Dubai/UAE US port operations sale ***THREAD COMPILATION*** Please add!

[Nothing Without Hope]

This thread compilation is my own unofficail collection of DU threads, most from Greatest and/or Home Page, that I thought were especially significant in the discussion of the UAE/Dubai US port operations sale. (Of course, I must hve missed a lot of important threads, and more come out all the time, so I hope you will help with the collection.) It is also posted in open-edit form in the RESEARCH FORUM here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 Research Forum): UAE/Dubai - US port operations sale - THREAD COMPILATION

I'll be updating and I encourage you to do so also. You can post a link to a thread here or you can use the template (I'll post it shortly in plain text format) that I use when I'm putting together these compilations - which I do, by the way, in Word because it's a heck of a lot easier.

Here's the current version - the one in the Research Forum will always be updated in the opening post, while this one will accumulate comments and additional threads in the replies. Eventually I'll post an updated version of this General Discussion version and give the link in a reply here.

Here's the current compilation:

THREAD COMPILATION - Video threads are organized at the end

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-12-06 GD-P): 911 Bankers to Run SIX Major U.S. Ports—Dubai(UAE). IMPEACH NOW!!!
Comment/excerpt: “Six ports will be run and protected by a Dubai based port management company (DP World): New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia. The deal was approved by a “U.S. government panel coordinated out of the White House. Just prior to the deal, David C. Sanborn of Virginia was appointed as administrator of the Maritime Administration of the Transportation Department. Sanborn worked as DP World's director of operations for Europe and Latin America.…. A company in the United Arab Emirates is poised to take over significant operations at six American ports as part of a corporate sale, leaving a country with ties to the Sept. 11 hijackers with influence over a maritime industry considered vulnerable to terrorism.“
Also gives info on Dubai’s links to suspected terrorist financing and money laundering.

Even the freepers are upset about this outrage:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-16-06 GD): Freepers JUST AS MAD About the Port Control Issue... Common Ground?
Comment/excerpt: Free Republic posts expressing concern/outrage over Dubai operating 6 major US ports.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-16-06 GD): OK!!! I think the Pres. just cut his own throat!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-16-06 LBN): White House Defends Port Operations Sale
Comment/excerpt: Yahoo News/AP. “The Bush administration on Thursday rebuffed criticism about potential security risks of a $6.8 billion sale that gives a company in the United Arab Emirates control over significant operations at six major American ports. Lawmakers asked the White House to reconsider the deal. The sale to state-owned Dubai Ports World was ‘rigorously reviewed’ by a U.S. committee that considers security threats when foreign companies seek to buy or invest in American industry, National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones said….”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-17-06 GD): Freeper and neocon websites unable to put a spin on the UAE port takeover
Comment/excerpt: COMPILATION post with many links and good explanation, for example of the role played by GOLD in the money trail to al Qaeda. Also that the United Arab Emirates were one of the THREE COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD THAT RECOGNIZED THE TALIBAN AS THE LEGITIMATE GOVERNMENT OF AFGHANISTAN. Much more on the obvious security disaster this deal would be and why.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-17-06 GD): Excellent! "Democrats plan bill to block Dubai-US port deal"
Comment/excerpt: Reuters: “Two U.S. Democratic senators said on Friday they would introduce legislation aimed at blocking Dubai Ports World from buying a company that operates several U.S. shipping ports because of security concerns. Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Hillary Clinton of New York said they would offer a measure to ban companies owned or controlled by foreign governments from acquiring U.S. port operations.” Hillary is calculating that the GOPs and Dems will like this position and it will boost her presidential chances, but I wouldn’t care WHO was calling for sanity in this.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-17-06 LBN): US Democrats plan bill to block Dubai-US port deal
Comment/excerpt: Cites same Reuters article as the preceding thread in GD.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-18-06 GD): Please tell me why every other thread is not about the sale of the ports?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-18-06 GD): In light of the sale of 6 US ports to the United Arab Emirates, PNAC VIDEO
Comment/excerpt: Links to two Dutch VIDEOS, one 20 min and one 48 min. They are in English about the PNAC, the Carlyle group, and the greedy corporate network ruling the world today.. Reply #8 has a summary. Excerpt: “No civilised country would tolerate the close relationship Carlyle and, by practical extension, United States' president George W. Bush, enjoy with the Saudi royal family and its cohorts in terror, repression and murder. The behaviour of those setting the agenda of our global future is unconscionable at best and downright evil when taken at face value. The documentary is thoroughly researched, well presented, and carries no trace of the conspiratorial. The facts speak for themselves. Sowing death, destruction and terror about the globe, George W. Bush and his power-crazed sidekicks, supporters and collaborators are everything they pretend others to be; namely, global terrorists bent on furthering selfish interests.”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-18-06 LBN): Firm Sues to Block Foreign Port Takeover
Comment/excerpt: AP at Yahoo News and CBS – link in Reply #1. Excerpt: …“The Miami company, a subsidiary of Eller & Company Inc., presently is a business partner with London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which Dubai Ports World purchased last week. In a lawsuit in Florida circuit court, the Miami subsidiary said that under the sale it will become an "involuntary partner" with Dubai's government and it may seek more than $10 million in damages. The Miami subsidiary, Continental Stevedoring & Terminals Inc., said the sale to Dubai was prohibited under its partnership agreement with the British firm and "may endanger the national security of the United States." It asked a judge to block the takeover and said it does not believe the company, Florida or the U.S. government can ensure Dubai Ports World's compliance with American security rules.” …
Reply #4 Cites and excerpts an important article on the Dubai sale in the Feb 12 Washington Post that describes the secretive process by which a government panel raised no objection to the sale:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-18-06 LBN): Bill would stop sale of port operations to Arabs
Comment/excerpt: An editorial from Buffalo. Excerpt: “Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Robert Menendez of New Jersey have introduced legislation to prohibit companies owned or controlled by foreign governments from buying U.S. port operations. The measure is intended to block the $6.8 billion sale of a company that operates six U.S. ports to a firm controlled by the United Arab Emirates.“

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-18-06 LBN): Fear Escalates on Foreign Control of Ports
Comment/excerpt: Washington Post, same title. Excerpt: “WASHINGTON -- A New Jersey congressman said Saturday he wants to require that security officials at U.S. ports be American citizens to prevent overseas companies operating shipping facilities here from hiring foreigners in such sensitive positions. Republican Frank A. LoBiondo, chairman of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, cited "significant" security concerns over a $6.8 billion sale that gives a company in the United Arab Emirates control over operations at six major American ports. LoBiondo said he wants the new mandatory citizenship requirements approved by Congress and President Bush before state-owned Dubai Ports World completes its pending purchase of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. … Caught by surprise over the breadth of concerns expressed in the United States, Dubai Ports World is cautiously organizing its response. The company quietly dispatched advisers to reassure port officials along the East Coast, and its chief operating officer _ internationally respected American shipping executive Edward "Ted" H. Bilkey _ was expected to travel to Washington soon for meetings on Capitol Hill and elsewhere.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-19-06 GD): Arab Takeover of US Ports Seen as Security 'Insanity'
Comment/excerpt: Worldnetdaily link. Excerpt: UAE has known ties to terrorists and 9/11 hijackers, raising concerns at the ports involved: New York, Baltimore, New Jersey, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia. … "On the face of it, this looks like fucking insanity to me", said a Republican member of the New York City council, James Oddo. "This shouldn't happen. It really boggles the mind", Rachel Ehrenfeld, director of the American Center for Democracy said. "The UAE is a hub for all kinds of terrorist activities." "Should we be outsourcing our own security?"...Senator Chuck Schumer said on Fox News.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-20-06 GD): Our Ports are a Tradeoff!! All about $$$ and Oil
Comment/excerpt: Documents General Electric’s financial interest in Middle East access and much more. Supports the poster’s comment, “If it isn't apparent what's going on here, it should be. Our government and corporations have traded our ports for better access to the ME. Iraq was a lie (we know this) and I believe the "war on terror" is garbage as is the drum-beating over Iran. PNAC's plan is being followed to the letter and it's all about money and controlling the world's oil supply.”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-20-06 GD-P): the connection to it all - Carlyle Group involved in port security deal
Comment/excerpt: “MM&P-contracted CSX Lines, the US-flag container shipping subsidiary of CSX Inc., will be sold to the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm based in Washington, DC for $300M. The acquisition will give Carlyle control over the nation's largest Jones Act container fleet and will add to the company's growing transportation portfolio. CSX Lines will be renamed Horizon Lines LLC, when the transaction is completed early next year pending regulatory approval. CSX Lines is the nation's largest ocean transport company, with 17 US-flag vessels and 22,000 containers, providing ocean transportation and logistics services to and from the US, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, and Puerto Rico. Carlyle's other maritime holdings include Seabulk International, formerly Hvide Marine, which owns and operates 10 Jones Act tankers in the Gulf of Mexico. Through United Defense Industries, Carlyle controls United States Marine Repair, the nation's largest non-nuclear ship repair and conversion company…
John Snow, the CEO of CSX, was appointed Treasury Secretary by the younger President Bush last week.
…and more – they want to get into NUCLEAR SUBMARINES TOO…

