Dubai Backing Off Ports In Face Of Congressional Opposition

[Annie]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060309...TlRNaQv;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

Dubai Firm to Give Up Stake in U.S. Ports

By DAVID ESPO 10 minutes ago

A Dubai-owned company said Thursday it is giving up its management stake in some U.S. ports, a move made as congressional leaders warned President Bush that both the House and Senate appeared ready to block the takeover.

It was not immediately clear whether the announcement would be enough to cool widespread sentiment in Congress to pass legislation blocking the deal, which has become a burdensome election-year problem for Republicans.

Sen. John Warner (news, bio, voting record), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, took the Senate floor to read to colleagues a company press release disclosing its new stance.

"Because of the strong relationship between the United Arab Emirates and the United States and to preserve that relationship, DP World has decided to transfer fully the U.S. operation of P&O Operations North America to a United States entity," DP World's chief operating officer, Edward H. Bilkey, said in the statement that Warner relayed to other senators. The announcement did not specify which American company would be involved.

The move came as the White House, facing a Republican rebellion in Congress, played down President Bush's veto threat and said he was trying to find a compromise to resolve the uproar over the company's plan to take over significant operations at several U.S. sea ports.

DP World said it will transfer all interest in U.S. port operations to an American-based company, but it was unclear immediately how DP World would manage the divestiture. The company indicated that details of the surprise deal were still being worked out.

Warner said that Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum, prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, "advised the company ... that this action is the appropriate course to take." Dubai is in the emirates.

Just after Warner's announcement, Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record), D-N.Y., a chief critic of the deal was cautious.

"This is obviously a promising development, but the devil's in the details," Schumer said. "Those of us who feel strongly about this issue believe that the U.S. part of the British company should have no connection to the United Arab Emirates or DP World."

Republican congressional leaders had told Bush at a White House meeting earlier Thursday that both the House and Senate appear ready to block the takeover, GOP officials said.

In softening the White House's previous stand, presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said, "Our emphasis is not on trying to draw lines or issue veto threats. It's on how we can work together and move forward."

He said Bush did not mention his veto threat during his talks with the GOP leaders. "It doesn't mean the president's position has changed, it means our emphasis is on how we can work together to move forward," McClellan said.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said the leaders told Bush they want to protect the American people. "We will maybe have our differences, but we think we're going to continue to do that," the speaker told reporters.

The fast-moving developments came one day after a GOP-controlled House committee voted 62-2 to block the transfer, which has prompted a GOP revolt — made all the more striking because it is related to the war on terrorism.

Senate Democrats also demanded a vote on the issue, and while Republicans struggled to prevent one, they conceded they were on the political defensive.

"I admire what the House did," said Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "They said we know the president feels strongly about this. We know he said he's going to veto this. But we're going to do it because we think we have an obligation to our constituents."

Senate Republican GOP leaders had been hoping to prevent any votes until the conclusion of a 45-day review of the deal. At the same time, administration officials were using the time to try and ease the concerns of lawmakers.

That strategy collapsed in dramatic fashion on Wednesday, when the House Appropriations Committee overwhelmingly signaled its opposition to the deal.

Increasingly, it appeared the controversy was headed in one of two directions — a veto confrontation between Bush and Congress, or the decision by the company to shed its plans. The company had arranged to hold the rights as part of its takeover of Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co., a British company that holds contracts at several U.S. ports.

Bush has defended the deal, on grounds of open, free trade, and, he says, because the United Arab Emirates has been a strong ally in the war on terror.

By a 62-2 margin, the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday attached the ports legislation to a $91 billion bill providing funds for hurricane recovery and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

[5stringJeff]

"Because of the strong relationship between the United Arab Emirates and the United States and to preserve that relationship, DP World has decided to transfer fully the U.S. operation of P&O Operations North America to a United States entity," DP World's chief operating officer, Edward H. Bilkey, said in the statement that Warner relayed to other senators. The announcement did not specify which American company would be involved.

I wonder which company. I wonder if they'll take a 5% commission. I would.

 

[dilloduck]

I wonder which company. I wonder if they'll take a 5% commission. I would.

I bet Halliburton can do it !

 

[Annie]

http://www.usmessageboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29659&highlight=modest+proposal

 

[dilloduck]

http://www.usmessageboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29659&highlight=modest+proposal

oh--I thought you might be linking to my Halliburton idea :

 

[theim]

Curious. How is Dubai gonna nuke us now? I mean, that was their plan all along, seeing as how they are Arab, and thus a mortal foe of the US. At least that's what all the reasoned, intelligent, informed debate around here led me to believe. This move makes no sense for them! They are plotting something else, I just know it! A small software startup company perhaps...which they will use to launch a massive Cyber Information Warfare attack and hijack America's internet servers!!! Tricky tricky a-rabs. Be vigilant!

 

[rtwngAvngr]

Curious. How is Dubai gonna nuke us now? I mean, that was their plan all along, seeing as how they are Arab, and thus a mortal foe of the US. At least that's what all the reasoned, intelligent, informed debate around here led me to believe. This move makes no sense for them! They are plotting something else, I just know it! A small software startup company perhaps...which they will use to launch a massive Cyber Information Warfare attack and hijack America's internet servers!!! Tricky tricky a-rabs. Be vigilant!

