Arab Takeover of US Ports Seen as Security 'Insanity'

<snip>

A company owned by the government of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is poised to take over six U.S. ports.....

UAE has known ties to terrorists and 9/11 hijackers, raising concerns at the ports involved: New York, Baltimore, New Jersey, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.

<snip>

"On the face of it, this looks like fucking insanity to me", said a Republican member of the New York City council, James Oddo

"This shouldn't happen. It really boggles the mind", Rachel Ehrenfeld, director of the American Center for Democracy said. "The UAE is a hub for all kinds of terrorist activities."

"Should we be outsourcing our own security?"...Senator Chuck Schumer said on Fox News.

This is a big issue. Keep posting all the info.

Crack Bush's base.

link:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=48845

I'd vote for him if he did! (if I could)

the UAE and thereby making the whole world safer and how smart he is and what a Godly man he is for these actions.

They refuse to face facts that W could care less about the U.S. He is president of global corporatists and has done absolutely zero to protect our borders, our wages, our jobs, or our culture.

This is the one we're waiting for. His fuck-up that can't be blamed on anyone else. Easy to understand. They will start abandoning ship like they were on the Titanic.

I know Bushbots that can't respond. They are dumbfounded. They think I'm lying when I tell them. This is it. Hit 'em hard and often.

Especially after 9/11. Because fourteen of the nineteen hijackers were from Saudi.

journalists is guilty of treason...im sorry.but that is how i feel...why not just sell the white house and the statue of liberty while theyre at it...

Bushler is aiding and abetting the 9/11 terrorists.

This graphic vies for first place with the Rice Lizard one that I love so much! They would look great together, wouldn't they? And we know how much they secretly lust for each other.


BTW, this reminds me that I have your stickers on my truck but have not taken photos. I will try to do so this week. They look great! I may have to add this one, too.

:puke:

last week and now he's threatening to cut off our oil if we don't behave. Why can't she just shut-up? I wish we hadn't heard from her in a while.

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32211

This weekend is the coldest weather we've had this winter season. Not a good time to read that our oil supply might be constrained.
:scared:

Peace,

freefall

You have captured true evil with this one my friend!

:yourock:

Excellent stuff.

Now . . . somebody hold me!

:scared:

In an eerily frightening way. Good going, Swamp.

I wonder if this emergency is in the making...

Something is wrong if UAE is a terrorist-enabler. There is no way the US should be making such deals. Not if we are sincere in fighting this war on terror. WHY do this? Will it bring in terrorists and we pick 'em there and then as they come in? Nobody else would know...

They're still working up Iran. Has anybody heard of anything?

C'mon Laura and W. Tell us how much you care about women's rights.

. . . and in her most Stepford voice say, "Yes, but those women still have a choice."

:dunce:

aren't they as right wing as it gets?

I heard Sens. Hillary Clinton (NY) and Bob Menendez (NJ) were going to initiate a bill in Congress to block the takeover of these ports. Good for them. It illustrates that Democrats can be strong on security.

Now if Democrats would take on Bush with illegal immigration and his new proposed amnesty as being anti-US worker, anti security, we might start to gain some traction with many Americans who were historically Democrats but moved over to Bush. Illegal immigration is an issue that will fracture the GOP and gain many votes for Democratic candidates. And in the historical sense, illegal immigration is an issue that Democrats would have opposed as it hurts American workers. Somewhere along the line (about the time Democrats started losing elections) some Democrats mistakenly decided that they should support causes that favor illegal immigration.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyid=2006-02-17T192108Z_01_N17197464_RTRUKOC_0_US-SECURITY-CONGRESS-PORTS.xml&rpc=22

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

every man and woman in these unions are really fucking pissed because they know this is where the next attack is coming from. now that they have control of the routing we are fucked because the next attack will be thru the ports and in a container or containers.

