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ABU DHABI — A leading Gulf firm in the United Arab Emirates whose plans to operate six U.S. ports was last year rebuffed by Congress, has been certified as a partner in a U.S. port security program. The state-owned Dubai Ports World has been certified as a partner in the Customs-Trade Partnership against Terrorism. DP World underwent a successful audit that determined the company met international ISO 28000 security standards required by C-TPAT. In 2007, DP abandoned plans to purchase a British company that operated six major ports in the United States, Middle East Newsline reported. Congress was opposed to...

MIAMI - Miscommunication led to the detainment of three men at the Port of Miami on Sunday after authorities became suspicious of their documentation and the contents of their cargo truck, officials said. Authorities initially said the men — two Iraqis and one Lebanese national who are legal permanent U.S. residents — had been caught trying to slip past a checkpoint at the port's entrance. A port security officer became suspicious when the truck driver could not produce proper paperwork in a routine inspection to enter the port about 8 a.m., Miami-Dade police spokeswoman Nancy Goldberg said. The driver also...

Three men detained at Port of Miami after giving suspicious statements By Vanessa Blum South Florida Sun-Sentinel Posted January 7 2007, 4:22 PM EST MIAMI -- Three men were detained Sunday after trying to gain access to the Port of Miami, according to a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The driver drew suspicion at the port's delivery entrance around 8 a.m. after making inconsistent statements, said Judy Orihuela. The driver could not produce the requested paperwork to identify himself and his cargo. The vehicle was subsequently searched and two additional men were found in the truck's cab, Orihuela...

DUBAI DUETS Late Friday, Department of Justice lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel were attempting to determine if former President Bill Clinton had registered as an "Agent of a Foreign Principal." Federal statute requires that anyone -- even a former President -- doing political or public affairs work on behalf of a foreign country, agency or official must register with the Department, and essentially update his status every six months. It was not clear the Clinton had done so. If his status is less clear, here is what we do know: If Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton did not know...

DUBAI — DP World, on target to achieve 40 per cent growth in four years, will spend up to $3 billion to boost container traffic at the 52 port terminals it currently operates around the globe. Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Chairman of the world's third largest port operator, said the new investments would be used to expand cargo handling facilities and new equipment at the existing ports spread across 30 countries —currently boasting a combined annual throughput of more than 50 million TEUs. Announcing the formal launch of Dubai World — the holding group comprising a collection of companies, including...

USArabiaPart I - The Islamization of AmericaSo they've cancelled the Dubai Ports World deal.Feel better now? Safer?I don't.Because the problem is not just Dubai Ports World. It isn't even the recent reports that indicate the National Guard has been stretched too thin by the loss of both manpower and equipment to Iraq, or the upcoming release of two "Virginia Jihad" members, or the enrolment at Yale University of a former Taliban spokesman.It isn't the recent relaxation of security rules on airplanes (knives, scissors and knitting needles allowed on board and fewer bag searches at airports), and the continuing lack of...

There is a tale that George Bernard Shaw asked a lady, a doyenne of society, if he could bed her for a million pounds. When she replied “but of course” he offered her ten pounds. “Who do you think I am?” asked the enraged grande dame. Shaw retorted: We’ve established that and now we are just negotiating your fee.” This story is apposite as our former top officials troll for money among the Arab states. In the September 2004 Outpost I wrote about former diplomats and legislators who lobby for Saudi Arabia. This seedy group has recently been joined by...

   Idiom(t?)s March 23, 2006 The now eviscerated DPW (Dubai Ports World) deal brings to mind some good idioms for the idiots in Congress who: (1) should shut their mouths and open their eyes; (2) can't see beyond the end of their noses and (3) cut off their noses to spite their faces.  The first being an insurmountable challenge for Chuck Schumer.  It’s absolutely amazing that the entire political population of Washington, D.C can’t stop talking long enough to just open their eyes and look at a map.  I would suggest a map of the Strait of Hormuz. If you really...

DUBAI — DP World, which has just weathered a storm over its aborted takeover of six US ports following a $6.8 billion acquisition of P&O global operations, is facing unexpected yet snowballing opposition from India on fears that the Dubai-based company will have a monopoly of the subcontinent's container terminal operations. With the acquisition of P&O assets, DP World has under its control India's three major container terminals: Nhava Sheva, Mumbai; Chennai Container Terminal, Chennai; and Mundra International Container Terminal, Gujarat; apart from a share in the Vishaka Container Terminal at Vishakapatnam and the new container terminal in Vallarpadam, Kerala...

