Arab-run Firm Buys Company With Major Commercial Operations From 6 Large US Ports

[Jeana (DP)]

I heard this morning that the Teamsters were now getting involved. Hopefully, they can "influence" some people.

 

[PrayersForMaura]

No doubt! I can't believe he said "why differentiate between British and Arab companies"!!!!!!!!!!!!! WTF??? I don't recall the British trying to blow us up on 9/11 for Pete's sake!

Exactly! The British are our true FRIENDS. They are our allies in the war on terror in Iraq. I don't see the UAE fighting side by side with our men who are getting killed.

 

[j2mirish]

:laugh: :laugh:

I heard this morning that the Teamsters were now getting involved. Hopefully, they can "influence" some people.

 

[mjak]

The UAE has been a staunch ally of the United States for many many years. They are one of the Middle East's most progressive governments. Allowing them to oversee port operations may indeed create a huge hole in our county's defense.
The Coast Guard will continue to patrol our ports, unions will continue to load and offload containers, but the containers will be suspicious now....because they are controlled by the UAE? Containers already come from ports around the world, and are suspect. Why will they be more suspect after this sale goes through?

My concern is not that this will make the contaniers more suspiciosu now but that it alows a for a huge scary weekeness in the secutiry of our country. Mid east terroists will see this as the easiest route to attack our country. While the UAE may have only good intentions I believe the network of terrorist organizations run too deep and are too advanced to alow a weekness like this to exist . How hard would it be for a terrorist organization to infiltrate an entrancway being overseen by another mideast country. Its just too risky in my opinion.

mjak

 

[cheko1]

Americans can leave the country anytime they want.

I should of said we'd be safer leaving the country.

 

[Jeana (DP)]

I should of said we'd be safer leaving the country.

and go where?

 

[BirdieBoo]

Americans can leave the country anytime they want.

Like Michael Jackson. He went to UAE if I am not mistaken.....Maybe they feel like they need to buy the ports to sneak him back into the USA in a container because they don't want him there, either.


Anyway this deal makes it sound as if the USA national security is being sold to the highest bidder. And the US people are upset. Of course. Rightfully so, IMO.

So then what happens? Does the deal go through? Does Bush get out his VETO pen as he has promised? or does he "relent" at the last moment?

If the deal does not go through, who gets control of the ports? Halliburton? And then Bush looks like a "great president" who "stepped up" and "did the right thing" for the USA.

It seems like some sort of a set-up, to me.

 

[Jeana (DP)]

Like Michael Jackson. He went to UAE if I am not mistaken.....Maybe they feel like they need to buy the ports to sneak him back into the USA in a container because they don't want him there, either.


Anyway this deal makes it sound as if the USA national security is being sold to the highest bidder. And the US people are upset. Of course. Rightfully so, IMO.

So then what happens? Does the deal go through? Does Bush get out his VETO pen as he has promised? or does he "relent" at the last moment?

If the deal does not go through, who gets control of the ports? Halliburton? And then Bush looks like a "great president" who "stepped up" and "did the right thing" for the USA.

It seems like some sort of a set-up, to me.

UAE is a huge vacation spot for Brits. I know they think they've been suppportive to the US since 9/11, but my feeling is that they're supportive to everyone, including Al Quada and that's not good.

From what I've heard, there's a hold on the deal, but it will most likely go through at some point in time, but they'll make some sort of changes with regard to security.

Frankly, I find it hard to believe that we only inspect 5% of the containers coming into this country. So, I'm kinda wondering why they don't just DO SOMETHING about that. I mean maybe this is the wake up call the US needed to realize just how stupid that is. Sure, the Coast Guard is in charge of "waters," but I'm thinking we've got National Guard all over the place who need something to do. I'd like to see our military inspecting everything that comes in.

I've never heard the word "Halliburton" mentioned with regard to ports. :waitasec: :waitasec:

 

[Toby]

Who are our friends in the Middle East?
Which countries?

 

[Jeana (DP)]

Who are our friends in the Middle East?
Which countries?

According to whom? Me? No one? Bush, he's got a few names he tosses about.

 

[Maral]

UAE is a huge vacation spot for Brits. I know they think they've been suppportive to the US since 9/11, but my feeling is that they're supportive to everyone, including Al Quada and that's not good.

Link
WASHINGTON, D.C.—No matter what Bush and his supporters say, there is indisputable evidence of tight connections between the United Arab Emirates and leadership of both the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The country is the center of financial activity in the Persian Gulf, and has next to no laws controlling money laundering.Two of the hijackers came from the UAE and hijacker money was laundered through the UAE. The details are spelled out in documents in the government's case against Moussaoui.

The ties with bin Laden and the Taliban reach far back into the '90s. Prominent Persian Gulf officials, including members of the UAE royal family, and businessmen would fly to Kandahar on UAE and private jets for hunting expeditions, the Los Angeles Times reported in 2001. In addition to ranking UAE ministers, these parties included Saudi big wigs like Prince Turki, the former Saudi intelligence minister who now is ambassador to the U.S.

General Wayne Downing, Bush's former national director for combating terrorism, was quoted on MSNBC in September, 2003 saying, "They would go out and see Osama, spend some time with him, talk with him, you know, live out in the tents, eat the simple food, engage in falconing, some other pursuits, ride horses. One noted visitor is Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktum, United Arab Emirates Defense Minister and Crown Prince for the emirate of Dubai.''

 

[Marthatex]

Who are our friends in the Middle East?
Which countries?

Jordan? Lebanon? Israel? Egypt is shaky but used to be.

Remember that bombing of the wedding in Jordan? That was reprisal for something (being our friend? being Irael's friend?) Can't remember now and I'm too tired to look it up.

