Dubai demands all ports be secure

[dilloduck]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060225/ap_on_go_pr_wh/ports_security

A DP World executive said the company would agree to tougher security restrictions to win congressional support only if the same restrictions applied to all U.S. port operators. The company earlier had struck a more conciliatory stance, saying it would do whatever Bush asked to salvage the agreement.

"Security is everybody's business," senior vice president Michael Moore told The Associated Press. "We're going to have a very open mind to legitimate concerns. But anything we can do, any way to improve security, should apply to everybody equally."

The administration approved the ports deal on Jan. 17 after DP World agreed during secret negotiations to cooperate with law enforcement investigations in the future and make other concessions.

Some lawmakers have challenged the adequacy of a classified intelligence assessment crucial to assuring the administration that the deal was proper. The report was assembled during four weeks in November by analysts working for the director of national intelligence.

The report concluded that U.S. spy agencies were "unable to locate any derogatory information on the company," according to a person familiar with the document. This person spoke only on condition of anonymity because the report was classified.

more in article

 

[Hobbit]

That's comforting, but I still don't like the deal. It's a government owned company, and governments in general aren't known for either their honesty or efficiency.

 

[Annie]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060225/ap_on_go_pr_wh/ports_security

A DP World executive said the company would agree to tougher security restrictions to win congressional support only if the same restrictions applied to all U.S. port operators. The company earlier had struck a more conciliatory stance, saying it would do whatever Bush asked to salvage the agreement.

"Security is everybody's business," senior vice president Michael Moore told The Associated Press. "We're going to have a very open mind to legitimate concerns. But anything we can do, any way to improve security, should apply to everybody equally."

The administration approved the ports deal on Jan. 17 after DP World agreed during secret negotiations to cooperate with law enforcement investigations in the future and make other concessions.

Some lawmakers have challenged the adequacy of a classified intelligence assessment crucial to assuring the administration that the deal was proper. The report was assembled during four weeks in November by analysts working for the director of national intelligence.

The report concluded that U.S. spy agencies were "unable to locate any derogatory information on the company," according to a person familiar with the document. This person spoke only on condition of anonymity because the report was classified.

more in article

I agree with his point, the same rules should apply to all. I heard Tony Snow this afternoon and his questioning of Tommy Franks, who I respect. While I still am for 'Americanizing' all essential to safety areas, perhaps in the meantime, they should be able to run the port, until something else is arranged by all:

