Re: Bush hates east coast port cities...

"Bzl." wrote:

[...]


Ok, now that IS convincing. WTF is Bush thinking?

Not too much, apparently... Even the chairman of the Geheime
Staatspoli^H^H^H^H^H err...Homeland Security is against the move, but
Junior seems hell-bent on letting/making this happen.

To the casual obvserver, it appears as if he has some personal, vested
interest in it -- maybe he's worried that he won't be able to hold hands
and stroll trough gardens with Saudi royalty if he says 'no.'

--

Bush defends ports deal
By Susan Cornwell and Tabassum Zakaria Tue Feb 21, 8:45 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush vowed on Tuesday to veto
any attempt to block an Arab company's takeover of management of major
U.S. seaports, defying members of Congress who insisted the deal posed
security risks.

Setting the stage for a showdown, Bush brushed aside objections from
Republicans and Democrats, including likely 2008 presidential
contenders, to reassert his backing for a takeover covering six shipping
terminals.

"After careful review by our government, I believe the transaction ought
to go forward," Bush told reporters aboard Air Force One. If Congress
passed a law to stop the deal, "I'll deal with it with a veto," he said.

Bush said the Dubai firm would not be in charge of security, that the
deal had been thoroughly reviewed and the country would be no less safe
as a result of the transaction. Dubai is a U.S. ally, he said.

The question of whether state-controlled Dubai Ports World of the United
Arab Emirates should be allowed to control the ports has sparked a
political storm for Bush at a time when he is struggling to boost
sagging public approval ratings.

His fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill joined Democrats in questioning
whether the company could be trusted to guard the ports at a time of
terrorism. Arab-Americans said bias and bigotry, not security concerns,
lay behind the uproar.

With mid-term congressional elections looming in November, Republican
leaders appeared willing to confront their lame duck president to
prevent Democrats from gaining traction on the issue of national
security, something the Republicans under Bush see as their strongest
political card.

Seeking to defuse the controversy, Sen. John Warner, chairman of the
Senate Armed Services Committee, set a meeting on Thursday for a
briefing by Bush administration officials on the ports deal.

Senate Republican leader Bill Frist and House of Representatives Speaker
Dennis Hastert added their voices to the outcry against the decision to
allow the Dubai company to run the ports in New York, New Jersey,
Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.

Concerns about the vulnerability of U.S. ports have grown since the
September 11 attacks.

"If the administration cannot delay the process, I plan on introducing
legislation to ensure that the deal is placed on hold until this
decision gets a more thorough review," Frist, a Tennessean and potential
2008 presidential contender, said in a statement.

Hastert, usually a strong ally of the president, called for a moratorium
on the deal in a letter to Bush. "I am very concerned about the national
security implications that this could have for the safety of the
American people," he wrote.

CONGRESSIONAL BATTLE

The Republican leaders' decision to join the fray was significant
because they set the agenda in Congress. Other lawmakers from both
parties said they already had legislation ready to go to block the
decision by a Treasury-led interagency panel known as the Committee on
Foreign Investment in the United States.

But Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, another possible 2008
presidential contender, said while Congress should seek answers, it
should not rush to judgment before finding out the facts. "Surely his
administration deserves the presumption that they would not sell our
security short."

The uproar went beyond Congress. Miami's mayor demanded an investigation
and a Florida company filed suit to block the deal. New Jersey's
Democratic Gov. John Corzine said his state would sue the federal
government seeking to reverse the merger's approval.

New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, also likely to run for
the presidency, and New Jersey Democratic Rep. Robert Menendez planned
to submit legislation that would prohibit companies owned or controlled
by foreign governments from purchasing port operations in the United
States.

Dubai Ports World is on the verge of taking over Britain's P&O, which
now manages the ports.

"It's hard to believe that this administration would be so out of touch
with the American people's national security concerns, that it would use
its first ever veto to save this troubling Dubai ports deal," said New
York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record).

Bush said that not to go ahead with the deal "sends a terrible signal to
friends around the world that it's OK for a company from one country to
manage the port, but not a country that plays by the rules and has got a
good track record from another part of the world."

Schumer and Republican Rep. Peter King of New York vowed to try to block
the deal with legislation as soon as Congress is back in town next
Monday. King is chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

A similar hail of criticism from American lawmakers last year drove off
a bid by China's state-controlled CNOOC Ltd. for American oil company
Unocal.

P&O shareholders last week approved Dubai Ports World's $6.8 billion
takeover, which would create the world's third-largest ports group. A
British court is expected to give its final approval at a hearing
scheduled for February 27.

A UAE government official said the security concerns were unfounded
given his country's close ties with Washington and Dubai Ports' record
as global operator. U.S. warships often call at the UAE's Jebel Ali
port, run by Dubai Ports.

U.S. seaports handle 2 billion ton(ne)s of freight a year. Only about 5
percent of containers are examined on arrival.

(Additional reporting by Dayan Candappa in Dubai, Daniel Trotta and
Claudia Parsons in New York and Jim Loney in Miami)
--

Soure: "http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060222/ts_nm/security_ports_dc";
.

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