Wednesday, February 22, 2006

I'm So Glad We Have These People to Protect Us, Part 2

Bush Unaware of Ports Deal Before Approval

WASHINGTON - President Bush was unaware of the pending sale of shipping operations at six major U.S. seaports to a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates until the deal already had been approved by his administration, the White House said Wednesday.

Defending the deal anew, the administration also said that it should have briefed Congress sooner about the transaction, which has triggered a major political backlash among both Republicans and Democrats.

Jesus.

Folks, this is not, as Dubbya puts it, just "an Arab company". This is a state owned company. And the ruling family of that state was so close to Osama bin Ladin that a one proposed CIA hit on him was nixed because it would have "wiped out half the UAE's royal family," according to CIA director George Tenet.

And their defense is that President "I can keep you safer" Bush didn't KNOW about it?

Jesus.

7 comments:

David Terrenoire said...

That this was ever sold as the "security administration" has to be the biggest con job ever pulled on the populace. A flim flam of massive proportions.

Give Diebold credit, they're the only ones in the entire coup who did what they said they were going to do.

Jack Bauer said...

"Since September 11th, many Muslim Americans have been subjected to searches at airports and other locations based upon their religion and national origin, without any credible information linking individuals to criminal conduct. Racial and religious profiling is fundamentally un-American and we must make it illegal...."
Bella Pelosi, July 29, 2004

But it is okay to racially profile an Arab/Muslim company and deny it the right to legally operate based on nothing -- except that it's Arab and Muslim? Based on zero "credible information", but rather on Chucky Schumer's gut feeling. Why that sounds sorta of un-American, according to Bella's definition. You know how these Dems like calling other people un-American.

Omigod, where on earth does this irrational fear of Arabs and Muslims come from? They have to be discriminated against, based on zero evidence of anything?

Glad to hear you're all for racial profiling Arabs (code for Muslims).

Way to go.

Here's a good idea. The NSA should intercept cell phone calls from the UAE to those sneaky Muslims in the USA setting up the deal.

That way we can find out whether this particular racial profiling is worth it. Oooops. Can't do that if you're a Dem.

The Democrats on national security. Big joke based on what's political expedient at any given moment.

John Rickards said...

I can't believe there's been such a ruckus over this thing. "Port security" is a bit of a misnomer anyway, port operation and who it is who owns the gantry cranes has no real bearing on the possibilities or otherwise of anyone sneaking something into the country, and Dubai Ports will not be responsible for security any more than P&O were - that's the job of Customs.

Quite how this routine piece of business became the political football it has, I don't know.

JD Rhoades said...

"Jack Bauer", you're a classic example of the Bush cultist, someone who'll try to excuse anything so long as the Dear Leader does it. I suppose it doesn't matter to you that this has sparked outrage among as many, if not more, Republicans as Democrats. Conservative Congresswoman Sue Myrick of North Carolina, who's an admirer of Jesse Helms, sent a lettter to Bush saying "not just no but HELL NO". But to the cultists, if anyone opposes, they're a liberal partisan.
I also suppose that the UAE's ties to 9/11 and Osama bin Laden don't bother you at all. After all, if the Dear Leader says it's okay, it must be okay, becuase the Dear Leader is Good.
Pheh. When did Americans turn into such sheep?
Oh, and as far as Democrats liking to call people un-American...read much Ann Counter, Michelle Malkin. FreeRepubllic.com. etc. etc. etc?
Clean your own glass house, sonny, before you start throwing stones.
And if you're going to hide behind a pseudonym, pick one that doesn't paint you as a pathetic wannabe tough guy.

JD Rhoades said...

John, while Homeland Security (thse wonderful folks who did such a great job during Hurricane Katrina) will indeed still be handling security, I'd respectfully submit that the company responsible for hiring the folks who run the cranes and unload the ships does have a bearing on who gets into the country.

And when that company is owned by:

* one of three countries in the world to recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan;
* a country that's been a key transfer point for illegal shipments of nuclear components to Iran, North Korea and Lybia;
*a country who, according to the the Treasury Department, was uncooperative in efforts to track down Osama Bin Laden’s bank accounts aftter 9-11;

then deep concern about that state-owned company is justified, no matter how much the cultists blather about "profiling," something they were just fine with last week.

David Terrenoire said...

Hey Jack,

Try to shed your partisan blinders for a moment and think of the GOP outrage if this was a Democratic administration who pushed this deal through.

That Americans are questioning whether this is a smart move to hand the management, not the security, but the management of the ports to a corporation owned by UAE, a company with a history of facilitating the transfer of nuclear technology to Iran and North Korea, makes perfect sense to me. We should have had this discussion before the deal was inked.

That doesn't mean the deal shouldn't go through. That means that things like this should be done in daylight, something the administration shuns like vampires.

This is more about their "trust us" attitude than it is about the particulars of the deal. Remember, this administration has a long record of ineptitude, from 9/11 to post war Iraq, to currying favor with a gay hooker in the press room, fumbles large and small, these people have the ability to screw up a one car funeral. That Americans are asking questions means they're starting to catch on.

At best this is a screw-up of PR, at worst, a threat to our security.

What's that you say? But this is racial profiling? Maybe, to some, but in the words of presidential apologists everywhere, 9/11 changed everything.

And that politicians in the opposition are jockeying for camera time in an election year should be about as surprising as Bush not knowing anything about what's happening while he's off on photo ops.

James Lincoln Warren said...

I don't care if the company were Canadian instead of Arab. It is stupid to give control of American posts to a foreign entity, no matter how benign that country is.