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Peter King: Dubai Ports Company in 'al-Qaida Heartland'
House Homeland Security Committee chairman Peter King ratcheted up the rhetoric Monday morning on the Bush administration's decision to permit Dubai Ports World to control six major U.S. ports, saying the company is based in "the heartland of al-Qaida." "By having a company right out of the heartland of al-Qaida managing those ports without being properly cleared or investigated, to me is madness," Rep. King told ABC News. King cited "a number of reports about the port of Dubai itself, about weapons going through that port, to Iran, about corruption, and again about an al-Qaida presence. And I know there was no real investigation done on this matter." King said he intends to ask President Bush to "freeze the contract [on the ports takeover], put it on hold, take no action till a full and complete investigation is done."
Story Continues Below The Dubai company's ports takeover was approved last month by the Committee on Foreign Investment, headed by Treasury Secretary John Snow. Over the weekend, both Homeland Security czar Michael Chertoff and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insisted that the Dubai ports deal had been thoroughly reviewed and posed no threat to national security. During an appearance on ABC's "This Week," however, Chertoff said he couldn't discuss details of the review because they were classified. Rep. King said approval of the controversial deal was granted because "bureaucrats" had applied pre-9/11 standards. "This is a classic situation, I think, of bureaucrats who just missed the boat here," he explained. "This went through. They were applying business as usual [rules] and they forgot it was post-9/11." Unless President Bush intervenes, the Dubai ports takeover is set to commence on March 1. Editor's note:
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