a MUST READ on the port issue....

[gardenweasel]

DTB....."Out of curiousity can anyone tell me what part the EUA will be playing in this role--can anyone give me job description of British prior to being bought. I certainly can't find but VERY little on it yet."



dtb...an interesting thought...and it jogged my brainless ass into thinking....

makes you woder just how much pressure the w.h. is getting from tony blair on this deal...... $6.8 billion going to a british company is a matter of no small consequence......

considering that there were significantly lower bids from other companies, maybe the 6.8 is well over true market value..... this raises the question of why dubai would pay a premium?...

maybe to gain a strategic advantage?...and what sort of advantage, economic, political, ideological, military, territorial?......furthermore, what deals may have been attached to the cash flow generated by this deal......maybe the u.k. will pick up funding to hamas that the u.s. is now refusing to make.....at least publicly....i`m guessing,of course...

imo,this deal stinks on a number of different levels.......at the very least raises some questions...

SEE THE NEXT PANEL.... regarding what i picked up on the net....regarding the screening of high profile cargo hesding into u.s. ports...from march of 2005....

remember how i mentioned that these folks were verrrrrrrry patient....and shrewd

 

[gardenweasel]

Port of Dubai to Implement the Container Security Initiative and Begin Targeting and Pre-Screening Cargo Destined for U.S....

Saturday, March 26, 2005

Washington, D.C. — ""The 35th Container Security Initiative (CSI) port becomes operational today at the port of Dubai as announced by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) """"Commissioner Robert C. Bonner and Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman, Dubai Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, United Arab Emirates (UAE)""". CSI is the only multinational program in place in the world today that is protecting global trade lanes from being exploited and disrupted by international terrorists.

The United Arab Emirates became the first Middle Eastern country to join CSI when the declaration of principles was signed in Dubai on December 12, 2004. A CBP deployment team will work closely with the UAE government personnel to target high-risk cargo containers destined for the United States."

here`s the kicker...

"""""" Dubai Customs Administration officials ""are responsible for screening any container identified jointly with CBP officers as a potential terrorist risk."" """"""


is this a good thing?...was the port deal already done in 2005?.....can you say"infiltration"?.....does this make you feel more secure?.....

not me....i live in f-cking baltimore...

also,another little tidbit that scared me....

it turns out that we haven't even attached very strong conditions to the sale - actually less than usual......from an a.p. wire story in the boston globe web site:



""In approving the purchase, the administration chose not to require Dubai Ports to keep copies of its business records on U.S. soil, where they would be subject to orders by American courts. It also did not require the company to designate an American citizen to accommodate requests by the government.

Outside legal experts said such obligations are routinely attached to U.S. approvals of foreign sales in other industries.

Dubai Ports agreed to give up records on demand about "foreign operational direction" of its business at the U.S. ports, according to the documents. Those records broadly include details about the design, maintenance or operation of ports and equipment. It also pledged to continue participating in programs to stop smuggling and detect illegal shipments of nuclear materials.

"They're not lax but they're not draconian," said James Lewis, a former U.S. official who worked on such agreements. If White House officials negotiating the deal had predicted the firestorm of criticism over it, "they might have made them sound harder."

this may be why bush is capitulating on the new congressional review..bush couldn`t let this stuff come out "after" the deal was struck....j...it`s beginning to look like a rubber stamp job.....

i don`t like this at all..

 

[gardenweasel]

United Arab Emirates gave 100 Million for Katrina, rest of world gave 26M combined.....

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WASHINGTON - Weeks before one of its companies sought U.S. approval for its ports deal, the United Arab Emirates contributed $100 million to help victims of Hurricane Katrina, officials confirmed Thursday.


The Bush administration said the money it received from the United Arab Emirates was nearly four times as much as it received from all other countries combined. Other countries, including some in the Middle East, also pledged large contributions but have not yet sent the money.

The White House said the $100 million for storm victims demonstrates the close relationship between the two governments now caught in a firestorm over the potential security risks of state-owned Dubai Ports World running operations at six major U.S. ports.

The money from the United Arab Emirates was previously described by the State Department only as a "very large" contribution. The White House said so far it has received $126 million in international donations, including the UAE money.

The administration said there was no connection between the request for U.S. approval of the $6.8 billion ports deal and the UAE contribution. It disclosed details about the donation to support

"There was no connection between the two events," said Adam Ereli, the deputy State ....

either extremely generous(and that`s putting it mildly), very good friends..... willing to overbid for the ports......

or...???

 

[gardenweasel]

i`m curious...has the uae ever had a major terrorist attack?...being such good friends with the u.s. and all....

providing ports and crucial logistical assistance...with iraq...and throughout the middle east...

..you`d think that they`d be squarely in the crosshairs of al qaeda or some radical islamist terror group...

i know egypt and jordan have been hit...

 

[DOGS THAT BARK]

I know the UEA does same work for Australia-South Korea and others--but still don't know their exact function--but think that they would somehow have to co-mingle with our security which would be quite scary--and NOT to my liking.

Appears UEA is letting us out of trap for 45 days anyway.Was about the face saving solution for both them and us.

 

[bryanz]

Hey dogs, why don't we leave everything the way it was pre Sep,11, 2001 ? Don't you think we will have to mingle just a bit, to find out what's going on ? May be the guys up top are smarter than most give them credit for and this was some type of counterintelligence ploy ?

 

[gardenweasel]

i`m a little paranoid...being pretty close to the harbor down here in maryland....

and i`m a little annoyed seeing every business honcho drawing breath being thrown on the air at fox news..as though the business aspect of this issue somehow trumps the national security concerns....

as i said in kosar`s thread,it seems as though these business types would sell their own mothers for a buck...

i`m very glad this deal is seeing the light of day...the way it was pulled off...without rummy or bush even sniffing it,is worrisome....

particularly,since bush threw the gauntlet down(the veto) basically sight unseen...

some stuff..

"" McClellan also denied suggestions of a conflict of interest tied to Bush's nominee to run the US Transportation Department's Maritime Administration, David Sanborn, a former executive of Dubai Ports World.

"He was nominated to run the Maritime Administration because of his experience and expertise," McClellan said. "My understanding also is that he has assured us that he was not involved in the negotiations to purchase this British company.".....


also charles krauthammer...
"raises the obvious question of whether we want our ports, through which a nuclear bomb could come, handled by a country two of whose nationals flew into the South Tower on Sept. 11 and which has a history of laundering money and nuclear secrets from bad guys to worse guys."

""The greater and more immediate danger is that as soon as the Dubai company takes over operations, it will necessarily become privy to information about security provisions at crucial U.S. ports. That would mean a transfer of information about our security operations -- and perhaps even worse, about the holes in our security operations -- to a company in an Arab state in which there might be employees who, for reasons of corruption or ideology, would pass this invaluable knowledge on to al-Qaeda types.""

no way that such a company could possibly vet the political/religious/ideological leanings of every arab/muslim employee.....which would be practically every single one...

are the democratic politicos hypocritical?...you betcha`...but,as he said,"even hypocrites can be right"..

lets see how these hearings go down....

ordinarily, hearings produce a lot of political bluster, but on this issue the sides are so incredibly mixed that i hope the grandstanding is kept to a minimum.... so they may actually hold a sane discussion. ......

i gotta tell y`a ,though...it will take an awful lot to change my mind....

these buzzards like to do things on a grand scale....

nobody`s talking "specifically" about what the real issue is here..real,potential doomsday scenarios at our ports....maybe because it`s so.....unthinkable...

nuclear or biological weapons unleashed simultaneously in multiple high profile ports surrounded by big cities(say new york,baltimore and miami)....

you think we could handle that?...we couldn`t handle katrina...

not worth taking the chance...imo...

 

[Chadman]

Reading this AM about one of the Shieks in the UAE donating at least $1 mil to the Bush I Library in the early '90's. The more you look, the more you find, it seems.

 

[bryanz]

Every American President has taken money from some Sheik for the lats 50 years. I'll bet Bush 41 tapped about 50mil for saving Kuwait. How much do you think Clinton has cashed from foreign sources since he's been out of office. It's not just Sheiks, why do you think all are jobs have gone bye bye. These guys sold them. Go back and take a look at the( gifts ) our presidents have received after leaving office. Conflict of interest ? You make the call.

 

[gardenweasel]

chad....all this stuff...the bush ties to uae...the appointment(s)of dpo officers to cabinet positions...

the deal for control of container inspections by uae customs officials a year ago...our a.f. base in the uae....

the secretive/shadowy approval of the deal/bush`s veto remarks before he even personally investigated the deal...

the uae`s ties with bin laden....their reticence to come clean on terrorist money laundering...

they`re not a democracy(yes,the china deal sucks,but china hasn`t flown any planes into our skyscrapers)...

do i have confidence in our intelligence community?....

you be the judge:

1. predicted the fall of the berlin wall?... nope.

2. saw 9/11 coming? uh-uh.

3. found osama? ...nyet(maybe in part thanks to the dubai royals)...

4. located saddam's wmd`s...huh?...what?

5)protecting our mexican borders?....don`t think so...in large part because of business interests....

which is the crux of this matter...as far as the president, fox news,and conservative radio hosts are concerned...they`re all over the islamofascists...unless there`s an economic incentive...

then,they`re our blood brothers...

be afraid...be very afraid...

i wish i lived in idaho...

 

[shamrock]

GARDEN, I'm not sure uae has ever been in radical Muslims cross hairs, but the principles & Royals of the country have been in OBLs
tent, in his terror camps in Afghanistan, that's a absolute fact, and frankly that's all I need to hear.

 

[smurphy]

As I read all of this, it really makes me sick when I then think about Iraq. If having improved business relations in the Middle East is more important than security, if kissing ass of monarchs and dictators that supposedly can help in our war on terror is more important than promoting democracy, THEN WHY THE FK DID WE INVADE IRAQ???? I think every American soldier in Iraq has basically just been stabbed in the back by this administration.

Nothing makes sense. And yeah - Bush threatening his frist veto when he didn't even know what the deal was??? Classic Bush I guess.