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-20-06 GD): Carlyly Group's involvement in port security company
Comment/excerpt: Same main article as the GD-P thread about sale of CSX lines to Carlyle, appointment of former CSX CEO as Sec of Treasury. Reply 24: DUBAI PORT WORLD – THE ONES BUYING THE AMERICAN PORTS – OWN CSX!!! CSX also owns biggest rail in the east, plus trucking.(Reply #30) But Reply #34 says DPW bought the terminal business from CSX for cash and does NOT own CSX, only a business CSX once owned.
Much needs to be clarified, but there are lots of dots there to connect, and it all comes back to sellout by the Bushies for money and to please their MidEast patrons.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-20-06 GD): UAE ports would get advanced warning on military shipments:
Comment/excerpt: Excerpt from ThinkProgress article: “The company, Dubai Ports World, would also control the movement of military equipment on behalf of the U.S. Army through two other ports. From today’s edition of the British paper Lloyd’s List: has just renewed a contract with the United States Surface Deployment and Distribution Command to provide stevedoring of military equipment at the Texan ports of Beaumont and Corpus Christi through 2010. According to the journal Army Logistician ‘Almost 40 percent of the Army cargo deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom flows through these two ports.’ “

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-20-06 GD): Port Security - Kerry warned us!
Comment/excerpt: COMPILATION POST on Kerry statements about extremely lax security in US ports and their vulnerability to terrorists.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-20-06 GD): Behold The Golden Calf (port sale)
Comment/excerpt: The Plaid Adder’s take on the sale of control of six US ports to Dubai. Excerpt: “…Since 2000 it has become obvious that the Bush revolution is powered by three major interest groups: the worshippers of power, the worshippers of capitalism, and the worshippers of God the Smiter. … Occasionally, the desire to make a buck will run up against one of the priorities of God the Smiter, or the worship of power will produce policies that are economically disastrous or interfere with the American capacity to smite. … Well, we are finding out which master Bush really serves, and surprise surprise, it's Mammon….And isn't it nice to know that with the system of checks and balances now fundamentally broken, the opposition party neutered, and the majority party being kept in line through a combination of bribery and threats, when Bush decides to sell out you, me, and the country for the benefit of his rich friends, there is no one to stop him….”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-20-06 GD): VIDEO- KO on the UAE Ports with Bob Menendez
Comment/excerpt: EXCELLENT. Liveoaktx/ Can-o-Fun VIDEO of Keith Olbermann with Sen. Menendez, who is co-sponsoring with Hillary Clinton a bill to block the Dubai Port Sale. Also includes clips of Chertoff (who expresses support for the sale), Ridge (who says there should be more transparency and that there are concerns about UAE) and d more. Very clear. UAE is apparently a transshipment point for nuclear arms – why could we be certain that they wouldn’t use the ports to bring in biological, chemical or nuclear weapons for terrorists acts? We can’t. Chertoff says that it’s a good idea to support TRADE, for chrissakes, and that there are controls in place. Of course, those controls are SECRET even from Congress. This would be putting control of crucial US ports into the hands of a foreign government. New York is one of them – and two of the 9/11 hijackers came from Dubai and the country was a supplier of cash for the 9/11 terrorists. Menendez calls on Bush to stop the sale before the deadline of March 2. If not, then the legislation will be pursued.
Menendez did make a mistake, saying that “only 95% of containers are inspected. Actually the number is much lower – he basically got the number backwards - it should be more like 5% or less of shipping containers are inspected: http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/articles/...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): CIA: UAE is a DRUG transhipment point (& money laundering) / PORT SALE
Comment/excerpt: From the CIA web site: “The UAE is a drug transshipment point for traffickers given its proximity to Southwest Asian drug producing countries; the UAE's position as a major financial center makes it vulnerable to money laundering….”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 LBN): KRT Wire: Dubai company set to run U.S. ports has ties to administration
Comment/excerpt: “The Dubai firm that won Bush administration backing to run six U.S. ports has at least two ties to the White House. One is Treasury Secretary John Snow, whose department heads the federal panel that signed off on the $6.8 billion sale of an English company to government-owned Dubai Ports World - giving it control of Manhattan's cruise ship terminal and Newark's container port. Snow was chairman of the CSX rail firm that sold its own international port operations to DP World for $1.15 billion in 2004, the year after Snow left for President Bush's cabinet. The other connection is David Sanborn, who runs DP World's European and Latin American operations and who was tapped by Bush last month to head the U.S. Maritime Administration.”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): SCANDAL: Bush nominated PORT DEAL exec as Maritime Admin in January
Excerpt: “Dubai, 24 January 2006: - Global ports operator DP World today welcomed news that one of its senior executives, Dave Sanborn, has been nominated by US President George W. Bush to serve as Maritime Administrator a key transportation appointment reporting directly to Norman Mineta the Secretary of Transportation and Cabinet Member. The White House has issued a statement from Washington DC announcing the nomination. The confirmation process will begin in February. Mr Sanborn currently holds the position of Director of Operations for Europe and Latin America for the Dubai-based company”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 LBN): BUSH SAYS HE WOULD VETO LEGISLATION TO STOP DUBAI PORT DEAL
Comment/excerpt: (Reuters) – “President George W. Bush said on Tuesday that a deal for a state-owned Dubai company to manage major U.S. ports should go forward and will not jeopardize U.S. security. Bush told reporters traveling back to Washington with him from Colorado that he would veto legislation to stop the deal from going through.”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-20-06 GD): The Dubai Ports World Deal - Through a Coast Guard Veteran's Eyes
Comment/excerpt: DU Coast Guard veteran Coastie for Truth details four ways of how the “Port Service Company” is in a unique and powerful position to either block or promote vulnerabilities to smuggling of contraband or secret entry without a passport (using “merchant marine documents” which function like a mini-passport). Poster concludes “Historically - in my active duty days - we were looking for drug smugglers. But these techniques could work with terrorists and dirty bombs. And Dubai is "A" cross roads of the world.”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): The Dirty Little Secret Behind the UAE Port Security Flap (David Sorata)
Comment/excerpt: Excerpt from David Sirota’s explanation: “What does "free" trade have to do with this? How about everything. The Bush administration is in the middle of a two-year push to ink a corporate-backed "free" trade accord with the UAE. At the end of 2004, in fact, it was Bush Trade Representative Robert Zoellick who proudly boasted of his trip to the UAE to begin negotiating the deal. Rejecting this deal might have set back that trade pact. Accepting it - regardless of the security consequences - likely greases the wheels for the pact. That's probably why instead of backing off the deal, President Bush - supposedly Mr. Tough on National Secuirty - took the extraordinary step of threatening to use the first veto of his entire presidency to protect the UAE's interests. Because he knows protecting those interetsts - regardless of the security implications for America - is integral to the "free" trade agenda all of his corporate supporters are demanding.”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): Surprise! McCain all for the sales of our ports to UAE
Comment/excerpt: IThe poster says: “In a statement released moments ago, he says Bush has earned our trust in the war on terror and that there is too much heat and not enough light on this subject.” No links yet, presumably they’ll be added to the thread when they become available. No surprise, since McCain has been courting Bush financial backers (see Reply #25) and they want the Dubai deal.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): Cafferty: "this may be the straw that finally breaks the camel's back"
Comment/excerpt: MUST-SEE VIDEO in Reply #81. Partial transcript in opening post: “Wolf, this may be the straw that finally breaks the camel's back, this deal to sell control of six US ports to a company controlled by the United Arab Emirates. There are now actually Senators and Congressmen and Governors and Mayors telling the White House "you're not gonna do this." And it's about time. No one has said "no" to this administration on anything that matters in a very long time. Well this matters. It matters a lot. If this deal is allowed to go through, we deserve whatever we get. A country with ties to terrorists will have a presence at six critical doorways to our country. And if anyone thinks that the terrorists, in time, won't figure out how to exploit that, then we're all done. Nothing's happened yet, mind you, but if our elected representatives don't do everything in their power to stop this thing, each of us should vow to work tirelessly to see that they are removed from public office. We're at a crossroads - which way will we choose?”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 LBN): US House Speaker asks moratorium on Dubai port deal
Comment/excerpt: Sounds to me like Denny Boy Is preparing to apply a PR band-aid. Since Bush’s corporate backers want the deal, I can’t see Hastert actually making a true stand, only more hand-waving and another free pass. From Reuters: “’I believe there should be an immediate moratorium placed on this seaport deal in order to further examine its effects on our port security,’’ Hastert said in the letter, a copy of which was released to the media. The Illinois Republican also asked the Bush administration to conduct a ‘more thorough review’ of the deal allowing state-controlled Dubai Ports World of the United Arab Emirates to manage the ports. Hastert warned further that it ‘may require additional congressional action’ to make sure Americans are protected.”
Frist has said much the same – in fact, basically the same words: “Needs more review”: http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/02/21/port.security/in... I believe the House and Senate neocons are not GENUINELY opposing Bush, but trying to get a little time to wave their hands and then pronounce it all very safe after all. Bush and his corporate backers really, really want this deal.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): The fact that your enemy agrees with you does not always mean {that you’re wrong}
Comment/excerpt: Plaid Adder issues an important corrective (emphases his, paragraphing removed): “You do not have to be a racist to think that it is a bad idea to turn over the operation of our ports--a widely advertised and still apparently uncorrected security vulnerability--to a corporation which is owned by the government of a state that actually does have strong ties to international terrorism. And indeed, one reason that this is a bad idea is precisely the fact that after 35 years of Reagan-inspired and Bush-accelerated 'deregulation,' whatever corporation gets this contract will have a much bigger say in what does and does not get into this country than the U.S. government does. I'll tell you what is racist--intentionally confusing the country about the differences between being a Muslim, being an Arab, and being a terrorist just so you will be able to convince your citizens to go to war against a country that hasn't attacked them. Yeah, a lot of people will oppose the port sale because for the wrong reasons. That does not mean it's the wrong position.”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): July, 2001, UAE: Osama Bin Laden stays at hospital in Dubai, UAE
Comment/excerpt: The poster comments: “This was only 2 months before 9/11. Keep in mind, Osama Bin Laden was the most wanted terrorist in the world at that time. So now we are supposed to turn over control of our ports to this country, UAE, which aided the mastermind behind 9/11!?”

