Port Security Threatened by Turning our Port Control Over to the United Arab Emirates

Posted on February 18, 2006

This is really the last straw for a supposedly "tough on terror" admininistration. President Bush wants to turn over the control of our major shipping points to a company based in Dubai, which is part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Yes, that's right -- in the middle of the War on Terror we're handing over our shipping ports to Dubai. Senators on both sides of the aisle have banded together to stop the bill. The bill was originally sponsored by Senator Clinton (D-NY) and Senator Menendez (D-New Jersey) presented the bill; a number of Republicans are getting on board. After all, in an election year, how will lawmakers explain to their constituents that they've handed over control of some of our busiest shipping ports to the UAE?

The purpose of the bill would be to block the $6.8 billion sale of a British shipping company to Dubai Ports World, a port operator controlled by the government of Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates. The British company, Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation, operates the cruise ship terminal on the West Side of Manhattan and has a half-interest in the Port Newark Container Terminal, the third-largest cargo terminal in New York harbor. "I just don't believe that our ports should be handed over to foreign governments," Mr. Menendez said in an interview. Especially not to Dubai, he added, because it has a "serious and dubious history" as a transit point for terrorism.
Echoing other lawmakers in Washington who criticized the federal approval of the deal this week, Mr. Menendez cited reports that two of the Sept. 11 hijackers were from the United Arab Emirates and that some of the money that financed the attacks flowed through banks there. That bipartisan group of critics included Senator Charles E. Schumer, a Democrat, and Representative Peter T. King, a Republican from Long Island. But senior administration officials reiterated their support for the transaction and their favorable relations with the United Arab Emirates. The Dubai purchase passed a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a panel composed of the leaders of 12 federal agencies and headed by the treasury secretary, John W. Snow.
Mr. Snow and Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, said yesterday that the committee had determined that the transfer would not compromise security. Ms. Rice, who is scheduled to visit the United Arab Emirates next week, described one of them, Abu Dhabi, as "a very good friend" of the United States, according to Bloomberg News.

A "good friend"? Give me a break. The don't even recognize that Israel has the right to exist. Their goverment has ties to known terrorist organizations. The 9/11 Commission Report noted that many of the hijackers transited through the United Arab Emirates. A great deal of Osama bin Laden's and other terrorists group's money is laundered through the UAE. This is just plain wrong, and the furor on Capitol Hill is just starting.