This is a partial transcript of "Special Report With Brit Hume" from March 10, 2006, that has been edited for clarity. JIM ANGLE, GUEST HOST: Different people draw different lessons from the two-week debate over port security and whether to let a company from the United Arab Emirates own the unloading operations at six U.S. ports. Several experts repeatedly tried to tell Congress that it was focusing on the wrong thing. One of them is John Carafano of the Heritage Foundation and author of "Winning The Long War." He argues that the U.S. is less safe without the deal than...

The top objective of the U.S. Coast Guard's anti-terrorism strategy is to protect what's called the "U.S. Maritime Domain," including American ports. But it is hard to take seriously the idea that ports are being effectively protected when the Coast Guard spent more tax dollars last year fighting the war on drugs than has been spent in total on port security since Sept. 11, 2001. Since becoming part of the Department of Homeland Security in early 2003, the Coast Guard reports interdicting at sea some 340 tons of cocaine bound for the United States. For 2005 alone, it was 150...

In the past three weeks, there has been a political firestorm caused by misreported facts about the purchase of P&O by Dubai Port Works, and scurrilous attacks on the UAE by pundits, which has led to the betrayal of America's most loyal and useful an ally in the Persian Gulf. The fallout from this betrayal will make it difficult to recruit future allies in the war on terror. The attacks on the UAE have the potential to do what Osama bin Laden has not been able to do with over a decade of bombings, the hijacked airliners, and fatwas. Just...

The controversy over Dubai Ports World was a great victory for them—but a defeat for candor and sensible security and economic policies. Untruth by Robert Samuelson March 20, 2006 issue - The idea of letting an Arab-owned company, Dubai Ports World, run container terminals at five U.S. ports struck many Americans as an absurdity. Why not just turn control directly over to Al Qaeda? In late February, a CBS News poll found that 70 percent of respondents were against the deal and only 21 percent in favor. The company's withdrawal last week can be seen as a triumph of public...

According to a Gulf News poll, 64 per cent of readers say the DP World affair "changed their opinion for the worst" about investing in the United States. A number of businessmen told the newspaper yesterday that Arab investors would think about other destinations. The majority agreed that DP World has been forced out of the US port operations due to "racism". President George W. Bush admitted Congress has sent the "wrong message" to the rest of the world. We don't feel that DP World lost. It in fact won the respect of the international business community when it won...

First it was P&O and now the Doncasters Group. The US phobia over the potential security risks in the two Dubai acquisitions exposes the Americans' typical approach towards free trade and globalisation. When things work out in their favour these are sanctified tenets that nobody can touch. But when it involves American interests, free trade is just a matter of convenience.The acquisition of Britain's Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co by Dubai Ports World at a cost of $6.8 billion is, of course, a milestone in the company's history. But the change of management hardly makes a difference on the...

DP World will not manage six ports in the US as initially agreed, but the aborted deal has achieved for Dubai an outstanding triumph by any yardstick. First, and as Ghassan Tahboub, media manager in the executive office of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, said, it is an invaluable lesson. "It was an exercise you have to live with, win and then learn from. This was America. There are lobbies, politics and interest groups, and Dubai found itself in the middle of a jungle. In the end I have...

Chicago: Dubai Ports World is unlikely to find many bidders for its six US port terminals embroiled in a political storm over US security concerns, making a sale or spinoff difficult, ship brokers said on Friday. DP World pledged on Thursday to transfer those operations to a US entity to allay concerns that its control of the ports posed a threat to US national security. Potential buyers seem limited to three US companies, brokers said, citing SSA Marine Inc of Seattle, a unit of Carrix Inc; Maher Terminals Inc of Berkeley Heights, New Jersey; and Marine Terminals Corp of Oakland,...

Dubai: Blocking of the DP World ports deal appears to have put the UAE-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations in jeopardy. The scheduled fifth round of the FTA negotiations between the UAE and the US, which was to begin tomorrow in Abu Dhabi, has been postponed. Although UAE government officials didn't comment on the delay, Ministry of Finance and Industry officials told Gulf News that the joint FTA process will continue. The US Trade Representative's team, due in the UAE yesterday, did not arrive. No alternative date for the talks has been set. Shaikha Lubna Al Qasimi, UAE Minister of...

Dubai: US Congressmen have sent a wrong message to the Arab world by opposing DP World's bid to manage container terminal operations at six American ports. The hostility against DP World will further dent US credibility in the region, said Abdul Khaleq Abdullah, a professor of political science at UAE University. "Dubai was forced out [of US port operations] as a result of racism and politicisation of a purely business transaction," he said. DP World said on Thursday it would transfer P&O's American assets to a US entity. Contacted by Gulf News yesterday, DP World chairman Sultan Ahmad Bin Sulayem...