sale. It's not comprehensive - I DO have a life - but it might be useful if you've missed some of these. If you know of threads that should be included, please post a link and I'll add it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2454971
thread title (2-12-06 GD-P): 911 Bankers to Run SIX Major U.S. Ports—Dubai(UAE). IMPEACH NOW!!!
Comment/excerpt: “Six ports will be run and protected by a Dubai based port management company (DP World): New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia. The deal was approved by a “U.S. government panel coordinated out of the White House. Just prior to the deal, David C. Sanborn of Virginia was appointed as administrator of the Maritime Administration of the Transportation Department. Sanborn worked as DP World's director of operations for Europe and Latin America.…. A company in the United Arab Emirates is poised to take over significant operations at six American ports as part of a corporate sale, leaving a country with ties to the Sept. 11 hijackers with influence over a maritime industry considered vulnerable to terrorism.“
Also gives info on Dubai’s links to suspected terrorist financing and money laundering.

Even the freepers are upset about this outrage:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x446111
thread title (2-16-06 GD): Freepers JUST AS MAD About the Port Control Issue... Common Ground?
Comment/excerpt: Free Republic posts expressing concern/outrage over Dubai operating 6 major US ports.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x446003
thread title (2-16-06 GD): OK!!! I think the Pres. just cut his own throat!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2113537
thread title (2-16-06 LBN): White House Defends Port Operations Sale
Comment/excerpt: Yahoo News/AP. “The Bush administration on Thursday rebuffed criticism about potential security risks of a $6.8 billion sale that gives a company in the United Arab Emirates control over significant operations at six major American ports. Lawmakers asked the White House to reconsider the deal. The sale to state-owned Dubai Ports World was ‘rigorously reviewed’ by a U.S. committee that considers security threats when foreign companies seek to buy or invest in American industry, National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones said….”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x453502
thread title (2-17-06 GD): Freeper and neocon websites unable to put a spin on the UAE port takeover
Comment/excerpt: COMPILATION post with many links and good explanation, for example of the role played by GOLD in the money trail to al Qaeda. Also that the United Arab Emirates were one of the THREE COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD THAT RECOGNIZED THE TALIBAN AS THE LEGITIMATE GOVERNMENT OF AFGHANISTAN. Much more on the obvious security disaster this deal would be and why.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x452192
thread title (2-17-06 GD): Excellent! "Democrats plan bill to block Dubai-US port deal"
Comment/excerpt: Reuters: “Two U.S. Democratic senators said on Friday they would introduce legislation aimed at blocking Dubai Ports World from buying a company that operates several U.S. shipping ports because of security concerns. Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Hillary Clinton of New York said they would offer a measure to ban companies owned or controlled by foreign governments from acquiring U.S. port operations.” Hillary is calculating that the GOPs and Dems will like this position and it will boost her presidential chances, but I wouldn’t care WHO was calling for sanity in this.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2115471
thread title (2-17-06 LBN): US Democrats plan bill to block Dubai-US port deal
Comment/excerpt: Cites same Reuters article as the preceding thread in GD.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x460075
thread title (2-18-06 GD): Please tell me why every other thread is not about the sale of the ports?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x461270#462457
thread title (2-18-06 GD): In light of the sale of 6 US ports to the United Arab Emirates, PNAC VIDEO
Comment/excerpt: Links to two Dutch VIDEOS, one 20 min and one 48 min. They are in English about the PNAC, the Carlyle group, and the greedy corporate network ruling the world today.. Reply #8 has a summary. Excerpt: “No civilised country would tolerate the close relationship Carlyle and, by practical extension, United States' president George W. Bush, enjoy with the Saudi royal family and its cohorts in terror, repression and murder. The behaviour of those setting the agenda of our global future is unconscionable at best and downright evil when taken at face value. The documentary is thoroughly researched, well presented, and carries no trace of the conspiratorial. The facts speak for themselves. Sowing death, destruction and terror about the globe, George W. Bush and his power-crazed sidekicks, supporters and collaborators are everything they pretend others to be; namely, global terrorists bent on furthering selfish interests.”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2118357
thread title (2-18-06 LBN): Firm Sues to Block Foreign Port Takeover
Comment/excerpt: AP at Yahoo News and CBS – link in Reply #1. Excerpt: …“The Miami company, a subsidiary of Eller & Company Inc., presently is a business partner with London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which Dubai Ports World purchased last week. In a lawsuit in Florida circuit court, the Miami subsidiary said that under the sale it will become an "involuntary partner" with Dubai's government and it may seek more than $10 million in damages. The Miami subsidiary, Continental Stevedoring & Terminals Inc., said the sale to Dubai was prohibited under its partnership agreement with the British firm and "may endanger the national security of the United States." It asked a judge to block the takeover and said it does not believe the company, Florida or the U.S. government can ensure Dubai Ports World's compliance with American security rules.” …
Reply #4 Cites and excerpts an important article on the Dubai sale in the Feb 12 Washington Post that describes the secretive process by which a government panel raised no objection to the sale:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/11/AR2006021101112.html

