By Associated Press
February 17, 2006
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is defending approval of a $6.8 billion sale that gives a company in the United Arab Emirates control over operations at six major American ports, even as one senator sought a new ban on companies owned by governments overseas in some U.S. shipping operations.
Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey said he will introduce legislation to prohibit companies owned or controlled by foreign governments from running port operations in the United States. Menendez said his proposal would effectively block state-owned Dubai Ports World from realizing gains from its purchase of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co.
The British company, the world's fourth-largest ports company, runs significant commercial operations at shipping terminals in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.
"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.
The pledge for new legislation was the latest step in a tense dispute in Washington over potential security risks associated with the DP World sale. Lawmakers asked the White House to reconsider its earlier approval, saying the United Arab Emirates is not consistent in its support of U.S. terrorism-fighting efforts.
"The potential threat to our country is not imagined, it is real," Republican Rep. Mark Foley of Florida said Thursday in a House speech.
Republican Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania also objected to the deal. He said Philadelphia has been designated a "strategic port" for the movement of military material, and that he has sent President Bush a letter urging him to prevent the sale.
The administration defended its decision. The sale was "rigorously reviewed" by a U.S. committee that considers security threats when foreign companies seek to buy or invest in American industry, said National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones.
The Treasury Department's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States received an assessment from U.S. intelligence agencies. The committee's 12 members agreed unanimously the sale did not present any problems, the department said.
"We wanted to look at this one quite closely because it relates to ports," said Stewart Baker, an assistant secretary in the Homeland Security Department. "It is important to focus on this partner as opposed to just what part of the world they come from. We came to the conclusion that the transaction should not be halted."
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Michael Savage has been railing against this for two or three days now. WTF is going on here?
Who the hell is on this committee? Has the administration lost its mind?The sale was "rigorously reviewed" by a U.S. committee that considers security threats when foreign companies seek to buy or invest in American industry, said National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones.
The Treasury Department's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States received an assessment from U.S. intelligence agencies. The committee's 12 members agreed unanimously the sale did not present any problems, the department said.
This is probably the first time I've ever agreed with Rick Santorum on anything. This deal needs to be nixed, ASAP, not "defended."
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