President Bush said Friday he was troubled by the political storm that forced the reversal of a deal allowing a company in Dubai to take over take over operations of six American ports, saying it sent a bad message to U.S. allies in the Middle East. Bush said the United States needs moderate allies in the Arab world, like the United Arab Emirates, to win the global war on terrorism. The president said he had been satisfied that security would be sound at the ports if the Dubai deal had taken effect. "Nevertheless, Congress was still very much opposed to...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and United Arab Emirates have postponed free trade talks set for next week, the U.S. Trade Representative's office said on Friday. The announcement came one day after state-owned Dubai Ports World, facing intense U.S. political opposition, said it would sell recently acquired U.S. assets to an American entity. "The U.S. and UAE are strongly committed to making progress on our FTA negotiations. In order to get an agreement that both sides can successfully implement, we need additional time to prepare for the next round of negotiations," Neena Moorjani, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade...

Details to follow soon.

It was Karl Rove who conveyed the bad news. President Bush's political adviser called Dubai Ports World said the White House couldn't hold out any longer against congressional pressure to kill the Arab company's plan to acquire freight terminals at six U.S. ports. The initial response of one Dubai executive was: "Who's Karl Rove?" But in the end, political leaders here recognized that it was time to fold a losing hand. Until Rove's call, Dubai's business leaders had insisted they would fight on. The chairman of Dubai Ports World, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, told me emphatically on Wednesday that his...

MAR. 9 12:29 P.M. ET A New Jersey judge on Thursday axed a bid by officials from two states to end Port Newark's lease with a company that plans to sell operations at major U.S. ports to an Arab-owned company. Superior Court Judge Patricia K. Costello denied a request by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to immediately terminate its 30-year agreement with London-based Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co. However, the judge said the bi-state agency's lawsuit against the company can continue. ... Under the $6.8 billion deal, DP World would take over major commercial operations...

WASHINGTON -- The Dubai-controlled company at the heart of the port-security controversy has decided to shed its U.S. holdings, Senate Armed Services Chairman John Warner said on the floor of the Senate. In a statement on the Senate floor, Sen. Warner (R., Va.) said the decision was intended to preserve "the strong relationship" between the U.S. and the UAE. Mr. Warner said Dubai Ports World has agreed to "transfer fully the U.S. operations" to a U.S. entity, and will work with the Bush administration to ensure DP World "will not" suffer economically. DP World closed this week on the $6.8...

:Dubya's last stand By Joseph Farah, Posted: March 8, 2006 WorldNetDaily.com Lame duck George W. Bush obviously has no care for how his party performs in the 2008 presidential election. But he has a little more time to consider his own fate in the 2006 mid-term congressional elections. Oh, it won't make any difference whether Republicans or Democrats are elected this fall to the rest of us. After all, with Republicans in charge of Congress and the White House for the last six years, spending has increased way beyond anything we imagined during President Clinton's eight years in office. Republicans...

More info and interviews with principals of DPW.

AIRS: 4-6 p.m. and 7-8 p.m. ET Monday-Friday Monday's show Wolf Blitzer is live in Dubai with a look at the company at the center of U.S. port takeover controversy.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Dubai's government may formally subscribe to the Arab boycott of Israel, but a state-owned company at the center of a controversy over its bid to take over some U.S. port operations says it routinely works with Israeli firms. It's a contradiction increasingly apparent in the region: Several Persian Gulf states, especially ones entering international markets, mostly ignore the boycott even though they haven't formally ended it and don't recognize Israel. Countries like the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a part, have also ended secondary boycotts, meaning Israeli products not shipped directly from Israel...

"But I also want to repeat something again, and that is, this is a company that has played by the rules, that has been cooperative with the United States, a country that's an ally in the War on Terror, and it would send a terrible signal to friends and allies not to let this transaction go through." - President Bush, 2/21/06 "[T]he military-to-military relationship with the United Arab Emirates is superb. ... They've got airfields that they allow us to use, and their airspace, their logistics support. They've got a world-class air-to-air training facility that they let us use and...

Hillary Clinton, a leading opponent of DP World's takeover of some US port operations, was this week forced to admit that she did not know her husband had advised Dubai leaders on how to handle the growing dispute. But former President Bill Clinton's ties to Dubai and the United Arab Emirates should not have come as a surprise to his New York senator wife. Mrs Clinton's own senatorial financial disclosure forms reveal that her husband earned $450,000 giving speeches in Dubai in 2002.