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2118356
thread title (2-18-06 LBN): Bill would stop sale of port operations to Arabs
Comment/excerpt: An editorial from Buffalo. Excerpt: “Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Robert Menendez of New Jersey have introduced legislation to prohibit companies owned or controlled by foreign governments from buying U.S. port operations. The measure is intended to block the $6.8 billion sale of a company that operates six U.S. ports to a firm controlled by the United Arab Emirates.“

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2118060
thread title (2-18-06 LBN): Fear Escalates on Foreign Control of Ports
Comment/excerpt: Washington Post, same title. Excerpt: “WASHINGTON -- A New Jersey congressman said Saturday he wants to require that security officials at U.S. ports be American citizens to prevent overseas companies operating shipping facilities here from hiring foreigners in such sensitive positions. Republican Frank A. LoBiondo, chairman of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, cited "significant" security concerns over a $6.8 billion sale that gives a company in the United Arab Emirates control over operations at six major American ports. LoBiondo said he wants the new mandatory citizenship requirements approved by Congress and President Bush before state-owned Dubai Ports World completes its pending purchase of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. … Caught by surprise over the breadth of concerns expressed in the United States, Dubai Ports World is cautiously organizing its response. The company quietly dispatched advisers to reassure port officials along the East Coast, and its chief operating officer _ internationally respected American shipping executive Edward "Ted" H. Bilkey _ was expected to travel to Washington soon for meetings on Capitol Hill and elsewhere.

The WH is not backing down from this insanity...

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16142509&BRD=2212&PAG=461&dept_id=465812&rfi=6

wtf? approved by a secretive committee??

<snip>

The sale to state-owned Dubai Ports World was "rigorously reviewed" by a U.S. committee that considers security threats when foreign companies seek to buy or invest in American industry, National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones said.


The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, run by the Treasury Department, reviewed an assessment from U.S. intelligence agencies. The committee's 12 members agreed unanimously the sale did not present any problems, the department said.


"We wanted to look at this one quite closely because it relates to ports," Stewart Baker, an assistant secretary in the Homeland Security Department, told The Associated Press. "It is important to focus on this partner as opposed to just what part of the world they come from. We came to the conclusion that the transaction should not be halted."


The unusual defense of the secretive committee, which reviews hundreds of such deals each year, came in response to criticism about the purchase of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co.

....freeper heads should be exploding nationally!

Unreal.

eventually, they will cave. the longer this goes, that better off we are.

I'm SCARED! What next? Mexicans running all-American Pizza Parlors?

The "..home of the brave" scared by mighty Dubai. Another Bogeyman under the bed.

We have Bush by the balls, and you want to let go.

"A hub for all kinds of terrorist activities" Rachel Ehrenfeld-Director of the American Center for Democracy. I guess this is the most important phrase that we should repeat. And if anyone has info. about the USS Cole, and it's connection with the UAE. I believe that I read here on the DU that they just released the suspects of this crime.

"There are several 9-11 connections to the United Arab Emirates. Many of the hijackers entered the U.S. via UAE, much of the attack's planning was done there, and the FBI says money for the operation was transferred to the hijackers primarily through the UAE's banking system."

The money is all it's about... Bushco is broke... They can't take back the tax cuts from their buddies... The working poor are stretched to the limit... The money to fund their bogus crap has to come from somewhere doesn't it???

Come on we all know how honest all of these people are... :sarcasm: