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One Reporter's Opinion: Bush Ports Fiasco George Putnam It is this reporter's opinion that we now face issues of trust and believability when it comes to the president. Do we believe him when he claims he 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?
This first-ever sale involving U.S. port operations to a foreign state-owned company is set to be completed in early March. It would put Dubai Ports World in charge of major shipping operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.
The president adamantly defends the deal, while at the same time saying he did not know about it until recently. Press Secretary Scott McClellan stated at a recent news conference that Bush had become aware of the transaction "over the last several days."
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Asked if Bush did not know about it until it was a DONE DEAL, McClellan said, "That's correct. ... The president made sure to check with all the Cabinet secretaries that are part of this process, or whose agencies or departments are part of this process." The spokesman continued: "He made sure to check with them – even after this got more attention in the press, to make sure that they were comfortable with the decision that was made. ... And every one of the Cabinet secretaries expressed that they were comfortable with this transaction being approved."
The president remains adamant and says he would veto any legislation to hold up the deal and warns that the U.S. is sending "mixed signals" by going after a company from the Middle East, as nothing was said when a British company was in charge. The president says, "Lawmakers must step up and explain why a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard."
The president says, "If there was any chance the transaction would jeopardize the security of the United States, it would not go forward." But he's speaking out of both sides of his mouth! On the one hand, he says he was "unaware" of the pending sale of shipping operations at the six major U.S. seaports and only recently heard of it; yet, on the other, he adamantly defends the deal and threatens (for the first time in five years) to use his veto power if the lawmakers legislate against it.
His own party, Democrats and – according to polls – a vast majority of the American people oppose the transaction. And Bush faces a rebellion from leaders – Republicans and Democrats alike. Lawmakers are determined to capsize the pending sale and threaten to override presidential veto and say that Bush's surprise veto threat will not deter them.
The opposition is unanimous. Senate Republican leader Bill Frist urges the administration to reverse its decision to allow the transaction. Republican Congressman Pete King of New York, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, and Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York will introduce emergency legislation to suspend the ports deal. They all agree that it is a violation of our national security.
But that's not all of it. If we investigate this deal further, we find at least two ties to the White House that are obvious conflicts of interest. One is Treasury Secretary John Snow, whose department heads the federal panel that signed off on the $7 billion sale to government-owned Dubai Ports World, giving it control of Manhattan's cruise ship terminal and Newark's container port.
Snow was chairman of the rail firm that sold its own international port operations to Dubai Ports World for $1.15 billion the year after he left to join President Bush's cabinet. And Snow's Treasury Department runs the Committee on Foreign Investments in the U.S., which includes eleven other agencies. This raises serious red flags about the overall transaction.
The other connection is David Sanborn, who runs Dubai Ports World's European and Latin American operations and was named by Bush only last month to head the U.S. Maritime Administration.
The ties raise even more concerns about the decision to give port control to a company owned by a nation linked to the September 11 hijackers. Critics note that some of the hijackers who carried out the 9/11 attacks used the United Arab Emirates as an operational and financial base. They contend that the U.A.E. was an important transfer point for shipments of smuggled nuclear components sent to Iran, North Korea and Libya by Dr. Abdul Qadeer (A.Q.) Khan, a Pakistani engineer widely regarded as the father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program. Two of the 19 hijackers were citizens of the U.A.E., and reports indicate that the Gulf nation has been used as a conduit for al-Qaida money transfers.
One can only ask, Where was Karl Rove during this screw-up? Rove is usually praised for his political acumen. Didn't he see the opposition, the firestorm, building? And though the president said he became aware of the issue only during the last several days, didn't Rove or Bush or someone at the White House confer with GOP congressional leaders before this exploded?
What a mess the administration has created for itself! This, on the heels of numerous other disastrous Bush administration fiascos: the illegal alien situation, the choice of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court, Hurricane Katrina remaining symbolic of the government's total incompetence, the disastrous Medicare prescription drug program, the lack of communication in the Dick Cheney shooting incident, and Iraq continually eating away at the Bush presidency, not to mention our precious resources ... and now the Dubai Ports World fiasco. Can his legacy survive this, too?
The only two officials who support the president in this screwed-up mess are former President Jimmy Carter and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who says, "The administration had a very extensive process for reviewing such transactions that take into account matters of national security and concerns about port security."
As the outrage evolves across the nation and on Capitol Hill, we're all wondering how far this is going to go before the president finally says it was all a mistake, let's call the whole thing off.
But let's get back to the initial question: Was the president really unaware of the pending sale of shipping operations at six major U.S. seaports to the United Arab Emirates? And is it true that the president did not know about it until only recently? And will the president continue to threaten to use his veto power against any congressional effort to stop the transaction? How about a little common sense for a change?
Related Links:
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/2/22/105534.shtml
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/02/20060222-5.html#b
Editor's note:
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