Letter to secretary snow "Dubai, which owns and controls the acquiring company in this case, has been named as a key transfer point for illegal shipments of nuclear components to Iran, North Korea and Lybia..." "According to the Congressional Research Service, many U.S. officials believed that al Qaeda activists have spent time in the UAE. In fact, two of the 9/11 hijackers were UAE nationals (Fayez Banihammad and Marwan al-Shehhi), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation claimed the money used for the attacks was transferred to the 9/11 hijackers primarily through the UAE's banking system. Furthermore, after the 9/11 attacks, your department complained of a lack of cooperation by the UAE and other Arab countries as the U.S. was trying to track down Osama bin Laden's bank accounts." --- The letter also states that only 1 in 20 shipment containers are actually checked. The administration blocked China from taking Unocal over security concerns, why wouldn't those same concerns block this deal?
It's worse than that - this from Maureen Dowd at NYT, of all people : "Maybe it's corporate racial profiling, but I don't want foreign companies, particularly ones with links to 9/11, running American ports. What kind of empire are we if we have to outsource our coastline to a group of sheiks who don't recognize Israel, in a country where money was laundered for the 9/11 attacks? And that let A. Q. Kahn, the Pakistani nuclear scientist, smuggle nuclear components through its port to Libya, North Korea and Iran? It's mind-boggling that President Bush ever agreed to let an alliance of seven emirs be in charge of six of our ports. Although, as usual, Incurious George didn't even know about it until after the fact. (Neither did Rummy, even though he heads one of the agencies that green-lighted the deal.) Same old pattern: a stupid and counterproductive national security decision is made in secret, blowing off checks and balances, and the president's out of the loop. Was W. too busy not calling Dick Cheney to find out why he shot a guy to not be involved in a critical decision about U.S. security? What is he waiting for â a presidential daily brief warning, "Bin Laden Determined to Attack U.S. Ports?" Our ports are already nearly naked in terms of security. Only about 5 percent of the containers coming into the country are checked. And when the White House assures us that the Homeland Security Department will oversee security at the ports, is that supposed to make us sleep better? Not after the chuckleheaded Chertoff-and-Brownie show on Capitol Hill. "Our borders are wide open," said Jan Gadiel of 9/11 Families for a Secure America. "We don't know who's in our country right now, not a clue. And now they're giving away our ports." The "trust us" routine of W. and Dick Cheney is threadbare. The more W. warned that he would veto legislation stopping this deal, the more lawmakers held press conferences to oppose it â even conservatives who had loyally supported W. on Iraq, the Patriot Act, torture and warrantless snooping." And last night on Bloomberg coverage, I think I heard Bush getting real close to pulling a race card on those opposed. WTF? I'd rest easier having Congress take a look at this. At least there's 536 of them or whatever that ought to be able to dig into it better than Bush and I can.
I would have to re-evaulate my life if JC gave me the nod. This is a great example of the problem of living in a politically correct toilet brought on by the left. Here are the two situations: 1. The arabs get the port deal and we are attacked and everyone on the left and probably the right says "Of course we got attacked you fool!! You turned the ports over to ARabs." 2. They don't get the port deal and everyone in the world has learned what a great tool the "racism" card is in America plays out as demonstrated by the left over and over again and we are seen as anti-arab again enflaming the arab world. It's one of those situations where it's just a loser no matter what.
Well, it's not hard for ARabs to think we are anti-arab. All it takes is a silly cartoon or two and they go bonkers over it...
"And that let A. Q. Kahn, the Pakistani nuclear scientist, smuggle nuclear components through its port to Libya, North Korea and Iran?" -- Dowd New York Times piece above. This is what I want to know about. Is this true? I hear over and over again in TV and print media that if and when such a weapon goes off in the United States - Pakistan, and in particular, this cocksucker Kahn, will be at the root of the diversion of technology that does us in.
I know, they are not a rational group of people, it's impossible to co-exist with them. The bitch and moan about how we do business with corrupt governements like Egypt and SAudi Arabia but if we stopped doing business with them and providing aid to them then we are seen as uncaring their suffering. There is just no other way to move forward in this world other than get rid of them or build a cage around their countries and never let them out. Yes, not all muslims are bad but the ones with the power and speak the loudest are.
One of things that Bush doesn't get credit for is that his govt, turned Pakistan from a opponent of the west to an 'ally' almost overnight. Pakistan was told, days after 9/11- I surmise- that the bombs would be dropping on their nuclear facilities as they passed on to Afghanistan. Of course only a few key figures have really embraced the change, and if a radical govt. gains power then they may be back in the gun sights.
================== Several good reasons; 1] As agreed on Jimmy Carter likes the idea, fade him[do opposite]; voted for Carter only once, too much cow tow to education unions 2] As patterned earlier, didnt want to give /sell Chinesea big oil company but ; K.F.C.[Kentucky fried chicken is fine, finger lickin good......] 3]Looks like most every one is against this except Jimmy Carter/Pres Bush; however didnt realize until eod news that 5 government agencies had approved it after careful consideration like D.O. Defense. 4]Hopefully with all due respect to President Bush[voted 2 times for him]; hopefully he will lose & then can tell U.A E. he gave it his best shot , the people of US simply dont want Chinese owning our oil companies /Unocal or U.A E . running our ports, and so on. Both countries should realize thier abuse of Christian /Jews have serious consequences reguardless of how this turns out.
If america is attacked in one of these ports, and UAE is running it, then the republicans would never get elected for the next 50 years. They would be known as the party that allow an attack. Instead of the party of Linchon. Can you imagine the political fallout if any attack. Im not even talking about WMD type thing but more of one where terriosts used the ports as tranfer points.
Bush is amazing, absolutely amazing. The guy has managed to infuriate the likes of James Dobson and Maureen Dowd at the same time. Left and right joined together in harmonious chorus of WTF... a feat many would have deemed impossible. Talk about being "a uniter, not a divider." The mind boggles.