With a wide majority of Americans (including Congressman Ford) opposing the deal to hand-over control of our ports to the UAE, thus endangering our security, it seems the President would maybe kill the deal.That doesn't appear to be the case.
However, the threat to our ports is real and that is detailed in the following article:
"We are focusing today on one sentence in a two-page U.S. document officially known as number AFGP-2002-603856. It is a 2002 letter in which al-Qaida says that it has infiltrated United Arab Emirates security and other agencies.
It was a warning siren document that should have raised urgent concerns at the highest level of the U.S. government. President Bush and his entire team initially dozed through the alarm and apparently expected we all would, too. They rushed to approve a bid by Dubai Ports World (a UAE company) to buy a British firm that runs six major U.S. ports without publicly addressing the obvious questions the document raises.
The document, a letter from the al-Qaida terrorist organization to the UAE government, mainly warns UAE officials to stop arresting al-Qaida’s “Mujahideen sympathizers.” The second paragraph begins with a potentially chilling boast: “You are well aware that we have infiltrated your security, censorship and monetary agencies along with other agencies that should not be mentioned.”
This document was not exactly a tip-top government secret. U.S. officials could find and read it (in its original Arabic or English translation) in the files of various government counter-terrorism agencies.
But you can find and read it, too. Just check out the Web site of the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and peruse the list of unclassified documents. It is the one that says at the top, “In the Name of Allah the Most Compassionate and Merciful,” followed by a warning title, “Get the Idolaters out of Arab Island (Gulf Countries).”
Al-Qaida’s boast that it had “infiltrated” the security and other agencies of the UAE raises all sorts of basic security questions: How can the U.S. be assured that al-Qaida has not infiltrated DP World or any UAE agency that oversees DP World? How many DP World officials enter ports DP World runs in other countries? Who would be in charge of security clearances for UAE personnel permitted to enter U.S. ports? If al-Qaida operatives have infiltrated DP World or the UAE, could they launch a terrorist attack from inside a U.S. port?
Other questions must also join the realities of today’s global economy and the risks of global terrorism: Since shipping containers are packed and loaded in distant lands – often never inspected by U.S. personnel – does it really matter whether al-Qaida secret operatives infiltrate U.S. port facilities?
We must also be very clear what this is not about. This is not about racial profiling of Arabs, nor is it about xenophobia. But it is about acting upon threats we know about and making sure we are not putting our homeland at greater risk.
And finally, it is about a sorry trail of pre-9/11 and post-9/11 leadership failures, including a fear that officials might again be overlooking intelligence that is in their own files.
Bush, after assuring us this was so unimportant it didn’t require his attention, then said it was so important he would veto any congressional effort to halt it.
Never mind that he’d never vetoed anything before.
For once, the president may have temporarily unified Washington. At the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, you can hear the sound of Democratic and Republican minds boggling in bipartisan unison. His administration’s best defense comes down to a plea that Team Bush isn’t guilty of willful negligence after all – just willful ignorance.
Can you imagine the down-and-dirty attack campaign that Karl Rove would be masterminding right now if all the above had been done not by his boss, but by a Democratic president?"
Source: Journal Gazette
Let's hope for the sake of our security the President does list to Congressman Ford and the majority of Americans and kill this deal.
Congressman Ford's letter on port security is below.
"A nation's government is as good as its ability to defend, fund and take care of itself. By that metric, the United States is not measuring up. We outsource the job of supplying our homes and businesses with energy by importing 12.5 million barrels of oil every day. We outsource the job of providing our nation with the capital to drive innovation and provide basic social services by borrowing $615,000 every minute, much of it from countries who do not see the world as we do.
Now, with news of the Bush administration's approval to transfer operations at ports in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Miami to a state-owned company located in the United Arab Emirates, we are outsourcing the job of keeping our nation's ports secure. At some point, enough is enough.
With all due respect to the president, he is wrong on this issue. This is not a Democrat or a Republican issue. This is a security issue. Delaying this deal is not good enough; we should end it now.
Let me be clear. I do not oppose this transaction because Dubai Ports World is based in the United Arab Emirates. It makes no difference whether we are talking about Great Britain, China, the U.A.E. or Mozambique. Rather, I oppose the deal because the security control of our national assets and infrastructure should be managed by United States law enforcement or the military.
However, I am especially concerned in this case because the U.A.E., while helpful in the fight against terrorism today, still does not recognize Israel, was home to two of the 9/11 hijackers and was one of only three nations in the world to recognize formally the Taliban.
Maintaining open and safe shipping lanes is vital to our economy. In fact, our nation's seaports handle over 95 percent of our foreign trade, worth over $1 trillion a year. The ports to be handed over to the U.A.E. are some of this nation's largest and most strategically important. The port in New York and New Jersey, for example, handled about 4.5 million container units in 2004, and the Miami port handled approximately 1 million container units.
Further, it is no wonder many Tennesseans are questioning the administration's decision to approve this deal, despite the president's assurances that our security will not be compromised.
After all, the administration claimed there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq when none existed. They assured us they had a plan to secure Iraq after Saddam was toppled when they did not. And they told us that prisoners were being treated humanely at Abu Ghraib when they were not.
Finally, as important as this issue is - and I believe it is critical - there is a broader and, in many ways, more troubling question that we must address. Just as important as who is running our ports is what is coming into our ports. On this front, I am concerned that we are dropping the ball.
More than 10 million containers are expected to enter United States ports this year, or more than 27,000 containers every day. Yet experts tell us that, at most, 5 percent of these containers will be inspected. That means 9.5 million containers will arrive on our shores without any government official knowing with any certainty what is inside.
However, we have the technology to scan containers for radiation or other harmful materials. Yet this technology is not being put to use. Of the six ports at issue in the U.A.E. transaction, for example, only one of them has a working radiation-detection system through which every container must pass.
Since 9/11, we have spent $20 billion on airline security, but only $700 million in federal grants on maritime security, in spite of the fact that the 9/11 Commission highlighted port security as an area of major concern.
It is hard for Tennesseans to accept that, after allocating a quarter of a trillion dollars to homeland security since 9/11 - let alone the more than $2 trillion we have spent on national defense - we do not have the means to defend ourselves as a nation. Yet that is exactly the concern many Tennesseans have as questions about our nation's ports come to light.
Tennesseans and all Americans deserve better than this.
U.S. Rep. Harold Ford is a Democrat from Memphis."
Source: Knox News
Read the Coast Guard's disturbing report on port security here!
Read the United Arab Emirates' extensive list of connections to terrorism here!
57 Days
Days of Congressional Inaction on Ethics
Above is the number of days that have passed since Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to bribing Congressman.
It is also the number of days in which Congress has failed to pass an ethics reform bill that would limit private travel, ski and golf junkets, and would call for a full disclosure of expenses by lobbyists on members of Congress.
It is time for Congress to step up and pass an ethics reform bill that would do all of the above. In addition, it is time to end the pork barrel spending system as we know it and establish an independent ethics commission that would review ethics complaints against members of Congress.
I am proud Congressman Harold Ford Jr. is fighting for that reform!
Read Congressman Ford's call for reform of the House rules here!
