Our National Security for sale

UPDATE: 6:45PM: It now appears that this is yet another "good ol' boys" deal for BushCo. Read the rest of the story here.



In a recent post I referred to "the fox now guarding the henhouse". Apparently the situation is far more bleaker than I had imagined, and the fox has been invited inside to live with the hens! The Bush administration, in yet another secretive deal is pushing to give a United Arab Emirates-based company management control of six major U.S. seaports.
The deal -- which will affect the ports of New York and New Jersey; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland; Miami, Florida; and New Orleans, Louisiana -- has rightly triggered security concerns among some members of Congress and the public. Some? The entire country should be shaking in it's collective shoes at the thought of turning over control of soft targets, like our ports, to nationals from a country that has long sponsored terrorism. Two of the September 11, 2001, hijackers were from the UAE. And most of the hijackers received money channeled through various sources based in the UAE, according to the Justice Department and the 9/11 Commission. Yet, this administration has said that "The UAE is a key ally in the war on terror". An ally to whom I ask you?

On Sunday, Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, held a news conference with relatives of some of those killed in the terrorist attacks, and denounced the takeover."Outsourcing the operation of our largest ports to a country with long involvement in terrorism is a homeland security accident waiting to happen," he said.

Other members of Congress have also been critical of the deal. On Friday, Democratic Sens. Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Hillary Clinton of New York announced they were working on legislation that would ban companies owned by foreign governments from controlling operations at U.S. ports.

Some Republican lawmakers have also expressed concern over the deal, including New York Rep. Peter King and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
"We certainly should investigate it," Graham said Sunday on Fox News.