its takeover of U.S. port operations. Other proposals included a new, intensive 45-day review of the deal by the government _ something the White House had refused to consider as recently as Friday.

Yet while DHS raised objections, American intelligence agencies signed off on the deal.

Reports Walter Pincus in The Washington Post:

Reviews by U.S. intelligence agencies supported Dubai Ports World's purchase of the British company running terminals at six American seaports, and the assessments were made available to the Treasury Department-run interagency committee that approved the deal, according to senior administration officials.

The intelligence studies were coordinated by the Intelligence Community Acquisition Risk Center, a new organization under the office of the Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte, said one official. The center normally does broad threat analyses of foreign commercial entities that seek to do business with U.S. intelligence agencies.

Rep. Rush D. Holt (D-N.J.), a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, yesterday asked the panel's chairman, Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.), to have a full briefing on intelligence reviews of the port deal and provide "any classified intelligence community assessments that are pertinent." Holt's concern is finding out how closely potential terrorism threats were examined, according to congressional sources.

While contents of the intelligence assessments remain classified, current and former intelligence officials yesterday spoke highly of the level of counterterrorism cooperation provided after Sept. 11, 2001, by Dubai and several of the other states that make up the United Arab Emirates.

A former senior CIA official recalled that, although money transfers from Dubai were used by the Sept. 11 hijackers, Dubai's security services "were one of the best in the UAE to work with" after the attacks. He said that once the agency moved against Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan and his black-market sales of nuclear technology, "they helped facilitate the CIA's penetration of Khan's network."

Dubai also assisted in the capture of al-Qaeda terrorists. An al-Qaeda statement released in Arabic in spring 2002 refers to UAE officials as wanting to "appease the Americans' wishes" including detaining "a number of Mujahideen," according to captured documents made available last week by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. The al-Qaeda statement threatened the UAE, saying that "you are an easier target than them; your homeland is exposed to us."

One intelligence official pointed out that when the U.S. Navy no longer made regular use of Yemen after the USS Cole was attacked in 2000, it moved its port calls for supplies and repairs to Dubai.

Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Tuesday praised the "superb" military-to-military relationship with the UAE, saying, "In everything that we have asked and work with them on, they have proven to be very, very solid partners."

The new emir of Dubai, Sheik Mohammad bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who as crown prince was the UAE defense minister, also played a major role in pushing financial deals such as the Dubai Ports World's purchase of the firm, Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. of London.


© Copyright 2006 by Capitol Hill Blue

Comments

(1) It's 21 ports, not 6 (not that the corporate TV media will bother to report the story): http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060223-051657-4981r

(2) Why won't ANYONE discuss the question (leaving security aside for a moment)of sovereignty and the effort on foreign policy when a FOREIGN GOVERNMENT owns/controls important national infrastructure. What kind of freedom do we have in our foreign policy when the UAE can hint to our government (totally behind the scenes) that it doesn't like our actions with regard to Israel-Palestine, any other Arab nation, international anti-terrorism, etc., and would halt or slow down port operations?

Gees, guys, we've got anti-American forces running our infrastructure and the anti-American globalized media won't even talk about it!

Do they think we're stupid enough not to notice? (Yes.) Do they think that, even if we notice, we are powerless and they control the actions of our OWN GOVERNMENT? (Yes, a thousand times "yest.")

Are we fools for letting anti-American forces control our government's decisions? Yes!

Posted by Robin Crane at February 27, 2006 08:33 AM

(1) It's 21 ports, not 6 (not that the corporate TV media will bother to report the story): http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060223-051657-4981r

(2) Why won't ANYONE discuss the question (leaving security aside for a moment)of sovereignty and the effort on foreign policy when a FOREIGN GOVERNMENT owns/controls important national infrastructure. What kind of freedom do we have in our foreign policy when the UAE can hint to our government (totally behind the scenes) that it doesn't like our actions with regard to Israel-Palestine, any other Arab nation, international anti-terrorism, etc., and would halt or slow down port operations?

Gees, guys, we've got anti-American forces running our infrastructure and the anti-American globalized media won't even talk about it!

Do they think we're stupid enough not to notice? (Yes.) Do they think that, even if we notice, we are powerless and they control the actions of our OWN GOVERNMENT? (Yes, a thousand times "yest.")

Are we fools for letting anti-American forces control our government's decisions? Yes!

Posted by Robin Crane at February 27, 2006 08:34 AM

(1) It's 21 ports, not 6 (not that the corporate TV media will bother to report the story): http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?StoryID=20060223-051657-4981r

(2) Why won't ANYONE discuss the question (leaving security aside for a moment)of sovereignty and the effect on foreign policy when a FOREIGN GOVERNMENT owns/controls important national infrastructure. What kind of freedom do we have in our foreign policy when the UAE can, at any moment, hint to our government (totally behind the scenes) that it doesn't like our actions with regard to Israel-Palestine, any other Arab nation, international anti-terrorism, etc., and would halt or slow down port operations?

Gees, guys, we've got anti-American forces running our infrastructure and the anti-American globalized media won't even talk about it!

Do they think we're stupid enough not to notice? (Yes.) Do they think that, even if we notice, we are powerless and they control the actions of our OWN GOVERNMENT? (Yes, a thousand times "yes.")

Are we fools for letting anti-American forces control our government's decisions? Yes!

Posted by Robin Crane at February 27, 2006 08:35 AM

.
What is the Problem with this administration?