Threads including VIDEO CLIPS

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-20-06 GD): VIDEO- KO on the UAE Ports with Bob Menendez
Comment/excerpt: EXCELLENT. Liveoaktx/ Can-o-Fun VIDEO of Keith Olbermann with Sen. Menendez, who is co-sponsoring with Hillary Clinton a bill to block the Dubai Port Sale. Also includes clips of Chertoff (who expresses support for the sale), Ridge (who says there should be more transparency and that there are concerns about UAE) and d more. Very clear. UAE is apparently a transshipment point for nuclear arms – why could we be certain that they wouldn’t use the ports to bring in biological, chemical or nuclear weapons for terrorists acts? We can’t. Chertoff says that it’s a good idea to support TRADE, for chrissakes, and that there are controls in place. Of course, those controls are SECRET even from Congress. This would be putting control of crucial US ports into the hands of a foreign government. New York is one of them – and two of the 9/11 hijackers came from Dubai and the country was a supplier of cash for the 9/11 terrorists. Menendez calls on Bush to stop the sale before the deadline of March 2. If not, then the legislation will be pursued.
Menendez did make a mistake, saying that “only 95% of containers are inspected. Actually the number is much lower – he basically got the number backwards - it should be more like 5% or less of shipping containers are inspected: http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/articles/...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): Cafferty: "this may be the straw that finally breaks the camel's back"
Comment/excerpt: MUST-SEE VIDEO in Reply #81.
Partial transcript in opening post: “Wolf, this may be the straw that finally breaks the camel's back, this deal to sell control of six US ports to a company controlled by the United Arab Emirates. There are now actually Senators and Congressmen and Governors and Mayors telling the White House "you're not gonna do this." And it's about time. No one has said "no" to this administration on anything that matters in a very long time. Well this matters. It matters a lot. If this deal is allowed to go through, we deserve whatever we get. A country with ties to terrorists will have a presence at six critical doorways to our country. And if anyone thinks that the terrorists, in time, won't figure out how to exploit that, then we're all done. Nothing's happened yet, mind you, but if our elected representatives don't do everything in their power to stop this thing, each of us should vow to work tirelessly to see that they are removed from public office. We're at a crossroads - which way will we choose?”

[babylonsister]

1. Thank you for doing this! Rec'd! nt

[Avalux]

2. WOW! Great work putting this together!

Thank you - and if you haven't done it already, post all of this in the Resource Forum, I'd suggest under Scandals.

[Nothing Without Hope]

7. I've posted in the Research Forum here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 Research Forum): UAE/Dubai - US port operations sale - THREAD COMPILATION
http://tinyurl.com/md99b

I don't know how to file under "Scandals" and so I am hoping some other better-versed DU maven will take care of moving it as needed. They did that with my last Research Thread compilation, which was on Cheney shooting/Fuddgate:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-14-06 RESEARCH FORUM): Compilation of threads on 2/06 Cheney shooting incident, including videos

[Sydnie]

3. I second that. Great work - thanks so much

and NWH, I love you too!

[Nothing Without Hope]

8. Awwwww...

TTTTB!

[iconoclastNYC]

4. k&R

this is the story. DEMOCRATS MUST POUNCE....demand nationalization of the ports.

BUSH'S ACTIONS ARE WEAK ON SECURITY.

IMPEACH!

IF BUSH VETOS CONGRESS SHOULD OVERRIDE AND IMPEACH.

[Nothing Without Hope]

5. Here's the TEMPLATE I use when pasting info for a thread:

This post is in plain text format so you can see the HTML
tags.  Unfortunately, the DU environment breaks lines that
are too long, so while my template is three lines long
(including the first line, which is the pasted URL), it may
look like more here.  The second line is the thread
title/forum and the optional third is any comments and/or
excepts and is formatted in small italics to make the whole
list shorter and easier to scan.

Here's the template, with the pasting areas in CAPS.  I
adjust the date and the forum too:

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

URL OF THREAD
thread title (2-0-06 GD):  [b]THREAD TITLE[/b]
[font size="2"
face="Palatino"][i]Comment/excerpt: TEXT[/font][/i]



 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

[mdmc]

6. excellent thread!