http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/117412

My opinion Tony Snow : Ignorance rules in flap over Dubai maritime firm

Washington was wracked last week by a spasm of Know-Nothingism, starring Democratic and Republican members of Congress whose hysterics confirmed the Founders' view that the president, and not the legislature, ought to handle matters of national security.
At issue was a takeover of the British shipping firm P&O by a United Arab Emirates holding company, Dubai Ports World. The transaction, first reported in the British press Oct. 30, should have been routine. P&O leases cargo terminals at a half-dozen U.S. ports and pays the longshoremen who load and unload ships.
The ownership change wouldn't have affected anybody on American soil. DPW had agreed to keep the old British management team (composed of Americans) in charge and would have retained the all-American force of longshoremen at the terminals.
Nevertheless, politicians acted as if the Bush administration, which gave its blessing to the deal, had just exposed America's tender commercial neck to the glinting scimitars of Araby.
Republicans behaved worst. Rep. Tom DeLay denounced the deal as "outrageous." Sen. Bill Frist vowed to put the decision "on hold." Rep. Peter King warned darkly of "very serious al-Qaida connections."
One problem: The United States didn't sell anything. Local port authorities still own the ports, including the cargo terminals rented by such firms as Dubai Ports.
The Coast Guard still has exclusive responsibilities for security on the water. The Coast Guard, the Customs Service, the Border Patrol and local law enforcement still have the duty of maintaining security on the ground. The work force affected by the change — fewer than 400 laborers — by law must have passed federal background checks.
The fulminating honorables would have known this if even one of them had bothered to contact a single person working at or running a port. When asked whether anybody at any port in the land had contacted him with a single security concern since the P&O/DPW deal was announced four months ago, King replied, "No."
The ignorance didn't stop there.
Many critics of the deal also seemed to know nothing of the security cooperation between the United States and the UAE. To reject the deal would be to slap a government that has provided on-the-ground intelligence from the opening salvo of the war on terror.
Gen. Tommy Franks notes that the UAE's much-criticized "recognition" of the Taliban actually enabled the country to do first-rate spying. The UAE provided maps and information for the opening invasion of Afghanistan.
The UAE since has put troops on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq, in active and humanitarian missions. It trains Iraqi forces on its soil. It lets the United States conduct flights through its airspace.
It has housed servicemen — and women — from the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force. It maintains the largest U.S. naval facility outside the United States, and Dubai Ports World performs contract service at the port.
It was the first government in the region to comply with the "container security" program launched by the Bush administration, testing every container for nuclear contamination. It is working to develop technology that would permit the swift and thorough scanning of all containers.
Its central bank has become quite active in choking off terror financing. It has rounded up a fair number of al-Qaida operatives and handed them over to the United States, and once — long ago — offered to serve as the agent for delivering Osama bin Laden from the Sudan to the Clinton administration.
If the United States were to kill the deal merely because Dubai Ports World was from Dubai, it would send a devastating message to allies in the war on terror:
We don't want you, even if you have placed your citizens in harm's way, actively fought the terror cells, and committed blood and treasure to the war itself.
This is nothing short of suicidal at a time when the Muslim world is a tinderbox and the United States has been tarred as Public Enemy No. 1.
The good news is that politicians appreciate the absurdity of the position. On Thursday, Karl Rove extended an olive branch, noting that the administration is willing to let Congress study the matter for 45 days, if necessary.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, who got this riot started, quickly declared that he would like that. The White House knows that, in time, facts will annihilate the Know-Nothings.
The Rove proffer gives both parties a chance to crawl off the shaky limb before they make a tough situation infinitely worse.

 

[Annie]

The initial reports I read all came from blogs, they really weren't anywhere else. Why doesn't the administration follow these, so they can get out ahead of a huge problem?

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB114083733126683342-lMyQjAxMDE2NDIwNDgyMzQ3Wj.html

Early Warning System
By GLENN HARLAN REYNOLDS
February 25, 2006; Page A10

Technology is empowering ordinary people in all sorts of ways. The blogosphere has demonstrated the ability to process information more quickly and thoroughly than other media in the past. The debate over the acquisition of American port operations contracts by a firm from the United Arab Emirates provides an object lesson in the blogosphere's strengths and weaknesses, along with some lessons for the White House.

When the story first appeared, bloggers were overwhelmingly negative. My own reaction, on Feb. 12, was "color me unimpressed." Other bloggers were more pungent, but the story got little attention in the national media, which were mostly preoccupied with the Cheney quail-hunting story. Most bloggers didn't dig deeper either.

By this past week, the port story had heated up. More bloggers piled on, and so did an increasing number of leading media and political figures. Talk radio was all over the topic, and the temperature of the discussion was high.

Some bloggers, meanwhile, were having second thoughts. One of them was me: Although my initial reaction was negative, I started getting emails from readers -- some of them longtime correspondents -- who had experience with the UAE. One had served alongside troops from the Emirates in Afghanistan; another had spent time in Dubai. Some had worked with UAE ports officials. All were positive.

Then Jim Dunnigan of StrategyPage explained why the UAE has been a good friend to the U.S. and is likely to be trustworthy here, and why this deal is in American interests. I found it pretty convincing. A lot of other bloggers, of all political persuasions, were reaching the same conclusion, even as the mass-media and talk-radio hysteria was still building. (To be fair, some Big Media like The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post were weighing in with good sense.) As the National Journal's Blogometer reported, "This movement was generally led by the intellectual right, and the intellectual left soon found itself in guarded agreement -- the deal wasn't as bad as it first seemed."

