Posted on 02/17/2006 7:51:42 AM PST by presidio9
Two U.S. Democratic senators said on Friday they would introduce legislation aimed at blocking Dubai Ports World from buying a company that operates several U.S. shipping ports because of security concerns.
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Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Hillary Clinton of New York said they would offer a measure to ban companies owned or controlled by foreign governments from acquiring U.S. port operations.
"We wouldn't turn the border patrol or the customs service over to a foreign government, and we can't afford to turn our ports over to one either," Menendez said in a statement.
P&O, the company Dubai Ports World plans to buy for $6.8 billion, is already foreign-owned but the concern is that the purchaser is backed by the United Arab Emirates government.
The UAE company would gain control over the management of major U.S. ports in New York and New Jersey, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Miami, sparking national security concerns.
"I will be working with Senator Menendez to introduce legislation that will prohibit the sale of ports to foreign governments," Clinton said in a statement.
Officials with the United Arab Emirates Embassy in Washington could not be immediately reached for comment.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a U.S. inter-agency panel that reviews security implications of foreign takeovers of strategic assets, has already reviewed the transaction and did not object.
Despite that review, some Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress urged the Bush administration to conduct a more rigorous review. They expressed fears that the UAE was used as a conduit for parts used for nuclear proliferation and that the local banking system had been abused by financiers with possible links to terrorist organizations.
U.S. officials have said the UAE has been a solid and cooperative partner in the fight against terrorism, and have praised the UAE for steps to protect its booming financial sector against abuse by terrorism financiers.
Money for the September 11 attacks was wired through the UAE's banking system, according to U.S. officials. Two of the September 11 hijackers were UAE citizens.
U.S. seaports handle 2 billion tons of freight each year but only about 5 percent of containers entering the United States are examined on arrival.
Similar concerns were raised when a China state-controlled oil company tried to acquire the U.S. oil company Unocal. After pressure from American lawmakers, the foreign company eventually dropped out of the bidding.
Bizarro world.
I hate to say it but this time, I'm with the dems.
That you are one of the suckers, PT Barnum was talking about.
"I hate it when the Dems do something I agree with. Thankfully its not very often"
I hear ya, WTF was this admin thinking of?
Here's a link: http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=14568
Who gives a rat's a$$ about who is posturing and for what reason on this issue......it's just plain wrong and dangerous! It needs to be stopped in any way possible.
Militant
"The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a U.S. inter-agency panel that reviews security implications of foreign takeovers of strategic assets, has already reviewed the transaction and did not object. "
This committee needs to be investigated now! They're trying to kill us as they stuff their offshore bank accounts.
There must be something we are missing since this is so insane.
WTF are you thinking when you believe hillary lock, stock, and barrel.
Hillary Clinton would be happy to hand port security off to a government-assisted special interest group. She heard the NY media bitching about this, and she decided to grab some free cred. You may think you are with the Rats, but they are not with you.
"If the Federal government passed a law prohibiting foreign-owned companies from operating terminals at U.S. ports tomorrow, this country would probably grind to a halt within 48 hours."
fine let's halt it until we can some security and some sanity operating at our strategic ports.
These people are all full of sh!t. There is a specific period of time (30 days, I believe) during which mergers/acquisitions of this sort are subject to review. Apparently none of these people had any concerns about it during that 30-day review period, but once the story became a public issue (complete with all kinds of grossly inaccurate information) everyone is scrambling to cover their @sses.
I need a scorecard.
What is so insane of stockholders of one company (P&O, based in Britain) approving the sale of their company.
Are you saying stockholders shouldn't have a voice in how their company is run?
Clinton sold Long Beach Harbor to the Communist Chinese for campaign funds.
That b*tch, Mrs. fat-b*stard-from-the-wrong-side-of-the-tracks, is....well, we all know what she is.
Yes, they frequently engaged in unsavory criminal activity, but let me tell you, any terrorist trying to smuggle in a dirty nuke or something would end up under the dock with a meat hook sticking out of his head.
Pete King said yesterday that no American company had bid on this and that bidding was secret and only lasted 20 days.
Like I said, the country would grind to a halt within 48 hours and we'd be living in the proverbial Stone Age within a month.
It's a crying shame that we have to cheer left-wingers for standing up for our sovereignty while a Republican president is trying to sell us out.
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