***At the suggestion of readers, I am opening up the comments section...have at it!...11:12pmEST comments closed...***
Good: Two GOP governors join rising bipartisan opposition to the White House's secretive port sellout deal with the United Arab Emirates...
Two Republican governors on Monday questioned a Bush administration decision allowing an Arab-owned company to operate six major U. S. ports, saying they may try to cancel lease arrangements at ports in their states.
New York Gov. George Pataki and Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich voiced doubts about the acquisition of a British company that has been running the U.S. ports by Dubai Ports World, a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates.
The British company, Peninsular and Oriental, runs major commercial operations at ports in Baltimore, Miami, New Jersey, New Orleans, New York and Philadelphia.
"Ensuring the security of New York's port operations is paramount and I am very concerned with the purchase of Peninsular & Oriental Steam by Dubai Ports World," Pataki said in a news release.
"I have directed the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to explore all legal options that may be available to them in regards to this transaction," said the New York governor, who is still in the hospital recovering from an appendectomy.
Ehrlich, concerned about security at the Port of Baltimore, said Monday he is "very troubled" that Maryland officials got no advance notice before the Bush administration approved an Arab company's takeover of the operations at the six ports. "We needed to know before this was a done deal, given the state of where we are concerning security," Ehrlich told reporters in the State House rotunda in Annapolis.
Ehrlich says Maryland has the discretion to voice the contract. Pataki is asking the federal government to "share all critical relevant information made available to the Council on Foreign Investment during the course of the review of the purchase." New York could cancel the lease for operation.
A company at the Port of Miami is suing to block the transaction.
Cal Thomas: "There have been some dumb decisions since the United States was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001, including the "welcoming" of radical Muslim groups, mosques and schools that seek by their preaching and teaching to influence U.S. foreign policy and undermine the nation. But the decision to sell port operations in New York, Newark-Port Elizabeth, Baltimore, Miami, Philadelphia and New Orleans to a company owned by the UAE may be the dumbest of all."
Rep. Peter King: "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." More:
King also responded to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's defense that the government typically builds in "certain conditions or requirements that the company has to agree to make sure we address the national security concerns." The House Homeland Security Committee chairman said that, despite Chertoff's explanation on ABC's "This Week," he still has strong concerns about the inquiry. "When I talk to the people actually involved in the process, it was very cursory, it was very superficial," King said.
He said he found out about the purchase, which transfers operations at ports in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia to the Persian Gulf company, last Tuesday in meetings with senior Bush administration officials. "As I understand it, the whole process took only 20 to 25 days," he said of the transaction. "There's no way you can do a complete analysis in 20 to 25 days and that includes financial analysis."
The Port Security, Maritime Security, and Homeland Security Blog is a good resource for news developments.
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Frank Gaffney, who has led the whistle-blowing on the UAE deals, calls attention to more worrisome details:
Since a column raising an alarm about CFIUS' decision appeared in this space last week, three new factors have come to light that compound the strategic folly of the UAE deal:
# First, in addition to the six affected ports mentioned above, two others would also have part of their operations managed by DP World -- on behalf of none other than the U.S. Army. Under a newly extended contract, the owner of P and O will manage the movement of heavy armor, helicopters and other military materiel through the Texas seaports of Beaumont and Corpus Christie. How much would our enemies like to be able to sabotage such shipments?
# Second, while advocates of the stealthy CFIUS decision-making process point to the involvement of the Defense Department in its DP World decision, it is unclear at what level this bizarre proposition was reviewed in the Pentagon. Many top jobs remain unfilled by presidential appointees. Past experience suggests the job may have fallen to lower-level career bureaucrats who give priority to maintaining good relations with their foreign "clients," like the UAE.
# Then, there is the matter of financing the DP World takeover of Peninsula and Oriental. The UAE evidently intends to raise nearly all of the $6.8 billion price for P and O on international capital markets. It must be asked: Who will the foreign investors be, and might they have malign intentions towards the U.S.? If American sources of capital are being sought, will the possible danger this transaction may create for this country be properly disclosed? For that matter, will the underwriters, Barclays and Deutchebank, reveal to prospective funders the real risk that the deal will ultimately fall through?
Frank concludes:
Call it a Harriet Meirs moment. Politics being the art of the possible, it is time to recognize that the Dubai Ports World deal is neither strategically sensible nor politically doable. It is time to pull the plug, and to reform the secretive interagency CFIUS process that allowed this fiasco in the first place.
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Previous:
Banned in the UAE
Our ports, our sovereignty
Stop the port sellout
The White House port sellout is making some very strange bedfellows. First, Hillary and me. And now, on FNC's Big Story with John Gibson, NY Sen. Chuck Schumer embraces Halliburton over the UAE:
Download and watch the video (.wmv file)
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FOX News: House GOP Leaders Line Up Against UAE Port Deal
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Previous:
Protect our ports: steam builds
Banned in the UAE
Our ports, our sovereignty
Stop the port sellout
Please FReepmail me if you would like to be added to, or removed from, the Michelle Malkin ping list...
One thing that I haven't seen mentioned is that the deal could make Dubai itself an attractive target for ME terrorists for dealing with the infidel.
Under a newly extended contract, the owner of P and O will manage the movement of heavy armor, helicopters and other military materiel through the Texas seaports of Beaumont and Corpus Christie. How much would our enemies like to be able to sabotage such shipments?
Sabotage is a remote possibility. What would be almost as useful to our enemies would be to have precise, detailed real-time information about the flow of U.S. military materiel. If you want to know whether the U.S. is going to war, wouldn't such information be useful? I'd think so.
