Posted on 03/08/2006 10:07:32 PM PST by Stellar Dendrite
This is a wake-up call to the White House.
In an election-year repudiation of President Bush, a House panel dominated by Republicans voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to block a Dubai-owned firm from taking control of some U.S port operations.
By 62-2, the Appropriations Committee voted to bar DP World, run by the government of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, from holding leases or contracts at U.S. ports.
Bush has promised to veto any such measure passed by Congress, but there is widespread public opposition to the deal and the GOP fears losing its advantage on the issue of national security in this fall's elections...
...By its vote, the House committee attached the ports language to a must-pass $91 billion measure financing hurricane recovery and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The full House could consider that measure as early as next week.
While GOP Senate leaders hope to delay a quick showdown with Bush on the issue, the House panel, including members of Bush's own party, showed a willingness to defy him.
On PBS this evening, GOP Rep. Jack Kingston, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said there are enough votes in the House to override a presidential veto:
I think that the House would override a veto, and I think the President will see those numbers. You know, there is still some wiggle room. If the administration, on a very quick basis, can make the case for this, then I think we can amend that amendment within the committee process, perhaps even on the Senate floor. But I don't think that's likely. I think right now, we're in a situation where an overwhelming majority would vote to override a veto. And I don't think the President would want to take on that battle.
Already, the House Republicans are being dismissed as hysterical political opportunists. There will be a new round of race-card playing and accusations of Islamophobia against them. They will be lambasted for betraying Preisdent Bush.
But if they are guilty of anything, the House Republicans who are revolting on this issue are guilty of doing something the incompetent staffers at the White House can't seem to do very well these days: listen and respond effectively to their constituents. When all is said and done, security-minded Americans would rather not see management of terminals at our U.S. ports in the hands of an Arab state-owned company whose government officials not only provided cover to Osama bin Laden before 9/11 and created a ripe environment that facilitiated al Qaeda financing and remained a logistical hub after 9/11, but who also still maintain a catch-and-release policy toward terror suspects, deny the existence of our established ally, Israel, and may be providing material support for terrorism even as they welcome U.S. military forces to their shores.
Moreover, as the Center for Security Policy's Frank Gaffney noted in House testimony last week:
- "The Coast Guard has acknowledged that DP World will be responsible for vetting the people assigned to its U.S. and other operations."
- "Huge quantities of cargo move through our ports every day, much of it of uncertain character and provenance, nearly all of it inadequately monitored. Matters can only be made worse if port management personnel include one or more individuals who might conspire to bring in dangerous containers, or simply look the other way when they arrive."
- "In the days since the DP World takeover became a matter of public knowledge and controversy, much has been made of the fact that primary responsibility for port security will remain with American authorities. Common sense tells us, however, that managers of U.S. port facilities have to be read-in on government-approved plans for securing those assets. After all, they bear some responsibility for implementing such plans."
House Republicans continue to get overwhelmingly negative feedback from their constituents about the deal. The message is clear: Bush is blowing it. Will all the brilliant GOP political strategists--the ones who are always telling us the American people know best and that the Republican Party is most in tune with ordinary citizens--now reprimand House GOP members for taking the electorate's pulse and reacting to bona fide national security concerns?
Nervous nellies will argue that the House Republican "hotheads" should have waited for the 45-day review of the deal. But to many knowledgeable observers of the CFIUS process, the panel is the root of the problem--not the solution. As I made clear in my first post on this subject on Feb. 18 and consistently throughout the debate, we simply cannot afford the business-as-usual attitude of the rubber-stampers at CFIUS. And if that means the UAE retaliates by pulling out of business deals with Boeing, as it is threatening to do now, so be it.
As Bill Bennett and Seth Leibsohn put it:
"We are indeed a commercial republic, but we should not allow commerce to dictate our republican principles any more than we should allow it to trump our wartime sensibilities, goals, or lessons. The stakes are too high, and the nobility of our effort is too great."
The work in Washington is not done. CFIUS needs a drastic overhaul. Port security needs more attention. All our borders need more attention.
The vote today is not an anomaly, but a harbinger of things to come (read: Bush's amnesty proposal is dead on arrival).
Is anyone at the White House listening?
ping
"Is anyone at the White House listening?"
Great question, Michelle.
Now lets build that fence, and elect someone with the cojones to send home every illegal that lives here.
To the fatcats on K Street.
L
This is getting ridiculous.
Yep.
>>>>But if they are guilty of anything, the House Republicans who are revolting on this issue are guilty of doing something the incompetent staffers at the White House can't seem to do very well these days: listen and respond effectively to their constituents. When all is said and done, security-minded Americans would rather not see management of terminals at our U.S. ports in the hands of an Arab state-owned company whose government officials not only provided cover to Osama bin Laden before 9/11 and created a ripe environment that facilitiated al Qaeda financing and remained a logistical hub after 9/11, but who also still maintain a catch-and-release policy toward terror suspects, deny the existence of our established ally, Israel, and may be providing material support for terrorism even as they welcome U.S. military forces to their shores.