Going to bed. I thought those Jordanians were supposed to be pretty peaceful tho'.

(Oh, those emirates met with Ben Ladin back in '99. Their record is "spotty". I mean it's one thing to try to be friends, it's another to hand supervision of our ports over to them) And I read over on the DailyKos that it's really going to be 21 ports, not 6.

Xenophobic? What hogwash. Don't use that word on me. That's not the same as being informed and logically cautious based upon past experiences.

 

[Buzz Mills]

Homeland Security Objected to Ports Deal

WASHINGTON - The Homeland Security Department objected at first to a United Arab Emirates company's taking over significant operations at six U.S. ports. It was the lone protest among members of the government committee that eventually approved the deal without dissent. The department's early objections were settled later in the government's review of the $6.8 billion deal after Dubai-owned DP World agreed to a series of security restrictions.

The company indefinitely has postponed its takeover to give President Bush time to convince Congress that the deal does not pose any increased risks to the U.S. from terrorism.

Some lawmakers have pressed for a new and intensive review. Despite persistent criticism from Republicans and Democrats, the president has defended his administration's approval of the ports deal and threatened to veto any measures in Congress that would block it. Hearings are to continue this week.

http://tinyurl.com/rhkvy

 

[Nore]

This has to make supporters of the Bush adminsitration pause, and wonder what is going on. The Bush adminisitration sees nothing wrong with these ports being run by a company from the United Arab Emirates, despite the fact that it was terrorists from the United Arab Emirates who were involved in planning and executing 9/11.

The Bush administration is also against promoting stem cell research despite the American public, including members of his own party, being heavily in favor of stem cell research. In fact Bush has stated he will veto any legislation that promotes additional stem cell research.

The Bush administration, is against any legislation to support the effort against global warming, while at the same time funding a very high priced on-going study on the cause of global warming, which finds that man's activities are heavily contibuting to the global warming.

The Bush administration continues to push through legislation dictating tax breaks to our major oil companies, while at the same time, these oil companies all have unprecedented profits, while they operate essentially tax free, or close to it.

What's going on??? It is almost as if our president refuses to consider our wants.

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Dear Lord please deliver us from this administration..We as a Country need help..

 

[Reader]

This is a good article that details some of the current measures that are taken for port security, and also how inadequate they are:

http://snipurl.com/mxih

But maritime security experts say the sale is a noisy distraction from real vulnerabilities facing ports: too little inspection of containers, perhaps as small as 5 percent, and gaps in the government's system of identifying dangerous cargo inside.

"It's a minor consideration," says Kim Petersen, president of SeaSecure LLC, the nation's largest maritime security consulting company. "What we've seen is an attempt by some politicians to divert attention from the real problems associated with maritime security."

Security experts, members of Congress and government reports for years have warned that terrorists could use the world's global shipping system for attacks. They blame the vast size of the business - an estimated 9-million containers enter U.S. ports annually - and inadequate government spending on maritime security.
--------------------------------
Federal security officials say they have significantly strengthened port security and established a "layered defense" against anyone trying to smuggle a weapon hidden among legitimate cargo.

Twenty-four hours before a container is loaded at a foreign port, the shipper must provide the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection a manifest listing the cargo inside. The agency processes the information through intelligence databases that give the shipment a risk ranking.

And other measures..............
----------------------------------
About 80 percent of containers going to the U.S. leave from foreign ports participating in the customs partnership. But that leaves lots of ports in the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa with little if any screening, Petersen said.

"Al-Qaida can go to the customs Web site, identify which ports are in the CSI partnership and pick a port in the developing world to ship a WMD to Miami, New York or Los Angeles," he said.
---------------------------------
"All a terrorist organization needs to do is find a weak link ... such as a poorly paid truck driver taking a container from a remote factory to a port," he wrote. "They can then gain access to the container in one of the half-dozen ways known to experienced smugglers."

 

[windovervocalcords]

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Dear Lord please deliver us from this administration..We as a Country need help..

Can I join you?

 

[Dark Knight]

Xenophobic? What hogwash. Don't use that word on me. That's not the same as being informed and logically cautious based upon past experiences.

People who use those kind of words always hate it when it's used on them, lol. (And liberals use that one a LOT, let's face it.)

 

[Dark Knight]

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Dear Lord please deliver us from this administration..We as a Country need help..

They're taking us on the road to ruin, that's for sure. And no one seems able to stop them. So, best we can do is pray, as God can!

 

[Marthatex]

I"ve never word the word Xenophobic in my life.

Except now.

And as to the prayers. Amen. And shall His face begin to shine upon us once more.

 

[windovervocalcords]

I"ve never word the word Xenophobic in my life.

Except now.

And as to the prayers. Amen. And shall His face begin to shine upon us once more.

I first heard this term, xenophobia in connection with the sci-fi triolgy, written by Orson Scott Card, and starting with the novel, Enders Game.

In terms of this novel and its sequels, it refers to how genius children are trained to be warriors.

The term always evokes this sci fi trilogy (which I recommend BTW) and my memory is the way in which the enemy is dehumanized. (it could be the enemy, aliens from another world have the appearance of insects but I may be mixing up my novels lol)

The point is xenophobia to me means taking an entire group of people and reducing them to the category of being "squishable" like bugs and involves negative labeling, like calling the Blacks the N word, Germans, "krauts", Vietcong, "gooks", Muslims, "turban heads" etc etc etc.

The point is we don't have to treat them as human equal to us so they can be tortured, abused, or annihilated as an entire race or class.

May His face shine on U. S. once more. Amen.