[Nothing Without Hope]

9. kick for visibility n/t

[Nothing Without Hope]

10. Add - this thread raises some questions - we need to look at the

details of this deal from all sides if we are to find the best solutions:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): Some basic facts on this "port deal" are not getting mentioned
Comment/excerpt: Apparently there are only TWO bidders for the Peninsular Oriental Navigation Company, the subsidiary of the British compny that handles the Port/Terminal management. One is a Dubai company and one is a “bad people” company in “China and the Far East.” The sale is going to happen one way or another – the question is, who will pay?
LINKS on the OP information in Reply #18:
http://money.guardian.co.uk/businessnews/story/0,1265,-...
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&c...
The poster says there are “tons more, just google on any of the three companies.” This post raises questions – we need to study the ports deal and grasp more of the underlying details if we are to find the best solutions.

[rodeodance]

11. here is one. Repugs dissing Boxter lots on Scarbourgh tonight--(not Joe)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[rodeodance]

12. nominate

[proud patriot]

13. this thread really came in handy for me today

Thanks ...

5 days ago when the freepers were pissed at bush I mentioned
as soon as they get their orders from their master(rush)the
freepers would comply .

It took Rush a long time , the freeps had to stew w/o
intervention ... I wonder how many fall in line this time .

[FogerRox]

14. Autoranks post is first on the list feb 12th

[Nothing Without Hope]

17. I know I must have missed a lot of threads - you'll note the gap

after that one when I wasn't online. But the tempo picked up later.

I hope other people point out the most important threads that were not included. Fine to post them.

[Tigress DEM]

15. Haliburton/Dubai/Iran Nuclear program connection

I've held onto a copy of this article, because we know how facts and those who report them get "disappeared" so I think our best defense is to save this stuff as individuals in as many ways as possible so we can still pass it on.

Halliburton Secretly Doing Business with Key Member of Iran’s Nuclear Team
by Jason Leopold

August 5, 2005
GlobalResearch.ca

www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&cod...

************************************************************

In light of Cheney's erratic behavior and the 17 separate criminal investigations of Haliburton that have gotten ZERO press coverage, I wanted to remind people of what SHOULD BE BREAKING NEWS that STAYS BROKE until America is back in the hands of WE THE PEOPLE.

The basic synopsis is that after the HUGE War Protests that were virtually ignored by the press, Bushco was ready to push for invading IRAN with a timetable of June or July BUT one of those PESKY FACT BASED Reports said that IRAN was 10 years AWAY from Nuclear capability.

SO..... to get the war they wanted, Cheney sent Haliburton over to Iran, with profits from their Iraq contracts to help advance Iran's Nuclear Program so that they could become a credible threat to US. (Hello! Aiding our enemy? Treason?)

>> AND Now that we are looking at the Ports for Sale Issue and DUBAI <<

see this excerpt from Jason's Aug 2005 Article


<snip>
In attempt to curtail other U.S. companies from engaging in business dealings with rogue nations, the Senate approved legislation July 26 that would penalize companies that continue to skirt U.S. law by setting up offshore subsidiaries as a way to legally conduct business in Libya, Iran and Syria, and avoid U.S. sanctions under International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The amendment, sponsored by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is part of the Senate Defense Authorization bill.

"It prevents U.S. corporations from creating a shell company somewhere else in order to do business with rogue, terror-sponsoring nations such as Syria and Iran," Collins said in a statement.

"The bottom line is that if a U.S. company is evading sanctions to do business with one of these countries, they are helping to prop up countries that support terrorism - most often aimed against America," she said.

The law currently doesn’t prohibit foreign subsidiaries from conducting business with rogue nations provided that the subsidiaries are truly independent of the parent company.

But Halliburton’s Cayman Island subsidiary never did fit that description.


Halliburton first started doing business in Iran as early as 1995, while Vice President Cheney was chief executive of the company and in possible violation of U.S. sanctions. According to a February 2001 report in the Wall Street Journal, "Halliburton Products & Services Ltd. works behind an unmarked door on the ninth floor of a new north Tehran tower block. A brochure declares that the company was registered in 1975 in the Cayman Islands, is based in the Persian Gulf sheikdom of Dubai and is "non-American." But, like the sign over the receptionist's head, the brochure bears the company's name and red emblem, and offers services from Halliburton units around the world." Moreover, mail sent to the company’s offices in Tehran and the Cayman Islands is forwarded to the company’s Dallas headquarters.



************************************************************



I think Mike Malloy or someone at Air America should get this Jason Leopold on as a guest. He has a book coming out in May called "News Junkie" and he's done many articles for Indy Media like Salon and CounterPunch etc...
for more info about Jason www.jasonleopold.com

[Nothing Without Hope]

16. ***ADDING SIX GREAT VIDEO THREADS:

(They'll also be added to the video section at the end of the RESEARCH FORUM version of this compilation)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): VIDEO- Bob Menendez on Port Security
Comment/excerpt: Liveoaktx/ Can-o-Fun VIDEO from MSNBC Hardball. At first, Sen. Menendez says much the same things that he did in his 2/20 interview with Keith Olbermann. But then, in response to questions, more comes out. (paraphrasing) He's asked "what Arab country WOULD he trust to run the ports," and he replies that it's not that the UAE is an Arab country, but that the company buying the ports is state owned and no foreign country should run our ports. He said he would have not have this objection if it were an Arab-owned company that was NOT owned by a foreign country and met all the security criteria. He raised the issue: what if the US were to get into a dispute with a foreign company that ran our ports and they shut them down? It's a SECURITY concern.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): VIDEO- Cafferty File-Over 3000 Emails on Port Security Brouhaha
Comment/excerpt: Jack Cafferty quotes with evident disbelief a statement by Bush that dares opponents of the ports deal to come forward and explain why there’s a difference between a British company owning the operations and an Arab company doing it. (Seems to be fishing for ammunition for bigotry accusations, and it also ignores that the UAE company is STATE-OWNED.) Cafferty responded by putting Bush’s question to his viewers, and got over 3000 responses in less than two hours, which is the most since Katrina. Very few expressed even moderate support, and Cafferty concluded “I think the President is in trouble.”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): VIDEO- KO on the Ports-Selected Bits
Comment/excerpt: Short (about a minute and a half) but powerful – he throws the CONFLICTS OF INTEREST of David Sanborn and John Snow into clear relief and portrays Bush as surprised at being opposed by conservatives.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): VIDEO- Lou Dobss on CFIUS (the secretive agency that okays this type of {deal}
Comment/excerpt: Hard-hitting report on the “firestorm” on the UAE ports deal on CNN/Lou Dobbs. Apparently the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, which is run by the Treasury Department (and CSX’s former CEO, John Snow, is now Sec. of the Treasury – a clear conflict of interest) and is so secretive, even the Secretary of Defense didn’t know about the deal. There have been many questionable approvals in the past, and a GAO report has questioned CFIUS’s narrow focus on boosting foreign trade without any real understanding of national security concerns. We need to get a linked copy & analysis of the Fall 2005 GAO report on CFIUS's poor record in comprehending national security concerns - mentioned near the end of the video clip.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): VIDEO- Shut Up, Lou Dobbs (PR campaign to sell public on UAE ports)
Comment/excerpt: Another fine liveoaktx/Can-o-fun video clip.Lou Dobbs says that the big PR campaign entourage from the UAE that is in Washington to promote the ports sale has REFUSED TO SPEAK TO CNN “BECAUSE CNN WON’T SHUT UP LOU DOBBS.” Lou Dobbs says his reporter is outside the UAE (she speaks too) and the UAE is welcome to come and speak about the deal any time they want. He emphasizes that their refusal is NOT because of misreporting or mistakes, but because they want to suppress the story.
Related story on the video page: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000101&sid=aqd...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): VIDEO- Bush Digs in his heels, Cafferty rebuts one talking point
Comment/excerpt: This is an EDITED VIDEO COMPILATION from liveoaktx/ Can-o-Fun. It starts with Lindsay Graham’s “politically blind” remark (applied to the Administration’s pushing of this deal) and shows Bush’s smirking comments and moves on to include a “greatest hits” version of Jack Cafferty’s response to Bush’s statement that he didn’t see why people would object to an Arab country doing what a British company has been doing. Cafferty makes some of Menendez’ points, like the 9/11 funding and nuclear component transshipments coming through the UAE.