Halliburton Eyed for Dubai Ports Deal The Bush administration is working behind the scenes to defuse the Dubai Ports World controversy by having the UAE-based firm team up with an American company. According to the New York Daily News, which first reported the new White House strategy on Saturday, "one snag may be that sources say the U.S. company best equipped to partner with DP World is Halliburton, once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney." But a role for Halliburton may not be such a "snag" after all, since the controversial company's involvement has already been endorsed by leading ports...

WASHINGTON - The White House is quietly pushing a Dubai company to "significantly restructure" and partner up with a U.S. outfit to keep the port deal from sinking, sources told the Daily News yesterday. "It's in the hands of the company now. ... They're going to have to significantly restructure," said a Republican source familiar with White House expectations. A revamped deal to allow Dubai Ports World to take over six major U.S. ports - including Manhattan's cruise ship terminal and Newark's container depot - would have to be something along the lines of the Marine One contract. British- and...

LONDON: A London High Court judge ruled on Thursday that Dubai Port World's (DPW) $6.85 billion proposed takeover of P&O can go ahead, despite objections from one of the British firm's partners in the United States. Justice Nicholas Warren sanctioned a so-called scheme of arrangement allowing the deal to proceed, rejecting submissions from US ports operator Eller & Co and two private P&O shareholders who oppose the takeover for different reasons. "The objections of Eller do not persuade me that I should not sanction the schemes," Justice Warren said. Lawsuits have been filed in the United States and London in...

A Miami company objecting to the takeover of British shipping company P&O by Dubai's state-owned DP World said today it has been granted the right to take the case to Britain's Court of Appeal - a move that puts the deal on hold. Miami-based Eller & Co., which says its business could be harmed by U.S. concerns over a United Arab Emirates company controlling significant operations at six major U.S. seaports, said Britain's Court of Appeal would hear its petition for an appeal on Monday. If the right to appeal is granted, the higher court will immediately hear the case....

Coast Guard News and Information Press Release Date: Feb. 28, 2006 Contact: Cmdr. Jeff Carter (202) 267-1933 STATEMENT BY VICE ADM. TERRY CROSS, VICE COMMANDANT OF THE U.S. COAST GUARD, ON THE COAST GUARD'S DUE DILIGENCE IN SUPPORT OF THE CFIUS PROCESS WASHINGTON - "Early in the CFIUS process, the Coast Guard's initial review identified potential intelligence gaps. Since completing its initial intelligence assessment, the Coast Guard has continued its due diligence by auditing all P&O operations in the United States, examining DPW operations outside the United States, obtaining formal assurances from DPW regarding ongoing access to information on personnel...

Fearful Fringe nativism is the essence of surrender By Tony Snow A fair number of analysts have linked the Dubai Ports World controversy with President Bush's approach to border security. The president, they say, can't keep our borders safe, so why should we trust his word when it comes to securing our ports? The question unmasks the questioners. While our borders have become porous, they haven't become highways for terror, at least by the slender evidence available to laymen. Instead, they have become the focal point for fearful imaginings — of Islamofascists secreted in otherwise empty trucks or train...

Concerns over port security may be sky high, but the chief of security for the East Coast's main port operator, Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co., hardly knew it when he sat before a Senate Commerce panel on Tuesday. More than a dozen senators grilled U.S. government officials, and the chief operator officer of Dubai Ports World, which is on the verge of acquiring P&O and all its world-wide port operations. But no senator had a single question for Robert Scavone, the man who oversees P&O's security for North America -- and will do the same for DP World. Scavone...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 28, 2006 – The Defense Department will participate in a re-review of a slated acquisition of shipping terminal operations at six major U.S. ports by a United Arab Emirates-owned firm, a senior Pentagon official said here today. It's too early to say, DoD spokesman Bryan Whitman told Pentagon reporters, which department representatives would work with the re-review that's to be conducted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. DoD elements were part of the first review also. Dubai Ports World, owned by the United Arab Emirates government, bought British-owned ports operator Peninsular and Oriental Steam...

On the off chance that you missed C-Span's "Washington Journal," here are excerpts from an appearance by Jayson Ahern, Assistant Commissioner for Customs and Border Protection, and Coast Guard Rear Admiral Thomas Gilmour on that program, which were helpfully forwarded by the White House: HOST: Jayson Ahern, ... There are more than 300 ports of entry in the U.S., are they safe? CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER JAYSON AHERN: I believe they are. Certainly, we're on a path of continuous improvement, but the many layers we've put in place since the 9/11 tragedy I think has strengthened our port...

    UPDATE 1-Amid dispute, Bush still backs Dubai ports deal (Adds comments from Frist, new legislation from Bayh) By Caren Bohan and Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Tuesday stood by his support for allowing a Dubai-based company to run terminals at six major U.S. ports, as lawmakers raised concerns about a Coast Guard report on security issues. "If there was any doubt in my mind or people in my administration's minds that our ports would be less secure or the American people in danger, this deal wouldn't go forward," Bush said,...

