It seems the Bush Administration is getting hammered from all angles over the outsourcing of our security by the selling of our ports to the United Arab Emirates.The following article gets the reaction from the Tennessee congressional delegation:
"The White House communications system bungled a second event of national interest in two weeks, but so far there's not much contrition at the top.
First Vice President Cheney accidentally shot his hunting partner and waited nearly 24 hours to tell the public, and then Bush administration executives shot themselves in the foot by doing a poor job in convincing Congress of the wisdom in an Arab company taking over management of six major U.S. seaports.
The latter complaint cannot be blamed on partisan politics because it upset at least three of Tennessee's Republican members of Congress and three Democrats.
All had the same beef: Why weren't we told of the potential management change sooner, and how can Bush officials be certain it won't harm national security? It is common knowledge that U.S. security checks only a small percentage of containers entering U.S. ports.
Bush should have been more apologetic about the ports surprise because both Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., were critical of it. Frist even said he may file legislation to keep the deal on hold until there is more congressional review.
Bush fired back that he would veto such a bill. But he's never vetoed a bill since taking office in 2001, so is he scaring anyone?
Also, Republican Rep. Zach Wamp of Chattanooga called the sale of the ports management - from a British company to a United Arab Emirates company - "insensitive out of touch with the feelings of regular people" concerned about terrorists entering the country to follow up on mayhem started on 9/11/2001.
And Republican Marsha Blackburn of Middle Tennessee, usually a Bush loyalist, said there should be more oversight of the planned sale when "their business may impact our national security."
A board called the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States routinely reviews sales of companies to foreign firms in light of national security implications. The board approved the sale, so President Bush also supported it.
But it is not clear that the committee adequately informed the relevant House and Senate committees as early as possible to avoid a public relations fiasco.
A congressional analysis may agree the sale is OK. But that could take several weeks.
Democratic Rep. Lincoln Davis of Pall Mall in East Tennessee wants to pass legislation to give House and Senate intelligence and homeland security committees the right to reject takeovers of businesses by foreign companies when there are national security problems.
Davis noted that the U.A.E.'s banking system and two of its nationals reportedly were tied to the 9/11 hijackings in this country.
But Bush emphasized that the U.A.E.'s shipping company is reliable and already manages ports in Australia, Germany, India, China and several other countries.
The United States also buys oil that comes from the U.A.E. and has a military partnership with the country that allows U.S. troops access into the Middle East. The U.A.E. also sent troops to Kuwait in 1990-91 when U.S. troops were there to fight Iraqi forces, and the Bush administration claims the U.A.E. as an ally in fighting terrorism.
Democrats Jim Cooper of Nashville and Harold Ford Jr. of Memphis also opposed the ports deal.
Cooper questioned the national security aspects. Ford said it does not seem smart to allow a U.A.E. state-owned company to manage the six U.S. ports when that country does not recognize Israel and since 9/11 hijackers used the U.A.E. to launder money.
Bottom line: Congress and American taxpayers remain very nervous about another attack by Arab-connected terrorists, so the Bush administration in the future must do a better job early on in making the case for purchases of key companies by foreign companies."
Read Congressman Ford's view on the outsourcing of our port security here! (1,2)