[Nothing Without Hope]

18. ***More info on the GAO report on the CFIUS approval committee:

I don't have time to set up a full thread now, but here are some of the key pieces:

http://subscript.bna.com/SAMPLES/itd.nsf/125731d8816a84...
INTERNATIONAL TRADE DAILY
Thursday, September 29, 2005
ISSN 1533-1350
Lead Report/Foreign Investment

GAO Criticizes Foreign Investment Reviews; Business Groups Defend Process

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report released Sept. 28 that an interagency committee charged with reviewing foreign acquisitions of U.S. companies for security concerns has taken an overly narrow view of national security that may undermine the effectiveness of U.S. laws on foreign investment.

(snip)

CFIUS {the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States} is charged with implementing the so-called Exon-Florio provision of the 1988 Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act, which set up a process for reviewing foreign direct investment in the United States. After parties involved in a transaction notify the committee, CFIUS conducts an initial 30-day review of the deal, and then decides whether to undertake an additional 45-day investigation.

(snip)

CFIUS "may limit effectiveness" of Exon-Florio, the GAO report said, because the Treasury Department, as chair of the committee, "and some others narrowly define what constitutes a threat to national security--that is, they have limited the definition to export-controlled technologies or items and classified contracts, or specific derogatory intelligence on the foreign company."

(snip)

The GAO also charged that CFIUS is "reluctant" to initiate 45-day investigations "because of a perception that they would discourage foreign investment," which conflicts with the United States' open investment policy.

(snip)

And three other pieces; there are more interesting ones too that came up with a Google search on "CFIUS +GAO"

http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO/NSIAD-96-12
FOREIGN INVESTMENT: Implementation of Exon-Florio and Related ..

http://www.gao.gov/htext/d05686.html
GAO-05-686, Defense Trade: Enhancements to the Implementation of ...

http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/js2981.htm
Press Room October 20, 2005 JS-2981 Deputy Secretary Robert M ...

[threadkillaz]

19. Australia vs Dubai, circa 97-98

The Dubai Debacle
http://www.mua.org.au/war/dubai.html

The year ended with a proverbial bang on the Australian waterfront. On December 3 the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the Maritime Union of Australia exposed that a group of Sandline-style mercenaries were flying to Dubai to train as wharfies.

Two former SAS commandos were in charge of the operation Peter Kilfoyle and Mike Wells. Among the 70 recruits were serving members and former members of the military. A mysterious Australian company known as International Port Services Training Group Pty Ltd was behind the training with the shadowy $20 shelf company Fynwest Pty Ltd recruiting and employing the mercenaries. The Hong Kong based company channelling funds for the retraining was Container Management Services.

-

ACTU Assistant Secretary Greg Combet said: "I certainly hope that paramilitary operations like this would never be contemplated in Australia... The secret plan has the potential to cause explosive industrial disputation. It is categorically un-Australian, and will be met with horror."

-

Why Dubai?
Slap bang in the Arabian Gulf, Dubai is a free trade zone and an industrial free-for-all. Foreign workers predominate and trade unions are outlawed. Deportation awaits those who dare to organise one.

-

Wells admitted the Dubai plan was aimed at breaking union power on the docks and vowed to try again to take on the Maritime Union (The Age, December 18). In fact he foreshadowed the NFF operation at Webb Dock.


====


Australia union warns of international UAE boycott
Reuters, 02:43 a.m. 11 December 1997 Eastern
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/26/124.html

CANBERRA, Dec 11 (Reuters) - International unions could boycott the United Arab Emirates (UAE) port of Dubai over the training of Australian soldiers to work on Australian docks, Australia's maritime trade union said on Thursday.

The powerful Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) says the men, which it has called mercenaries, are being trained as strike breakers in an attempt to break its grip on the waterfront.

====


Dock Workers In Australia Protest Employer's Union-Busting Moves
http://www.themilitant.com/1998/6210/6210_5.html

SYDNEY, Australia - Some 170 dock workers, members of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) on the Webb Dock in Port Melbourne, Victoria, ended a two-and- a-half-week strike February 16 against the use of nonunion labor on the wharf.


====

Showdown for Australian workers - 12 April, 1998
http://www.workersliberty.org/node/view/5422?PHPSESSID= ...

When Australia's current right wing coalition government came to office in March 1996, one of its main election pledges was that it would break the waterfront union, the MUA. Now the government and one of Australia's two main stevedoring companies, Patrick's, have gone for the showdown by sacking 1400 unionised wharfies to replace them by scab labour.

====

[Nothing Without Hope]

21. Union busting and "free trade." Tends to go with this thread's idea:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): The Dirty Little Secret Behind the UAE Port Security Flap (David Sorata)
Comment/excerpt: Excerpt from David Sirota’s explanation: “What does "free" trade have to do with this? How about everything. The Bush administration is in the middle of a two-year push to ink a corporate-backed "free" trade accord with the UAE. At the end of 2004, in fact, it was Bush Trade Representative Robert Zoellick who proudly boasted of his trip to the UAE to begin negotiating the deal. Rejecting this deal might have set back that trade pact. Accepting it - regardless of the security consequences - likely greases the wheels for the pact. That's probably why instead of backing off the deal, President Bush - supposedly Mr. Tough on National Secuirty - took the extraordinary step of threatening to use the first veto of his entire presidency to protect the UAE's interests. Because he knows protecting those interetsts - regardless of the security implications for America - is integral to the "free" trade agenda all of his corporate supporters are demanding.”

[NewJeffCT]

20. Thank you for the summary

Great stuff!

[oasis]

22. Great work thanks. kick and recommend.

[Catchawave]

23. Great job !

Thanks so much Hope

[Nothing Without Hope]

24. kick for visibility n/t

[Hubert Flottz]

25. "Islamic Extremists" is Bush's favorite description of folks in the

Arab World...Who is the racist? I mean, calling them all "Islamic Extremists" seems kind of racist to me.

[Nothing Without Hope]