As I write this, it's not clear where the rest of the debate is headed, but there are already some useful lessons for the White House. First, blogs make an excellent early warning system. The White House, unaccountably, seems to have been blindsided by the furor over this deal, though most people's gut reaction was negative. As with the many bloggers like me who changed their minds, gut reactions can be overcome by evidence -- but the White House should have taken advantage of this early warning to have its arguments in order. It didn't.

That's the second lesson: The White House should not only have read blogs, but responded to them with information and arguments, rather than waiting for blog readers to weigh in. As Rich Galen observed on Wednesday, "It is an issue of this administration having a continuing problem with understanding how these things will play in the public's mind and not taking steps to set the stage so these things don't come as a shock and are presented in their worst possible light." Paying more attention to the blogs won't solve that problem. But it will help.

Mr. Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee, blogs at InstaPundit.com. His new book, "An Army of Davids," is published next week by Nelson Current.

 

[Mr. P]

Dubai demands all ports be secure

Seems to me they're are saying, "Do it our way".
Pretty arogant for a Country that doesn't even have the contract yet, ain't it? Hold bold will they be IF they do get it?

 

[archangel]

maybe a little smoke screen...I can see it comming down the pike...DP World recieves go ahead and then sub-contracts the running of the six ports to non-other than...HALLIBURTON Inc....

DP World executive nominated for a prestigious US Government position by GW! www.dpiterminals.com/fullnews.asp?NewsID=39


side note:all over the blogs...interesting that al Quaeda is attacking Saudi Arabian interest but not UAE! Just a little food for thought!

 

[Annie]

maybe a little smoke screen...I can see it comming down the pike...DP World recieves go ahead and then sub-contracts the running of the six ports to non-other than...HALLIBURTON Inc....

DP World executive nominated for a prestigious US Government position by GW! www.dpiterminals.com/fullnews.asp?NewsID=39

Actually it's 21, not 6 ports.

http://www.themoderatevoice.com/posts/1140890495.shtml

This is the fault of the administration, not UAE:

UAE Company Will Take Over Many More U.S. Ports Than Originally Reported
by Joe Gandelman
It is now coming out that the controversial deal to let a United Arab Emirates company manage U.S. ports is bigger than originally reported: it involves 21 U.S. ports, not 6:

A United Arab Emirates government-owned company is poised to take over port terminal operations in 21 American ports, far more than the six widely reported.

The Bush administration has approved the takeover of British-owned Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co. to DP World, a deal set to go forward March 2 unless Congress intervenes.

P&O is the parent company of P&O Ports North America, which leases terminals for the import and export and loading and unloading and security of cargo in 21 ports, 11 on the East Coast, ranging from Portland, Maine to Miami, Florida, and 10 on the Gulf Coast, from Gulfport, Miss., to Corpus Christi, Texas, according to the company's Web site.

This is ONE MORE instance where this administration has shown it has a big credibility problem. If this had come out at the outset, it would not have decreased the controversy. But it coming out NOW...trickling out because the NEWS MEDIA found it out...is going to make it even worse.

All Related Posts (on one page)

 

[archangel]

Actually it's 21, not 6 ports.

http://www.themoderatevoice.com/posts/1140890495.shtml

This is the fault of the administration, not UAE:

I was being conservative...21 is totally unbelieveable makes one shudder!

 

[Annie]

I was being conservative...21 is totally unbelieveable makes one shudder!

And more for shudderdom. Personally I think the government needs to get together all factions and decide those arenas that should be US companies/citizens only, but that's my opinion. On the other hand, considering that UAE helped us out mightily in Afghanistan post 9/11, according to Tommy Franks, they deserve the same treatment given any others allowed at the ports. Again my take, the ports should ONLY be in American hands, all aspects, citizens all:

http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/64126.htm

QAEDA CLAIM: WE 'INFILTRATED' UAE GOV'T

By NILES LATHEM

WASHINGTON — Al Qaeda warned the government of the United Arab Emirates more than three years ago that it "infiltrated" key government agencies, according to a disturbing document released by the U.S. military.

The warning was contained in a June 2002 message to UAE rulers, in which the terror network demanded the release of an unknown number of "mujahedeen detainees," who it said had been arrested during a government crackdown in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

The explosive document is certain to become ammunition for critics of the controversial UAE port deal, who fear the Dubai-based firm could be used by terrorists to sneak money and personnel into the United States.

