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Date Posted: 12:53:16 02/23/06 Thu
Author: carson1
Subject: ARRGH! They must think we are so stupid.....
ARGGGH! Another oopsy by Bush and his cronies. You know it's not the deal, it's the damn secrecy. Furthermore, how come Bush never seems to know anything about what's happening in his own, damn administration. Here's the article, by the by...
WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Thursday sought to calm an uproar over an Arab company taking over operations at six major American ports, saying "people don't need to worry about security."
Under a secretive agreement with the administration, a company in the United Arab Emirates promised to cooperate with U.S. investigations as a condition of its takeover of operations at six major American ports, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
The U.S. government chose not to impose other, routine restrictions.
"The more people learn about the transaction," Bush said, "the more they'll be comforted that the ports will be secure." He spoke to reporters at the end of a Cabinet meeting.
Bush said he was struck by the fact that people were not concerned about port security when a British company was running the port operation, but they felt differently about an Arab company at the helm.
He said the United Arab Emirates was a valuable partner in the war in terror.
He said his administration would continue talks with members of Congress - Republicans and Democrats alike - who have rebelled against the takeover. He said the briefings were "bringing a sense of calm to this issue."
"This wouldn't be going forward if we weren't certain our ports would be secure," the president said.
In approving the $6.8 billion purchase, the administration chose not to require state-owned Dubai Ports World to keep copies of its business records on U.S. soil, where they would be subject to orders by American courts.
It also did not require the company to designate an American citizen to accommodate requests by the government.
Outside legal experts said such obligations are routinely attached to U.S. approvals of foreign sales in other industries.
Dubai Ports agreed to give up records on demand about "foreign operational direction" of its business at the U.S. ports, according to the documents. Those records broadly include details about the design, maintenance or operation of ports and equipment. It also pledged to continue participating in programs to stop smuggling and detect illegal shipments of nuclear materials.
"They're not lax but they're not draconian," said James Lewis, a former U.S. official who worked on such agreements. If White House officials negotiating the deal had predicted the firestorm of criticism over it, "they might have made them sound harder."
The conditions over the sale of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. were detailed in U.S. documents marked "confidential." Such records are regularly guarded as trade secrets, and it is highly unusual for them to be made public.
The Republican head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, John Warner of Virginia, planned an oversight hearing Thursday. Warner has expressed support for the agreement, describing the UAE as an important ally against terrorism.
Rep. Peter King of New York, the Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said the conditions are evidence the Bush administration was concerned about security. "There is a very serious question as to why the records are not going to be maintained on American soil subject to American jurisdiction," King said.
Another critic, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., added: "These new revelations ask more questions than they answer."
The disclosure of the negotiated conditions came as the White House acknowledged that Bush was unaware of the pending sale until the deal had been already approved by his administration.
Bush has pledged to veto any bill Congress might approve to block the agreement, but some lawmakers said they still were determined to capsize it.
Dubai Port's top American executive, chief operating officer Edward H. Bilkey, said he will work in Washington to persuade skeptical lawmakers they should endorse the deal; several Senate oversight hearings already are scheduled.
"We're disappointed," Bilkey told the AP in an interview. "We're going to do our best to persuade them that they jumped the gun. The UAE is a very solid friend, as President Bush has said."
Under the deal, the government asked Dubai Ports to operate American seaports with existing U.S. managers "to the extent possible." The company promised to take "all reasonable steps" to assist the Homeland Security Department.
The administration required Dubai Ports to designate an executive to handle requests from the U.S. government, but it did not specify this person's citizenship.
It said Dubai Ports must retain paperwork "in the normal course of business" but did not specify a time period or require corporate records to be housed in the United States. Outside experts said stricter provisions are routine in other industries.
Foreign communications companies with American customers are commonly required to store business records in the United States. A senior U.S. official said the Bush administration considers shipping manifests less sensitive. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the confidential nature of the agreement.
Bush faces a potential rebellion over the sale from leaders of his own party, as well as a fight from Democrats. It puts Dubai Ports in charge of major terminal operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.
In Lebanon, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday that the agreement was thoroughly vetted in a review process that took approximately three months. "This is supposed to be a process that raises security concerns, if they are there, but does not presume that a country in the Middle East should not be capable of doing a deal like this." She described the United Arab Emirates as "a very good ally" and said "if more details need to be made available then I'm sure they will be."
The White House said President Bush did not know about the agreement until recently. The AP first reported U.S. approval of the sale to Dubai Ports on Feb. 11, and many members of Congress have said they learned about it from the AP.
"I think somebody dropped the ball," said Rep. Vito Fossella, R-N.Y. "Information should have flowed more freely and more quickly up into the White House. I think it has been mishandled in terms of coming forward with adequate information."