26. I've been away and am far behind, but here are a few more for now:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): Some basic facts on this "port deal" are not getting mentioned
Comment/excerpt: Apparently there are only TWO bidders for the Peninsular Oriental Navigation Company, the subsidiary of the British compny that handles the Port/Terminal management. One is a Dubai company and one is a “bad people” company in “China and the Far East.” The sale is going to happen one way or another – the question is, who will pay?
LINKS on the OP information in Reply #18:
http://money.guardian.co.uk/businessnews/story/0,1265,-...
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&c...
The poster says there are “tons more, just google on any of the three companies.” This post raises questions – we need to study the ports deal and grasp more of the underlying details if we are to find the best solutions.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 LBN): Arab Americans see bigotry behind ports uproar
Comment/excerpt: Reuters. Excerpt: “’I find some of the rhetoric being used against this deal shameful and irresponsible. There is bigotry coming out here,’ said James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute. He said politicians were exploiting fears left over from Sept. 11 to gain advantage in a congressional election year. ‘Bush is vulnerable so the Democrats jump on it. The Republicans feel vulnerable so they jump on it. The slogan is, if it's Arab, it's bad. Hammer away,’ Zogby said.”
Reply #81 has a Financial Times link on this point with much the same view: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/dcf9cd5e-a27e-11da-9096-000077...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-22-06 GD): US Called Off Air Strike on Osama Because UAE Royals Were Visiting Him
Excerpt: “March 25, 2004 12:04 IST The Central Intelligence Agency did not target Al Qaeda chief Osama bin laden once as he had the royal family of the United Arab Emirates with him in Afghanistan, the agency's director, George Tenet, told the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States on Thursday. Had the CIA targeted bin Laden, half the royal family would have been wiped out as well, he said. The 10-member bipartisan commission is investigating the events leading up to the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US.”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-22-06 GD): UAE and BCCI >>>
Comment/excerpt: The Bank of England shuts down Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), the largest Islamic bank in the world. Based in Pakistan, this bank financed numerous militant organizations and laundered money generated by illicit drug trafficking and other illegal activities, including arms trafficking. Bin Laden and many other militants had accounts there. <Detroit News, 9/30/01> One money-laundering expert claims, “BCCI did dirty work for every major terrorist service in the world.” <Los Angeles Times, 1/20/02> American and British governments were aware of its activities yet allowed the bank to operate for years. The Pakistani ISI had major connections to the bank. However, as later State Department reports indicate, Pakistan remains a major drug trafficking and money-laundering center despite the bank's closing. <Detroit News, 9/30/01> “The CIA used BCCI to funnel millions of dollars to the fighters battling the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan” according to the Washington Post. A French intelligence report in 2001 suggests the BCCI network has been largely rebuilt by bin Laden (see October 2001). <Washington Post, 2/17/02> The ruling family of Abu Dhabi, the dominant emirate in the United Arab Emirates, owned 77 percent of the bank. <Los Angeles Times, 1/20/02>
And there is also the Ariana Airlines and massive DRUG & WEAPSONS TRAFFICKING: Comment/excerpt: “In 1996, al-Qaeda assumes control of Ariana Airlines, Afghanistan's national airline, for use in its illegal trade network. Passenger flights become few and erratic, as planes are used to fly drugs, weapons, gold, and personnel, primarily between Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Pakistan. The Emirate of Sharjah, in the UAE, becomes a hub for al-Qaeda drug and arms smuggling. Typically, “large quantities of drugs” are flown from Kandahar, Afghanistan, to Sharjah, and large quantities of weapons are flown back to Afghanistan. <Los Angeles Times, 11/18/01> … A former National Security Council official later claims the US is well aware at the time that al-Qaeda agents regularly fly on Ariana Airlines, but the US fails to act for several years. The US does press the UAE for tighter banking controls, but moves “delicately, not wanting to offend an ally in an already complicated relationship,” and little changes by 9/11. <Los Angeles Times, 11/18/01> Much of the money for the 9/11 hijackers flows though these Sharjah, UAE, channels…..“

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-23-06 GD): WHAM! DP World & Bush Administration HAD SECRET AGREEMENT!!
Basically, the company was given an exemption from US law. LATimes: “The administration did not require Dubai Ports to keep copies of business records on U.S. soil, where they would be subject to court orders. It also did not require the company to designate an American citizen to accommodate U.S. government requests. Outside legal experts said such obligations are routinely attached to U.S. approvals of foreign sales in other industries.”

[Nothing Without Hope]

27. adding two more, one of them a Lou Dobbs video that is must-see:

I'll add these to the Research Forum version of this thread too. (Link in opening post)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-22-06 GD): VIDEO- Bush and his UAE Pals- (Dobbs)
liveoaktx/Can-o-fun video of a fine Lou Dobbs segment. It brings out Carlyle Group and Neil Bush’s funding by UAE. Also Snow’s former position as CSX CEO. David Sanborn just appointed to head the government agency that supervises the ports. Even mentions Bob Dole’s lobbying for the deal. Liveoaktx comments: “Snow has some chutzpah going out as a spokesman.”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 LBN): BUSH SAYS HE WOULD VETO LEGISLATION TO STOP DUBAI PORT DEAL
Gives links & excerpts to two Reuters reports.

[Time for change]

28. Great compilations Hope

Thank you for all your work on this.

[Nothing Without Hope]

29. Two more non-video threads:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-23-06 GD): OMIGAWD!! Dubai: "Visit the USA: Streamlined Visa Processing"
PRESS RELEASE, February 14, 2006: “The Department of State, the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Consulate General in Dubai have recently taken steps to further expedite visa processing for travel to the United States. An important part of this new streamlined procedure is the use of the Electronic Visa Application Form (EVAF). This form is now required for all Nonimmigrant Visa applications in order to expedite visa interviews and processing. ...”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-23-06 LBN): UAE Company Agrees to Delay Ports Takeover
The WH has brokered a way for Bush to save face and his enablers in Congress to go through empty motions designed to give them a chance to pretend they've actually investigated this deal before they finally and inevitably approve it.
Yahoo News. Excerpt: “Under the offer coordinated with the White House, Dubai Ports World said it will agree not to exercise control or influence the management over U.S. ports pending further talks with the Bush administration and Congress. It did not indicate how long it will wait for these discussions to take place. The company said it will move forward with other parts of the deal affecting the rest of the world. "It is not only unreasonable but also impractical to suggest that the closing of this entire global transaction should be delayed," Dubai Ports said in a statement.”

[sundancekid]

30. adding map from P&O itself of the 21 (not only 6) ports in north america

that Dubai Ports World would be running after purchase of P&O

http://portal.pohub.com/portal/page?_pageid=169,1,169_8...

gee, I wonder why they gave that 100 million for Katrina - couldn't have been that they had ports (more than one) in the area, now could it????

[FogerRox]

31. Kickin eom

[PhilipShore]

32. CorrenteWire--Dubai Ports World, the UAE and the Carlyle Group...

CorrenteWire
Bush Family, Dubai Ports World and the Carlyle Group: More incest than a village in Appalachia
2006-02-24

http://www.correntewire.com/bush_family_dubai_ports_wor...

Via Randi Rhodes, the Goddess of Progressive Talk Radio. BTW: Air America is a great way to keep up on things if you can’t read blogs at work. But keep the volume down or you might get questions from co-workers like “what is she bitching about now?”.

The Lou Dobbs show, CNN, 2/22/06:

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The oil-rich United Arab Emirates is a major investor in The Carlyle Group, the private equity investment firm where President Bush’s father once served as senior adviser and is a who’s who of former high-level government officials. Just last year, Dubai International Capital, a government-backed buyout firm, invested in an $8 billion Carlyle fund.

[Nothing Without Hope]