Someone needs to read our. history books
I don’t need to read them I remember the problems we had. I remember the United States sending our scrap metal and tin cans to a friendly totalitarian government. Then this friendly government sent us back our scrap metal and our tin cans on December 7, 1941, this mistake cost a lot of young American lives. Since then we all know what a great represenitive government and Japan has. Japan is now one of our best allies, and we used to do a lot of trading with Japan and they sent us quality products.

Now look at China, poor quality and the trade deficit is outrageous. You don’t have to be very smart to know Free Trade will not work. It is like communism it looks good on paper but it will not work in the real world. You have to have checks and balances in dealing with any country, it can not be a one sided affair. Free trade encourages American companies to set the operation up in foreign countries without penalties, this make the company more money because of the cheap labor and takes jobs from American works. This and the sea ports hurt the GNP or do you know what that is?

Wake up! We must have American Companies owning our Sea Ports! Our Air Ports, and our Borders must be made secure by the Federal Government. If we have to subsidize a company to get our Sea Ports under our control then so be it. We have supported others companies to keep them from going bankrupt.

Yours truly

Lesley Varwig
3102 Whippoorwill St.
Lacanto, Florida

Posted by Lesley Varwig at February 27, 2006 07:39 PM

.
What is the Problem with this administration?

Someone needs to read our. history books
I don’t need to read them I remember the problems we had. I remember the United States sending our scrap metal and tin cans to a friendly totalitarian government. Then this friendly government sent us back our scrap metal and our tin cans on December 7, 1941, this mistake cost a lot of young American lives. Since then we all know what a great represenitive government and Japan has. Japan is now one of our best allies, and we used to do a lot of trading with Japan and they sent us quality products.

Now look at China, poor quality and the trade deficit is outrageous. You don’t have to be very smart to know Free Trade will not work. It is like communism it looks good on paper but it will not work in the real world. You have to have checks and balances in dealing with any country, it can not be a one sided affair. Free trade encourages American companies to set the operation up in foreign countries without penalties, this make the company more money because of the cheap labor and takes jobs from American works. This and the sea ports hurt the GNP or do you know what that is?

Wake up! We must have American Companies owning our Sea Ports! Our Air Ports, and our Borders must be made secure by the Federal Government. If we have to subsidize a company to get our Sea Ports under our control then so be it. We have supported others companies to keep them from going bankrupt.

Yours truly

Lesley Varwig
3102 Whippoorwill St.
Lacanto, Florida

Posted by Lesley Varwig at February 27, 2006 07:40 PM

.
What is the Problem with this administration?

Someone needs to read our. history books
I don’t need to read them I remember the problems we had. I remember the United States sending our scrap metal and tin cans to a friendly totalitarian government. Then this friendly government sent us back our scrap metal and our tin cans on December 7, 1941, this mistake cost a lot of young American lives. Since then we all know what a great represenitive government and Japan has. Japan is now one of our best allies, and we used to do a lot of trading with Japan and they sent us quality products.

Now look at China, poor quality and the trade deficit is outrageous. You don’t have to be very smart to know Free Trade will not work. It is like communism it looks good on paper but it will not work in the real world. You have to have checks and balances in dealing with any country, it can not be a one sided affair. Free trade encourages American companies to set the operation up in foreign countries without penalties, this make the company more money because of the cheap labor and takes jobs from American works. This and the sea ports hurt the GNP or do you know what that is?

Wake up! We must have American Companies owning our Sea Ports! Our Air Ports, and our Borders must be made secure by the Federal Government. If we have to subsidize a company to get our Sea Ports under our control then so be it. We have supported others companies to keep them from going bankrupt.

Yours truly

Lesley Varwig
3102 Whippoorwill St.
Lacanto, Florida

Posted by Lesley Varwig at February 27, 2006 07:40 PM

What is the Problem with this administration? Someone needs to read our. history books

I don’t need to read them I remember the problems we had. I remember the United States sending our scrap metal and tin cans to a friendly totalitarian government. Then this friendly government sent us back our scrap metal and our tin cans on December 7, 1941, this mistake cost a lot of young American lives. Since then we all know what a great represenitive government and Japan has. Japan is now one of our best allies, and we used to do a lot of trading with Japan and they sent us quality products.

Now look at China, poor quality and the trade deficit is outrageous. You don’t have to be very smart to know Free Trade will not work. It is like communism it looks good on paper but it will not work in the real world. You have to have checks and balances in dealing with any country, it can not be a one sided affair. Free trade encourages American companies to set the operation up in foreign countries without penalties, this make the company more money because of the cheap labor and takes jobs from American works. This and the sea ports hurt the GNP or do you know what that is?

Wake up! We must have American Companies owning our Sea Ports! Our Air Ports, and our Borders must be made secure by the Federal Government. If we have to subsidize a company to get our Sea Ports under our control then so be it. We have supported others companies to keep them from going bankrupt.


Yours truly

Lesley Varwig
3102 Whippoorwill St.
Lacanto, Florida

Posted by Lesley Varwig at February 27, 2006 07:45 PM

In a global economy - oversea's companies will own bits and pieces in the US, just as it US compaines own bits and pieces overseas. {Nor that does it matter that DPW is government owned..which is not giving the right picture. DPW is owned by the ruling family, and they own a LOT, they just happen to run Dubai (not the whole of UAE)}. Chinese companies operate ports all along the west coast. Container ships from parts unknown fly under false flags and come into US ports every day. The question is not WHO oversee's the management of the ports..it's WHO oversee's the security of the ports. That is still the US government...so maybe congress should review HOW security is managed by the government, rather then wasting time on review who manages the port.

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