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Re: ARRGH! They must think we are so stupid..... -- lump, 13:59:02 02/23/06 Thu [1]
Yeah - and you know, if it weren't just damn scary - this is enough to knock the Republicans out of the next few years of elections. That's the boost the Democrats need.
EXCEPT...why is Carter saying this is great? OH! 2 words - Panama Canal. I give our nation 2...maybe 3 more generations before we are not the USA anymore. We'll call ourselves Hello, Customer Service. Or better yet, we'll call ourselves Yes Sir. The good ol' YS.
UNLESS...you know my generation will begin to take over in the next few years - our generation. Let's hope the selfish baby boomers didn't ruin too much (sorry to you that are in that age group - I don't mean anyone from this site).
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Re: ARRGH! They must think we are so stupid..... -- lite, 14:51:47 02/23/06 Thu [1]
I was also shocked by Carter's response.
This is really scary to me.
As a side thought, a couple of years ago I had a dream that had forum members in it, and we were in a conference-type room... Bette was figuring out some kind of code that had something to do with Chris, written on an airmail envelope. Then everyone walked over to a pull-down US map on the wall. As we were looking at it the entire east coast, up to around a third of the country in, started melting down.
Gee... why did I think of that now?
Lump, what does generational range have to do with this? That was one of the least significant factors that put the current administration and its congressional backers into office.
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Re: ARRGH! They must think we are so stupid..... -- amadaun, 18:22:39 02/23/06 Thu [1]
That was interesting Carson. A weird move, considering the current attitude to Arab countries. Selling off your ports to overseas interests is a strange thing to do, anyways. They tried to do it here, but there was a massive public outcry.
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Re: ARRGH! They must think we are so stupid..... -- 23, 22:00:44 02/23/06 Thu [1]
I don't understand that, either. Why were they owned by a British company before? We're a big country. I'm sure we can find an american company to run our ports.
I'm not being xenophobic, either. I'm not particularly afraid of the threat of terrorism or anything. It just doesn't make sense to me. It almost seems like hiring Brazil's army to come be our military.
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Re: ARRGH! They must think we are so stupid..... -- a light, 13:00:03 02/25/06 Sat [1]
Currently, port ownership/management is typically global in nature. Some west coast US ports are owned by companies from other countries as well (mostly Asian).
At least in NYC's case, P&O Ports, the British company, leased our very active cruise port for 10 years starting in '97. That's the company that Dubai Ports World is taking over. A difference between DP World and companies based in other countries, is that DP is not a private company, it's the financial institution of the U.A.E. itself.
Our Mayor is working to break the lease, for amongst other things, not being informed of/approving the take-over. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey filed a suit to terminate their lease for the cargo port that DP World plans to take over. New Jersey filed a suit Thursday to block the company from taking over operations until the federal government investigates possible security risks. The Governor of NJ is asking the Governors of the remaining states directly affected to join in his suit. There is a court order to the federal government as to why they did not conduct a 45 day investigation, which would legally be required in this case, before approving this deal, and why they didn't provide timely information about it.
Senator Charles Shumer thinks his bill to block the deal can override a Presidential veto in the Senate. He feels the aministration might have more luck in the House.
There will be a major protest rally against the take-over among dock-workers on Monday.
Any commission on national security cites our ports as majors concerns, and notes that they are already very vulnerable to terrorist actions. Despite what the administration is trying to sell us about the U.A.E.'s contributions to the 'fight against terrorism' their track record speaks otherwise.
We are afraid of terrorism here, for good reason.
Sometimes I think Bush and his cronies just want to kill us off.
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Re: ARRGH! They must think we are so stupid..... -- Robert, 10:47:00 02/26/06 Sun [1]
seems Bush doesn't like a taste of his own medicine. His own policy of fear has come home to roost, and now he and his buddies stand to lose billions. I think it's a beautiful thing, and I hope that the fear which he has used to rule over America coninues to turn inward upon him...fucker.
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Re: ARRGH! They must think we are so stupid..... -- noslave, 08:37:22 02/27/06 Mon [1]
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Re: ARRGH! They must think we are so stupid..... -- tg, 08:39:45 02/27/06 Mon [1]
This worries Canadians!
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Re: ARRGH! They must think we are so stupid..... -- amadaun, 18:26:00 02/28/06 Tue [1]
NoSlave............kewl!!
How do you put pix up, anyways??
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Re: ARRGH! They must think we are so stupid..... -- tg, 19:09:23 02/28/06 Tue [1]
You know really the only enemy the U.S. has right now is Iraq.
You can use photobucket and once you have submitted your pic, you can post the "tag" addy here. That's how I do it. It's easy to register.
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Re: ARRGH! They must think we are so stupid..... -- amadaun, 18:11:11 03/01/06 Wed [1]
UM.......whats photobucket??
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Re: ARRGH! They must think we are so stupid..... -- tg, 18:25:53 03/01/06 Wed [1]
photobucket.com
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