33. ADD: TEN NEW NON-VIDEO THREADS (will also add to RESEARCH FORUM)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-25-06 GD-P): DNC nails McCain on Bush and port deal
From the DNC. Info on McCain’s developing candidacy under the auspices of the Bushies: “Bush and McCain have begun to build a political alliance for 2008. As public opinion on the war continued to drop, Bush highlighted McCain's ‘strong support’ for the war in Iraq in December of 2005. In turn, Bush loyalists ‘have talked (McCain) up in private chats with Republican strategists and have even tried to steer people to the Arizonan's effort.’ In addition, McCain has used Bush's direct mail list of major political donors to raise funds for his PAC. (Oval Office press conference, 12/15/05; CBS News Poll Summary, 12/28/05; U.S. News and World Report, 2/20/06; Chicago Sun Times, 2/19/06)” So it’s not surprising that McCain is out there loudly supporting Bush’s position on the ports deal. McCain:“ We all need to take a moment and not rush to judgment on this matter without knowing all the facts. The President's leadership has earned our trust in the war on terror, and surely his administration deserves the presumption that they would not sell our security short...let's make a judgment when we possess all the pertinent facts.”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-23-06 GD): This flap over the ports is pretty simple to understand.
Will Pitt posts that the UAE has “some of the most extraordinary ports in the world” and says that the constant fearmongering by the Bushies about TERRA since 9/11 is responsible for the firestorm of reaction about the ports deal. “The political meat of this issue isn't about racism. It isn't about security, or economics. It is about four and a half years of fear-mongering boomeranging on the fear peddlers.”
Some good discussion in the replies in this thread. Reply #64, for example, has more details about the timing and reasons for the Taliban recognition by UAE and its withdrawal after 9/11.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-24-06 LBN): UAE terminal takeover extends to 21 ports
UPI News by their Pentagon correspondent. Excerpt: “WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- A United Arab Emirates government-owned company is poised to take over port terminal operations in 21 American ports, far more than the six widely reported. The Bush administration has approved the takeover of British-owned Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co. to DP World, a deal set to go forward March 2 unless Congress intervenes. P&O is the parent company of P&O Ports North America, which leases terminals for the import and export and loading and unloading and security of cargo in 21 ports, 11 on the East Coast, ranging from Portland, Maine to Miami, Florida, and 10 on the Gulf Coast, from Gulfport, Miss., to Corpus Christi, Texas, according to the company's Web site.”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-24-06 GD): UAE terminal takeover extends to 21 U.S. ports, not 6 (as widely reported)
Same source as the LBN thread – UPI Pentagon correspondent.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-24-06 GD): New Rasmussen Poll: Dems Favored Over Bush On National Security
Poster comments: “Everyone has been saying the politics of the Dubai Ports World deal is bad news for President Bush. Well, now we have an idea of just how bad. Rasmussen Reports has just released a poll showing that Americans now trust Democrats in Congress more than President Bush on the issue of national security by a margin of 43% to 41%. Only 17% of those polled favor the DPW deal, 64% oppose. ”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-24-06 GD-P): Joe Conason on Bush family's "many financial ties to Arab sheikdoms"
Salon article. Excerpt: “Feb. 24, 2006 | To hear George W. Bush urge calm upon the nation is a refreshing change from his administration's habitual encouragement of fear for political advantage. No more color-coded terror alerts, election-timed warnings or partisan-tinged posturing will emanate from the White House, or at least not until Dubai Ports World has safely completed its takeover of several major American shipping terminals. The president's shift in tone is as remarkable as his threat to use his first veto in five years to protect the Dubai deal in the face of bipartisan congressional opposition. But Bush's passionate defense of the United Arab Emirates and the ports deal inevitably raises questions -- not only about the due diligence of his administration in this instance but about his and his family's long-standing ties to the Persian Gulf sheikdoms, and specifically to the UAE's rulers. His insinuation that skepticism is equivalent to bigotry cannot deflect such concerns, which first arose in the months after the 9/11 attacks….”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-25-06 LBN): Qaeda Claim: We 'Infiltrated' UAE
NY Post article. Excerpt: “February 25, 2006 -- WASHINGTON — Al Qaeda warned the government of the United Arab Emirates more than three years ago that it "infiltrated" key government agencies, according to a disturbing document released by the U.S. military. The warning was contained in a June 2002 message to UAE rulers, in which the terror network demanded the release of an unknown number of ‘mujahedeen detainees,’ who it said had been arrested during a government crackdown in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. The explosive document is certain to become ammunition for critics of the controversial UAE port deal, who fear the Dubai-based firm could be used by terrorists to sneak money and personnel into the United States. … ‘You are well aware that we have infiltrated your security, censorship and monetary agencies, along with other agencies that should not be mentioned,’ the message said.”

More on BCCI, money laundering, arms shipments and other crimes in UAE:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-25-06 GD): News article from 2 months ago: UAE: An Unlikely Criminal Crossroads
US News & World Report from December 2005. Excerpt: “But Dubai also serves as the region's criminal crossroads, a hub for smuggling, money laundering, and underground banking. There are Russian and Indian mobsters, Iranian arms traffickers, and Arab jihadists. Funds for the 9/11 hijackers and African embassy bombers were transferred through the city. It was the heart of Pakistani scientist A. Q. Khan's black market in nuclear technology and other proliferation cases. Half of all applications to buy U.S. military equipment from Dubai are from bogus front companies, officials say. "Iran," adds one U.S. official, "is building a bomb through Dubai." Last year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents thwarted the shipment of 3,000 U.S. military night-vision goggles by an Iranian pair based in Dubai. Moving goods undetected is not hard. Dhows--rickety wooden boats that have plowed the Arabian Sea for centuries--move along the city center, uninspected, down the aptly named Smuggler's Creek.
U.A.E. rulers have taken terrorism seriously since 9/11, but Washington has a half-dozen extradition requests that they refuse to honor. The list includes people accused of rape, murder, and arms trafficking, and the last fugitive of the BCCI banking scandal. The country has put money laundering controls on the books but has made few cases. Interior Minister Sheik Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan told U.S. News the U.A.E. has made great strides in cracking down, but he insists that the real problems lie elsewhere. ‘We are a neutral country, like Switzerland,’ he says. ‘Give us the evidence, and we will do something about it. Don't blame others.’ Not everyone agrees. ‘All roads lead to Dubai,’ says former treasury agent John Cassara, author of Hide and Seek, a forthcoming book on terrorism finance. Cassara tried explaining U.S. concerns about Dubai to a local businessman but got only a puzzled look: ‘Mr. John, money laundering? But that's what we do.’

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-25-06 GD-P): DNC nails McCain on Bush and port deal
From the DNC. Info on McCain’s developing candidacy under the auspices of the Bushies: “Bush and McCain have begun to build a political alliance for 2008. As public opinion on the war continued to drop, Bush highlighted McCain's ‘strong support’ for the war in Iraq in December of 2005. In turn, Bush loyalists ‘have talked (McCain) up in private chats with Republican strategists and have even tried to steer people to the Arizonan's effort.’ In addition, McCain has used Bush's direct mail list of major political donors to raise funds for his PAC. (Oval Office press conference, 12/15/05; CBS News Poll Summary, 12/28/05; U.S. News and World Report, 2/20/06; Chicago Sun Times, 2/19/06)” So it’s not surprising that McCain is out there loudly supporting Bush’s position on the ports deal. McCain:“ We all need to take a moment and not rush to judgment on this matter without knowing all the facts. The President's leadership has earned our trust in the war on terror, and surely his administration deserves the presumption that they would not sell our security short...let's make a judgment when we possess all the pertinent facts.”

See also this related thread from 2/21:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): Surprise! McCain all for the sales of our ports to UAE
Comment/excerpt: IThe poster says: “In a statement released moments ago, he says Bush has earned our trust in the war on terror and that there is too much heat and not enough light on this subject.” No links yet, presumably they’ll be added to the thread when they become available. No surprise, since McCain has been courting Bush financial backers (see Reply #25) and they want the Dubai deal.

[Nothing Without Hope]

34. ADD: MANY MORE VIDEO THREADS, ARRANGED BY SOURCE

(I will try to put together the Senate hearing videos and other later ones tomorrow.)

VIDEOS on the PORT SALE:

KEITH OLBERMANN/MSNBC VIDEOS:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-20-06 GD): VIDEO- KO on the UAE Ports with Bob Menendez
Comment/excerpt: EXCELLENT. Liveoaktx/ Can-o-Fun VIDEO of Keith Olbermann with Sen. Menendez, who is co-sponsoring with Hillary Clinton a bill to block the Dubai Port Sale. Also includes clips of Chertoff (who expresses support for the sale), Ridge (who says there should be more transparency and that there are concerns about UAE) and d more. Very clear. UAE is apparently a transshipment point for nuclear arms – why could we be certain that they wouldn’t use the ports to bring in biological, chemical or nuclear weapons for terrorists acts? We can’t. Chertoff says that it’s a good idea to support TRADE, for chrissakes, and that there are controls in place. Of course, those controls are SECRET even from Congress. This would be putting control of crucial US ports into the hands of a foreign government. New York is one of them – and two of the 9/11 hijackers came from Dubai and the country was a supplier of cash for the 9/11 terrorists. Menendez calls on Bush to stop the sale before the deadline of March 2. If not, then the legislation will be pursued.”
Menendez did make a mistake, saying that “only 95% of containers are inspected. Actually the number is much lower – he basically got the number backwards - it should be more like 5% or less of shipping containers are inspected: http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/articles/...

