Further Update: UAE To Delay Port Takeover

The United Arab Emerites has agreed to put its takeover of six major American ports on hold so the White House can "convince skeptical lawmakers the deal poses no increased risks from terrorism," according to an Associated Press article. It did not, however, say how long it would wait for the discussion to happen before it does take control of the ports.

From the article:

"A simple cooling-off period will not allay our concerns," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said the company's offer "isnt worth the paper on which it is written."

"If the Bush administration will not stop this deal from closing, Congress must." Menendez said.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., urged Bush to conduct a broader review of potential terrorism risks. Rep. Vito Fosella, a New York Republican, said the administration should more fully explain why it concluded the sale was safe.

In related news, I have two bits from CNN's Lou Dobbs. First, a clip from Dobbs' show about connections between the UAE and the Bush family.

From the transcript:

DOBBS: President Bush's family and members of the Bush administration have long-standing business connections with the United Arab Emirates, and those connections are raising new concerns and questions tonight in some quarters about why the president is defying his very own party leadership and his party in defending the Dubai port deal.

CHRISTINE ROMANS: The oil-rich United Arab Emirates is a major investor in The Carlyle Group, the private equity investment firm where President Bush's father once served as senior adviser and is a who's who of former high-level government officials. Just last year, Dubai International Capital, a government-backed buyout firm, invested in an $8 billion Carlyle fund.

Another family connection, the president's brother, Neil Bush, has reportedly received funding for his educational software company from the UAE investors. A call to his company was not returned.

Then there is the cabinet connection. Treasury Secretary John Snow was chairman of railroad company CSX. After he left the company for the White House, CSX sold its international port operations to Dubai Ports World for more than a billion dollars.

In Connecticut today, Snow told reporters he had no knowledge of that CSX sale. "I learned of this transaction probably the same way members of the Senate did, by reading about it in the newspapers."

Another administration connection, President Bush chose a Dubai Ports World executive to head the U.S. Maritime Administration. David Sanborn, the former director of Dubai Ports' European and Latin American operations, he was tapped just last month to lead the agency that oversees U.S. port operations.

In the second clip, Dobbs takes Dubya up on his challenge to anyone critical of the Dubai Ports World deal to come forward and explain why.

From the transcripts:

DOBBS: ...President Bush has put forth a challenge tonight that I simply can't ignore. The president yesterday said he wanted those who are critical and questioning of this port deal to "step up and explain why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard than a Great British company."

Well, first of all, Mr. President, to equate any country to your principal partner in the coalition ignores that special relationship this country's enjoyed with the United Kingdom for decades and decades. This also is not just a British company and an Arab company, as I think you well know.

Peninsula and Oriental Steam Navigation is a British privately owned company. Dubai Ports World is a UAE government controlled and owned company. You see the difference, of course.

And furthermore, the money used to fund the 9/11 attacks, most of it, in fact, was sent to the hijackers through the UAE banking system. In fact, two of the hijackers were originally from the UAE.

The UAE stonewalled U.S. efforts to track al Qaeda bank accounts after 9/11. In addition, the Emirates does not recognize Israel as a sovereign state. And the UAE was a transfer point for shipments of nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya.

And if those aren't good enough reasons, I would just suggest I'm at a complete loss to offer what might be considered good reasons.

They sound like good enough reasons to me. And who knows? Maybe someone at DPW was watching CNN and saw the clip. The President, who found out about the deal on television, but also seems to me to be more of a Fox News guy, obviously didn't see it, as he is still pushing for the deal to be approved.


All the best,
Derek
(DCF)