Gee Michelle Malkin is against it, I am shocked!
"If demanding that our government put American security interests above foreign business interests makes me an "Islamophobe," ..."
Knee jerk reactionism. The essential national security interests will not be run by the Dubai company. They will not be allowed to have an acess to US port security (paltry as it is) policy.
Fabulous post.
Common sense supported by those ever pesky facts.
The Bush Admin keeps tell us Americans won't do field work or work in meat packing plants or clean hotel toilets, etc, so we have to import illegals to do the jobs Americans won't do.
The Bush Admin keeps tell us Americans can't answer telephones, so we have to export and outsoure technical and customer support to India to do the jobs Americans won't do.
Now, we find Americans can't do ports, so we outsource that to UAE because no American company will do the job.
It seems that the Bush Administration is telling us that Americans can't do much, that we are a lazy bunch of do-nothings.
| W aides' biz ties to Arab firm (Administration in bed with Dubai Port World) |
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| Posted by TomGuy to presidio9 On News/Activism 02/21/2006 10:55:20 AM CST · 102 of 145 The other connection is David Sanborn, who runs DP World's European and Latin American operations and was tapped by Bush last month to head the U.S. Maritime Administration. Interesting tidbit. Considering that the defenders have been saying the deal was basically done 'in committee' and GW had no direct knowledge that an UAE company was being chosen. hmmmmmm. This is turning into another fiasco, reminiscent of the Miers nomination. If the Administration didn't see this avalanche of protests coming, they are definitely out of touch with real America. |
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In my opinion, this just reveals the truth that the Republicans will sell you out for money. The Democrats will sell you out for votes (and money as well). It'd be nice if someone would actually care about the country.
On most issues you could probably call me a "Bushbot", I tend to give the president the benefit of the doubt on most things, even when he irritates me, as he occasionally does.
And I recognize that UAE is one of our allies, and they have built an impressive country out of the desert there.
But, I'm sorry, its crazy to put them in charge of port operations. I didn't like it when China was offered Long Beach Naval Shipyard, and I don't like this. I'm all for doing business where ever we can, and inviting investment from any and all. But some operations have security implications that go beyond the norm, and should be restricted to US control.
ping
bump
great post cgk!
PING
for later reading...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1519343/posts
Dubai Royals Snatch Up Manhattan Real Estate - bump list
Well of course it's all about money, what other conclusion is there to draw? The question now is if there's an attempt at an investigation will they try squelch it? If so then it'll become apparent at least some in our government stood to profit from the deal while putting national security concerns in the backseat.
PCFC sukuk shows Dubai's support for Sharia funds
Published: 02/15/2006 12:00 AM (UAE)
Sohain Zubairi, Special to Gulf News
The structure of PCFC sukuk is based on the Islamic principles of musharaka.
On Monday, the shareholders of P&O approved the proposed acquisition of the company by DP World in an overwhelming manner, expressing confidence in the professionalism and ability of DP World to own and manage the company.
The above success brings to fore the two important points: a) the high credibility of Dubai Inc. as a leading contender of good investment opportunities on an international scale and b) the increasingly important role played by Islamic finance in the development projects of Dubai in particular and the UAE in general.
Without doubt, Dubai has been a vanguard in successfully adopting the instrument of sukuk as a means of tapping the needed liquidity for its various projects. Sukuks launched with the direct or indirect involvement of the Government of Dubai include Nakheel sukuk, DCA sukuk, DMCC sukuk, Emirates sukuk and of course the PCFC sukuk.
Lion's share
The aggregate value of these sukuks is an enormous $5.6 billion. This amount is about half the value of all sukuks launched globally so far and clearly conveys Dubai's resolve to promote Islamic way of financing for its projects. On the other hand, it has provided Islamic banks in Dubai with a valuable opportunity to develop the high-level expertise in structuring various types of sukuk, which have been internationally acclaimed.
Although, strictly speaking, the PCFC sukuk was not linked to support the acquisition of P&O, it was meant to augment the company's overall financial resources in a Sharia-compliant manner so as to enable it to undertake several major development initiatives, which included, apart from P&O acquisition plan, the development of Jafza South Zone with eight business and industrial sub-zones.
The gigantic South Zone will consist of Dubai Distribution Centre for shipping, warehousing, transportation and distribution; Pharma-Med Park to cater to the growing needs of medical products, equipment and services sector; Construction Square for architects, developers, cement manufacturers and building fitters; Food & Beverage Park for food processing and packaging; Digital Valley of consumer electronics, electric appliances and telecommunication products; Chemical & Plastic Field for plastics, rubber and chemicals sectors; Paper Pack Zone to enhance Dubai's status as an emerging major supplier of stationery, packaging and printing products; and Fragrance, Beauty and Fashion Park for the perfumes and cosmetics sector.
The PCFC sukuk is based on contractual partnership where an agreement is entered into between two or more parties to combine their equity for the purpose of investing the same in a Sharia-compliant manner for earning profits.
The musharaka equity could be either in cash or in kind. However, scholars say that if a partner is contributing the equity in kind, its value should be independently assessed (for example by a professional surveyor) in order to avoid any conflict between the partners. Another way acceptable to Sharia is the unanimous approval by all partners of the value of the asset being contributed as the musharaka equity.
While musharaka profits can be distributed between the partners in any ratio agreed to between them irrespective of their equity contribution ratio, the losses if any, will be borne by them pro rata to their equity contribution ratio. This is only fair since the loss sustaining capacity of each partner has a direct relationship to the capital contributed by it.
(to be continued)
The writer is the vice-president and head of sharia structuring, documentation and product development at Dubai Islamic Bank.