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Middle Eastern Country to run U.S. Ports

Discussion in 'Free Speech Alley' started by TigerWins, Feb 20, 2006.

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TigerWins Founding Member

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An interesting connection between a member of this admin and DPW, as reported by Reuters. This story is from last week, but it's the first I've heard of it.

Treasury spokeswoman Brookly McLaughlin said the 12-agency Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States, chaired by Treasury Secretary John Snow, had reviewed the transaction and did not object.

Snow is a former chairman of freight rail company CSX Corp., which sold its global port assets to Dubai Ports World for $1.15 billion in 2004 -- the year after Snow had left the company for the Bush administration.
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TigerWins, Feb 21, 2006

#31
LSUsupaFan Founding Member

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LsuCraig said:

Here's a good quote from soem Arab:

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington group that seeks to promote a positive image of Islam and Muslims, said some of the reaction smacks of prejudice.
''No one seems to be criticizing the company itself, but they're most concerned with the religion and ethnicity of its owners,'' said spokesman Ibrahim Hooper. ``It's what we have to deal with in the post-9/11 era.''

Yes it is what you have to deal with. When you fly planes into buildings, yes this is what you have to deal with.
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Its not only the Arab part that has me worked up. I think its dumb to give control of your parts to any foreign government.

LSUsupaFan, Feb 21, 2006

#32
SabanFan The voice of reason

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LSUsupaFan said:

Its not only the Arab part that has me worked up. I think its dumb to give control of your parts to any foreign government.
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It's a privately owned company.

SabanFan, Feb 21, 2006

#33
TigerWins Founding Member

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SabanFan said:

It's a privately owned company.
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Nope, it is a state owned company. Runs like a private company, but controlled by the UAE government.

TigerWins, Feb 21, 2006

#34
red55 curmudgeon Staff Member

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Now, I realize that you must let foreign businesses operate freely here if we expect them to let our companies operate freely overseas.

But the ports are a part of the Critical National Infrastructure as defined by Congress. They are going to get involved in this.

What's next? Contract out our naval shipbuilding to india?

red55, Feb 21, 2006

#35
LSUsupaFan Founding Member

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SabanFan said:

It's a privately owned company.
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No it is a government owned company.

LSUsupaFan, Feb 21, 2006

#36
SabanFan The voice of reason

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LSUsupaFan said:

No it is a government owned company.
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My mistake.

SabanFan, Feb 21, 2006

#37
LsuCraig Founding Member

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red55 said:

Now, I realize that you must let foreign businesses operate freely here if we expect them to let our companies operate freely overseas.

But the ports are a part of the Critical National Infrastructure as defined by Congress. They are going to get involved in this.

What's next? Contract out our naval shipbuilding to india?
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I went outside to my car for a sec and listened to Limbaugh. He's trying to find a way to support this deal. He made some economic argument but I wrote him an email. Here's what I said---kinda went along with what you said:

I heard your discussion about economic development and the more our economy is intertwined with Middle Eastern countries, the better. I agree. That's fine.
If a Yemeni company, partly owned by the Yemeni government wants to open a Shiek N' Shake franchise in America, that's fine. Have Shiek N' Shake's all over the place. But Shiek N' Shake and having our economies tied together, having them learn our culture and that we're good people, and having them run our ports is two different things entirely. Not even the same league……not even the same sport here.
Would you let the same UAE company win a bid for, design and build our Border Control security systems?: the ones we should build but won't for whatever reason.
Or would you let a Chinese company owned by the government of China, build the system that runs our NORAD systems or our air traffic control systems?
If not, why not? Because those are systems, just like our ports, that if used the wrong way, have vital national security implications.

LsuCraig, Feb 21, 2006

#38
CalcoTiger Live Long and Prosper IVI

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I am a Republican and this one even leaves me scratching my head.

How can you on one hand use 9-11 for wiretapping and claim what a security need it is then hand control of some of your major ports to the people who you are trying to protect against.

I am as conservative as people come and usually support President Bush but i cant do it on this.

This is wrong and smells of payback for some underhanded deal on something else.

I am fed up with all politics of both parties.

CalcoTiger, Feb 21, 2006

#39
TigerWins Founding Member

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Well, I guess we now know where Bush stands on this issue.

In a rare threat to use his veto power, President Bush said Tuesday he will stop any legislation that attempts to prevent the purchase by a United Arab Emirates-owned firm of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which runs six major U.S. ports.

Breaking a gaping silence from the administration in the debate about the purchase by Dubai Ports World of London-based P&O, Bush said the deal should go forward and won't jeopardize U.S. security.

"There's a mandated process we go through. ... They ought to listen to what I have to say to this. I'll deal with it with a veto," Bush told reporters after an unusual decision to call media aboard Air Force One to the airplane's conference room.

Back at the White House from a trip to Colorado, the president added that denying DP World the sale would send a mixed message.

"I think it 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 can't manage the port," Bush said.

He added that he's not sure about the need for congressional briefings on a company whose record is well-established and who he called an ally in the War on Terror.

"I can understand why some in Congress have raised questions about whether or not our country will be less secure as a result of this transaction. But they need to know that our government has looked at this issue, and looked at it carefully," he said.
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Full Story ... Fox News

TigerWins, Feb 21, 2006

#40

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