Little is known about the origins or authorship of the message.

"You are well aware that we have infiltrated your security, censorship and monetary agencies, along with other agencies that should not be mentioned," the message said.

"Therefore, we warn of the continuation of practicing . . . policies which do not serve your interest and will only cost you many problems that will place you in an embarrassing state before your citizens.

"Your homeland is exposed to us. There are many vital interests that will hurt you if we decided to harm them."

The document was among a batch of internal al Qaeda communications captured by U.S. forces in the war on terror.

They were declassified and released earlier this month by the Center for Combating Terrorism at West Point.

"If it's real, the document shows that the UAE really is trying to cooperate with the U.S. in the war on terrorism, because they were being threatened by al Qaeda," said terrorism expert Lorenzo Vidino.

"But it also reveals that even though they [the UAE] are our friends, al Qaeda seems to have people on the inside in the UAE, just as it has in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Qatar and Kuwait."

 

[dilloduck]

I see the chicken littles are at it again.

 

[Annie]

I see the chicken littles are at it again.

Haven't really been reading yet I take it.

 

[dilloduck]

Haven't really been reading yet I take it.

Read it all---I would have think some of what you discovered may have aleviated some of your concerns.

 

[archangel]

al Qaeda is connected to UAE through V.Bout and Richard Chichakli who is the son of a former Syrian President residing in Richardson,Texas running Import/Export and Air Cargo business...

www.ruudleeuw.com/vbout23.htm

side note: Richard is a boyhood friend of non other than OBL!

 

[dilloduck]

al Qaeda is connected to UAE through V.Bout and Richard Chichakli who is the son of a former Syrian President residing in Richardson,Texas running Import/Export and Air Cargo business...

www.ruudleeuw.com/vbout23.htm

side note: Richard is a boyhood friend of non other than OBL!

Ya so you told us. You want me to round him up for ya? :firing:

 

[waltky]

Australian authorities arrest Richard Ammar Chichakli...

'Merchant of Death' conspirator arrested
January 10th, 2013 - A man accused of working with convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout is under arrest in Australia, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced Thursday.

Richard Ammar Chichakli was arrested Wednesday by Australian authorities at the request of the United States, DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart and Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a news release. Chichakli, a U.S. and Syrian citizen, is accused of conspiring with Bout and others to buy two planes in the United States to transport weapons to conflict zones in violation of international sanctions, the release said.

He's charged with money laundering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy and six counts of wire fraud in connection with the attempted aircraft purchases, the government said. "The international law enforcement community has long recognized Richard Chichakli as a key criminal facilitator in Viktor Bout's global weapons trafficking regime and his arrest means the world is safer and more secure," Leonhart said. "Bout merged drug cartels with terrorist enablers, and his close associate, Chichakli, worked to ensure they could ship weapons and conduct illicit business around the world. DEA continues to forge strong partnerships worldwide and applauds our Australian police partners."

A 2010 photo of Victor Bout who has been sentenced to 25-years in jail for illegal arms deals

If convicted, Chichakli would face as many as 20 years in prison for each of the counts against him. His alleged former cohort, Bout, is currently serving a 25-year sentence in the United States after being convicted in 2011 of conspiring to kill Americans, acquire and export anti-aircraft missiles and provide material support to a terrorist organization.

Nicknamed the "merchant of death," Bout armed "some of the most violent conflicts around the globe," Bharara said last April. "The arms Bout has sold or brokered have fueled conflicts and supported regimes in Afghanistan, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Sudan," the government said in its news release Thursday. The prosecution said that during a 2008 sting operation by U.S. drug enforcement agents in Thailand, Bout believed he was selling weapons to Colombian guerrillas. His attorneys argued that Bout was picked out by the United States government and lured into a crime manufactured by the DEA, in which the agency played "the role of judge, jury and executioner. "

'Merchant of Death' conspirator arrested – CNN Security Clearance - CNN.com Blogs