Maybe they wanted to drop the whole issue so we don't pass some sort of general law that would preclude ALL deals with terror supporting nations going forward.
"Next Time," they're hissing in aspy tones.

 

[dilloduck]

Maybe they wanted to drop the whole issue so we don't pass some sort of general law that would preclude ALL deals with terror supporting nations going forward.
"Next Time," they're hissing in aspy tones.

don't let anyone swipe your paranoia dude ! It's one of a kind !!

 

[archangel]

don't let anyone swipe your paranoia dude ! It's one of a kind !!

BS walks...a fact of life...hate to say I told ya so...but hey live and learn!

 

[rtwngAvngr]

don't let anyone swipe your paranoia dude ! It's one of a kind !!

My theory makes total sense. If they keep pressing we'll pass laws re: the issue, then they'll never get in.
"Next time", they're wishing in raspy whispers.

 

[dilloduck]

My theory makes total sense. If they keep pressing we'll pass laws re: the issue, then they'll never get in.
"Next time", they're wishing in raspy whispers.

and we ALL know that making Arabs mad CREATES MORE terrorists.
Can the liberals possibly get any more transparent??

 

[Annie]

and not just Dubai:

http://rightwingnuthouse.com/archives/2006/03/09/dubai-bai-its-all-over-but-the-whimpering/

3/9/2006
DUBAI-BAI: IT’S ALL OVER BUT THE WHIMPERING
CATEGORY: Politics

That thud you heard coming from the White House today was the sound of Karl Rove’s invincibility hitting the floor.

The UAE was either asked or decided on their own to nix the ports deal thus heading off a certain veto override by Congress and embarrassing the President more than he and his Administration have already embarrassed themselves:

The United Arab Emirates company that was attempting to take over management operations at six U.S. ports announced today that it will divest itself of all American interests.

The announcement appears to head off a major confrontation that was brewing between Congress and the Bush administration over the controversial deal.

Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) announced on the Senate floor shortly before 2 p.m. that Dubai Ports World would “transfer fully the operations of U.S. ports to a U.S. entity.” Warner, who had been trying to broker a compromise on the issue, said DP World would divest itself of U.S. interests “in an orderly fashion” so as not to suffer “economic loss.”​

It was never about the security of the ports. It was never the fact that the UAE has a leader that has gone hunting with Bin Laden. It was never the fact that the UAE government has funded Wahabbist Madrasses all over the world to the tune of billions of dollars over the last 2 decades. It was never the fact that they don’t recognize Israel or that their banking system may be a financial way station for al Qaeda funds or that they were Muslims and I’m a bigoted fool.

It was always about the Bush Administration and their arrogant, cavalier attitude toward this deal and other aspects of homeland security including securing our borders. The committee set up to vet DPW was a bureaucratic rubber stamp made up of second and third tier assistant secretaries who didn’t even feel the need to brief the heads of their agencies about the deal. They never felt the need to brief the Joint Chiefs. The never felt the need to brief Congress.

Michelle Malkin:

Nervous nellies will argue that the House Republican “hotheads” should have waited for the 45-day review of the deal. But to many knowledgeable observers of the CFIUS process, the panel is the root of the problem—not the solution. As I made clear in my first post on this subject on Feb. 18 and consistently throughout the debate, we simply cannot afford the business-as-usual attitude of the rubber-stampers at CFIUS. And if that means the UAE retaliates by pulling out of business deals with Boeing, as it is threatening to do now, so be it.
​

You will recall that both DHS and the Coast Guard raised objections to the deal when it was first proposed. While both entities have come back and said their concerns were “addressed” what exactly does that mean? Were real concerns about security papered over with typical bureaucratic double-talk? Or were substantiative changes made to the deal that took into account the potential security problems pointed out by agencies whose job it is to protect us.

For that reason alone this deal needed to be examined. And I would still like to see hearings on other foreign owned companies who manage our ports and other transportation nexus. These are a particularly vulnerable part of our overall security profile and what this deal proved is that no one appears to be thinking very hard about them.

I sincerely hope that the UAE isn’t offended by the pressure that was put on them, although, when a country is owned by one man, it becomes very hard to separate the business from the personal. Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum may feel that he’s been double crossed but he shouldn’t blame the Congress or the American people. The blame is ultimately the Presidents’ to shoulder as are our other problems with border control and gaps in security at our airports.

If the killing of this deal has opened the eyes of the President and his people to the concerns of Congress and many conservatives, then it just may have a silver lining. They can go a long way toward proving that they’re listening by working with Congress on an immigration reform package that puts security over commerce and the safety of the American people over the wallets of the members of the Chambers of Commerce.

 

[dilloduck]

and not just Dubai:

http://rightwingnuthouse.com/archives/2006/03/09/dubai-bai-its-all-over-but-the-whimpering/

oh ya--It's all Bushs' plot to bring down America.