The following video is from HARDBALL instead of Countdown, but I’m putting it here because there is a lot of overlap in Sen. Menendez’ two interviews:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): VIDEO- Bob Menendez on Port Security
Comment/excerpt: Liveoaktx/ Can-o-Fun VIDEO from MSNBC Hardball. At first, Sen. Menendez says much the same things that he did in his 2/20 interview with Keith Olbermann. But then, in response to questions, more comes out. (paraphrasing) He's asked "what Arab country WOULD he trust to run the ports," and he replies that it's not that the UAE is an Arab country, but that the company buying the ports is state owned and no foreign country should run our ports. He said he would have not have this objection if it were an Arab-owned company that was NOT owned by a foreign country and met all the security criteria. He raised the issue: what if the US were to get into a dispute with a foreign company that ran our ports and they shut them down? It's a SECURITY concern.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): VIDEO- KO on the Ports-Selected Bits
Comment/excerpt: Short (about a minute and a half) but powerful – he throws the CONFLICTS OF INTEREST of David Sanborn and John Snow into clear relief and portrays Bush as surprised at being opposed by conservatives.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-22-06 GD): VIDEO- David Sirota on Countdown
David Sirota interview with Keith Olbermann, talking about what “free trade” has to do with the ports deal: it’s at the greedy black heart of it. He also talks about this (“The dirty little secret behind the UAE port security” in his blog:
http://www.davidsirota.com/2006/02/dirty-little-secret-...
and also here: http://www.workingforchange.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=ent...
Also reported in a DU thread here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): The Dirty Little Secret Behind the UAE Port Security Flap (David Sorata)
Link to Can-o-Fun page with this VIDEO: http://www.canofun.com/cof/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=1...

JACK CAFFERTY/CNN VIDEOS:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): Cafferty: "this may be the straw that finally breaks the camel's back"
Comment/excerpt: MUST-SEE VIDEO in Reply #81. Partial transcript in opening post: “Wolf, this may be the straw that finally breaks the camel's back, this deal to sell control of six US ports to a company controlled by the United Arab Emirates. There are now actually Senators and Congressmen and Governors and Mayors telling the White House "you're not gonna do this." And it's about time. No one has said "no" to this administration on anything that matters in a very long time. Well this matters. It matters a lot. If this deal is allowed to go through, we deserve whatever we get. A country with ties to terrorists will have a presence at six critical doorways to our country. And if anyone thinks that the terrorists, in time, won't figure out how to exploit that, then we're all done. Nothing's happened yet, mind you, but if our elected representatives don't do everything in their power to stop this thing, each of us should vow to work tirelessly to see that they are removed from public office. We're at a crossroads - which way will we choose?”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): VIDEO- Cafferty File-Over 3000 Emails on Port Security Brouhaha
Comment/excerpt: Jack Cafferty quotes with evident disbelief a statement by Bush that dares opponents of the ports deal to come forward and explain why there’s a difference between a British company owning the operations and an Arab company doing it. (Seems to be fishing for ammunition for bigotry accusations, and it also ignores that the UAE company is STATE-OWNED.) Cafferty responded by putting Bush’s question to his viewers, and got over 3000 responses in less than two hours, which is the most since Katrina. Very few expressed even moderate support, and Cafferty concluded “I think the President is in trouble.”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): VIDEO- KO on the Ports-Selected Bits
Comment/excerpt: Short (about a minute and a half) but powerful – he throws the CONFLICTS OF INTEREST of David Sanborn and John Snow into clear relief and portrays Bush as surprised at being opposed by conservatives.

LOU DOBBS VIDEOS:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): VIDEO- Lou Dobss on CFIUS (the secretive agency that okays this type of {deal}
Comment/excerpt: Hard-hitting report on the “firestorm” on the UAE ports deal on CNN/Lou Dobbs. Apparently the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, which is run by the Treasury Department (and CSX’s former CEO, John Snow, is now Sec. of the Treasury – a clear conflict of interest) and is so secretive, even the Secretary of Defense didn’t know about the deal. There have been many questionable approvals in the past, and a GAO report has questioned CFIUS’s narrow focus on boosting foreign trade without any real understanding of national security concerns. We need to get a linked copy & analysis of the Fall 2005 GAO report on CFIUS's poor record in comprehending national security concerns - mentioned near the end of the video clip.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): VIDEO- Shut Up, Lou Dobbs (PR campaign to sell public on UAE ports)
Comment/excerpt: Another fine liveoaktx/Can-o-fun video clip.Lou Dobbs says that the big PR campaign entourage from the UAE that is in Washington to promote the ports sale has REFUSED TO SPEAK TO CNN “BECAUSE CNN WON’T SHUT UP LOU DOBBS.” Lou Dobbs says his reporter is outside the UAE (she speaks too) and the UAE is welcome to come and speak about the deal any time they want. He emphasizes that their refusal is NOT because of misreporting or mistakes, but because they want to suppress the story.
Related story on the video page: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000101&sid=aqd...


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-22-06 GD): VIDEO- Bush and his UAE Pals- (Dobbs)
liveoaktx/Can-o-fun video of a fine Lou Dobbs segment. It brings out Carlyle Group and Neil Bush’s funding by UAE. Also Snow’s former position as CSX CEO. David Sanborn just appointed to head the government agency that supervises the ports. Even mentions Bob Dole’s lobbying for the deal. Liveoaktx comments: “Snow has some chutzpah going out as a spokesman.”

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-24-06 GD): VIDEO-Lou Dobss-Which Governor LIKES the Port Deal?
Liveoaktx/Can-o-Fun video. Lou quotes statements from six state governors who would be affected by the ports deal. All but one were opposed to what has happened. Only ONE expressed “complete confidence in the president.” Guess which southeast state he’s king … er…governor of?

OTHER VIDEOS; VIDEO COMPILATIONS:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-21-06 GD): VIDEO- Bush Digs in his heels, Cafferty rebuts one talking point
Comment/excerpt: This is an EDITED VIDEO COMPILATION from liveoaktx/ Can-o-Fun. It starts with Lindsay Graham’s “politically blind” remark (applied to the Administration’s pushing of this deal) and shows Bush’s smirking comments and moves on to include a “greatest hits” version of Jack Cafferty’s response to Bush’s statement that he didn’t see why people would object to an Arab country doing what a British company has been doing. Cafferty makes some of Menendez’ points, like the 9/11 funding and nuclear component transshipments coming through the UAE.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-22-06 GD): VIDEO- Bush- Don't Worry... Trust *MY* Government
Liveoaktx/Can-o-Fun video with Bush’s telling reference to “MY government.” Transcript of this important exchange at the Can-o-Fun page with the VIDEO:
Question: “Sir, do you wish you had known earlier about the Dubai Ports deal and were you surprised by the controversy over it?”
THE PRESIDENT: “The more people learn about the transaction that has been scrutinized and approved by my government, the more they'll be comforted that our ports will be secure. Port security in the United States will be run by Customs -- U.S. Customs -- and the United States Coast Guard. The management of some ports, which, heretofore, has been managed by a foreign company will be managed by another company from a foreign land. And so people don't need to worry about security. This deal wouldn't go forward if we were concerned about the security for the United States of America.”
Can-o-Fun page with this video: http://www.canofun.com/cof/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=1...
Excellent piece on the Bush “my government” oomment discussed in this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
thread title (2-23-06 GD): Marty Kaplan: "It's not a Freudian slip; it's an Orwellian siren, an {an anti-democratic red alert.}
Huffington Post piece points out Bush’s very revealing reference to “my government.” Excerpt: “Here's how W is defending the Dubai decision: ‘The more people learn about the transaction that has been scrutinized and approved by my government, the more they'll be comforted...’ … I don't think that's just a garden variety Bushism, a trivial malapropism. I think it goes right to his understanding of who he is, and who we are. It's not a Freudian slip; it's an Orwellian siren, an anti-democratic red alert.”

[louis c]

35. Thank you for your hard work

and please keep posting by adding updates.

you are truly a patriot