Obviously, Michelle has been reading my posts.
They don't speak English anymore, amiga!
Michelle's the best.....and quite a looker too. LOL!!!
What a great screen name!
I read a lot of your posts and they make a lot of common sense.
REAGAN WAS A GIANT SURROUNDED BY MIDGETS (Congressional)
Have I mysteriously fallen into a DU thread?
There is obviously a lot of that going on. They are politicians. But, for about the past year the administration has seemed a bit, well, a step or two behind.
Are they distracted by the various investigations?
Are they just finally losing steam from the constant 24 hour a day onslaught they have endured since the election of 2000?
Or, has President Bush just decided 'Screw it. I am not running again and history will show I am right?'
Or do they have an Ace or two left up their sleeves?
They just do not seem to be on their game.
"we simply cannot afford the business-as-usual attitude of the rubber-stampers at CFIUS"
Couldn't agree more. When it comes to border security, we cannot afford to have the agenda hijacked by the CFIUS, the Chamber of Commerce, and the neoconservative/globalist crowd. The risks are just too great.
Is anybody in Congress listening?
Question: who would you trust more to make the right call on National security, GEB or any member of Congess?
Thanks for the ping, Stellar. Good article. It is not just the House Republicans who are being accused of Arab bashing. I saw a few keywords on a different thread which indicated the same here on FR.
That said, distrust of a Sunni muslim country that recognized the Taliban (and has deep Wahabbi sympathies) is but natural.
I can't believe some people are out there still defending this deal.
Actually, a majority of FR supports this deal. The vast majority of the non-FR public does not.
BTTT
Keep up the good fight. Conservatism will triumph in the end.
I support this deal. Congress is in full knee jerk (re-election) mode. That doesn't make them right.
Aww...come on. Any disagreement with a specific Administration policy is now a DU stance, is it?
I admire Pres. Bush on most issues but am afraid that his admin. hasn't really done the best possible job of convincing the public why this deal should proceed.
Heh...
"No, you've just found a thread full of most of the resident Bush haters on Free Republic."
__________________________________________________
Ummmm, I don't think so..........
I like Bush, but he's making me really nervous lately. I too hope he's got some "Aces up his sleeve."
I still find it odd. To me, there's more common-sense reasons NOT to go with this deal than there are TO go with this deal.
The parties have merged. Josef Stalin must be proud. The Dims have no plan. The GOP has waffled. The Libertarians and Constitution party are a mere irritant. Americans and FRiends have become polarized. Leadership would be refreshing.
To some here, disagreements over policy equals 'hate'.
Sad, but that's the way it is.
The hyperbole of the FR defenders of this deal has been unprecedented.
"Have I mysteriously fallen into a DU thread?"
No you've fallen onto the common sense, knows a bad deal when we see it, won't sell our security needs out for the almighty dollar, keep the foxes out of the chicken coop thread. Patriotic Pubs concerned with the fate of our country are on this thread. Perhaps it is you that is on the wrong thread, and should seek out an Ayn Rand thread instead. I'm sure you'd feel more comfortable with the dollar uber alles crowd, security concerns be d*mned.
You can take the "islamofascist" out of the Middle East, but you can't take the killer out of the "islamofascist".
No, but I put a lot of faith in the President, Generals Pace and Franks and Colonel North. I'm inclined to believe them when it comes to the War on Terror than a bunch of politicians on the hill looking to get reelected.
Malkin ping
It may as well be a DUh thread.
"Oh!, thank goodness Congress is finally stopping that Bush from aiding and abetting the terrorists."
Yeah, it's got "DUh" written all over it.
This issue has certainly helped identify those FReepers who are more than one standard deviation to the left on the Bell Curve...
It's a mistake to think we are made more secure by rushing to kill the DPW deal and sweep it under the carpet.
Do our senators and representatives want to kill the deal because they have their own deals to hide?
I've learned a lot about who to listen to, through these recent events. It's sad when you realize what a lot of silly loadmouths are running around. This is politics out of the worst of the Hearst era, and to no real purpose, just running to and fro'.
As Savage said,
"The Republicans and democrats are two wings of the same bird of prey"
Oh and by the way Bin Ladin sends a to message to America...
He is happy that one word is ruining our chances of mutual commerce and peaceful relations with anyone in the ME.
ARAB!!
The word that took down the great American Empire without a shot.
Agreed, which is why I am a registered 'independent'.
It almost seems as though Congress doesn't want
I think we are witnessing the evolution of a new species - the conservative moonbat.
What you said - - BUMP!
Congresscritters are well aware that you can never underestimate the stupidity of the mindless chattering class. The mindless chattering class jerked its collective knee (with the immense help of the dying socialist "mainstream" newsrooms) and as a result the congresscritters are doing what congresscritters do - - covering their behinds.
No big deal. I couldn't care less about stinking Dubai or the ports anyway. Que sera sera.
Regards,
LH
Of course, you can always follow Karl Rove's maxim: "Of course they'll vote GOP - where else are they going to go?"
As if the GOP base is that loyal...
Never trust a globalist.
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