In February, the Commerce Committee vetted the appointment of David C. Sanborn of Virginia, a senior DP World executive, to be the new administrator of the Maritime Administration of the Transportation Department. The White House appointed Sanborn, who worked as DP World's director of operations for Europe and Latin America, to the post in January, the same month the Treasury Department's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States approved the DP World takeover. Two Democrats, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Bill Nelson of Florida, have vowed to block Sanborn's nomination unless he testifies again before the Commerce Committee....

Nearly all objective observers of the uproar over "selling American ports to the Arabs" agree on three key elements of the situation. First, the purchase of port management operations by Dubai Ports World from a British-owned company will have no operational impact on the national security of the United States. Port owners and managers are not responsible for port security. There are risks at our ports, but they stem from the fact that the American agencies responsible for our security -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Coast Guard -- examine only about 5 percent of incoming cargo, along...

WASHINGTON — Citing broad gaps in U.S. intelligence, the Coast Guard raised concerns weeks ago that it could not determine whether a United Arab Emirates-based company seeking a stake in some U.S. port operations might support terrorist operations. The disclosure came during a hearing Monday on Dubai-owned DP World's plans to assume significant operations at six leading U.S. ports. It also clouded whether the Bush administration's agreement to conduct an unusual investigation into the pending takeover's security risks would allay lawmakers' concerns. The administration said the Coast Guard's concerns were raised during its review of the deal, which it approved...

Survey of 1,000 Adults February 22-23, 2006Should Dubai Ports World Be Allowed to Buy Port Operating Rights? Yes 17% No 64% Are Port Operating Rights Currently Owned by U.S. Firm? Yes 15% No 39% Not Sure 46% Trust More on National Security President Bush 41% Democrats in Congress 43% February 24, 2006--Just 17% of Americans believe Dubai Ports World should be allowed to purchase operating rights to several U.S. ports. A Rasmussen Reports survey found that 64% disagree and believe the sale should not be allowed. Just 39% of Americans know that the operating rights are currently owned by a...

[Statement issued by the Port of Houston Authority on 23 February 2006] The recent announcement of plans by the Dubai Ports World (DP World) to purchase P&O Ports (P&O) will not have an impact on any of the facilities or operations of the Port of Houston Authority (PHA). The PHA is a political subdivision chartered by the state of Texas. It owns and either operates or leases 12 public facilities. The PHA does not own or operate private facilities. Specifically in Houston, P&O leases space at the PHA's Barbours Cut Container Terminal for container and chassis repair and container storage....

February 24, 2006JS-4071CFIUS and the Protection of the National Security in the Dubai Ports World Bid for Port OperationsHistory of the Dubai Ports World proposed acquisition of P&OAll members of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) understand that their top priority is to protect our national security, including homeland security. On November 29 of last year, two companies publicly announced a proposed transaction: Dubai Ports World (DPW), a state-owned company located in the United Arab Emirates, proposed to acquire The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O), a British firm that operates in a number...

A Comprehensive List of Penninsular & Orient North American Operations Source Links: Interactive Flash Map of Global Container Operations Interactive Flash Map of ALL North American Operations Click the name on the map to jump to the info for that location...  P&O Ports in Portland, Maine P&O Ports New England provides terminal and stevedoring operations for a container feeder-service to and from the Port of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Portland International Terminal (PIT) is the home for this weekly container feeder service. P&O Ports has increased the quality and efficiency of service to its container customers in Portland by using a...

DID YOU HEAR the one about Dick Cheney, a priest and a rabbi walking into an Arab-run port? No? Too bad, because the brouhaha that has replaced Cheney-mania is a lot less entertaining. This week brought a strange bipartisan convergence over, of all things, the commercial management of U.S. ports. Bipartisan consensus is often a troubling sign, particularly when it's on an issue few know much about. It was prompted by the Bush administration's decision to defend the bid by Dubai Ports World, based in the United Arab Emirates, to buy the British-owned Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which...

An Arab company's bid to take over management of cargo terminals at half a dozen U.S. ports has become a rallying point for critics seeking tougher port security and greater scrutiny of foreign investment. But trade and security experts said criticism of the deal involving government-owned Dubai Ports World was misguided because the U.S. government, not terminal operators, was responsible for security at the ports. In addition, they said, foreign companies already control a large share of the U.S. cargohandling business.The target of congressional critics is Dubai Ports World's $6.8-billion deal to purchase Britain's Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co.,...