Bush Adm. violated laws requiring investigation of port sale

[Marie26]

It's a mystery how the sale of 6 US ports was allowed to fly though the Bush Administration without anyone noticing; especially because the law specifically allows the Ad. to investigate & deny any sale which threatens national security. But the Bush Administration ignored & violated those national security laws in order to get the pory deal quickly approved.

The Committee on Foreign Investments (CFIUS) is headed by the Tres. Secretary (Snow) and includes 12 Admins. officials who review sales to foreign corporations. CFIUS receives notices of any proposed sale to a foreign corporation; they then have 30 days to review & see if the sale poses a potential threat to national security. If the Committee decides the sale is not a potential threat, the Chairman (Tresury Sec.) notifies all parties & the sale can proceed. If it does believe a threat exists, it begins a 45 day investigation. After the Committee does decide to investigate, it has 45 days to gather information - and then must present it's findings to Congress & the President. The Pres. then personally decides whether to allow the sale or not.

Normally, the CFIUS has discretion to decide whether an investigation in needed. However, there are some situations where the committee MUST investigate the sale:

(b) Mandatory investigations. The President or the President's designee shall make an investigation, as described in subsection (a), in any instance in which an entity controlled by or acting on behalf of a foreign government seeks to engage in any merger, acquisition, or takeover which could result in control of a person engaged in interstate commerce in the United States that could affect the national security of the United States. Such investigation shall--
(1) commence not later than 30 days after receipt by the President or the President's designee of written notification of the proposed or pending merger, acquisition, or takeover, as prescribed by regulations promulgated pursuant to this section; and
(2) shall be completed not later than 45 days after its commencement.

50 USCS Appx § 2170

Since Dubai World Ports is clearly owned by a foreign government (UAE), and ports affect national security, this should have triggered the mandatory investigation provision. Instead, CFIUS simply reviewed & approved the sale, with no investigation at all. Treasury Secretary John Snow, and the Bush Administration, have violated the legal requirements for approving this sale. Why did they do this? If there were a mandatory investigation, Bush would have to notify Congress & present the CFIUS report (under section (d)). They were trying to quickly push this deal through before anyone noticed. And in the process, they violated laws intended to protect the US's national security.

[Double T]

1. How many laws must be violated before an incompetent,.........

irresponsible politician can be impeached? Nixon was the 'tooth fairy' compared to this current band of derelict thieves.

[Marie26]

2. Not sure it matters

As long as Congress is on their side, they can violate all the laws they want with impunity. What matters is political pressure & public opinion. If enough people become angry, the Congress realizes it has to start impeachment to save their own creditability (and careers). We might be starting to reach that point now.

[Marie26]

3. Tres. Sec. Snow claims he didn't know of approval

Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush didn't know of the sale of six major U.S. port facilities to a Dubai company until after the deal was agreed to and federal approval was granted, his spokesman said. Treasury Secretary John Snow said he learned of it ``by reading it in the newspapers.''

Snow, whose department chairs the panel, said he learned of the deal in the past few days. ``I learned of this transaction probably the same way as members of the Senate did, by reading it in the newspapers,'' he told reporters in Torrington, Connecticut.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aISJkXT.Z.tw&refer=top_world_news

How is this possible? Snow is the Chairman of the CFIUS committee, which is part of his own Treasury Dept. How could he not know what his own committee approved?

[Lindsay]

4. Implausible deniability.

Don't nobody know nothin' in the gang that can't admini-straight.