Bizarre plan to cede US Port operations to UAE 2-25-2006

25, February 2006                 Bizarre plan to cede US Port operations to UAE 

I urge Indo-Americans concerned with Homeland Security to contact their local representatives and urge them to demand that the Bush Administration does not cede port operations to the UAE.    

  

In a bizarre twist that defies belief, the Bush Administration is now planning to turn over the management and operations of 6 major U.S. ports to a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates (UAE),  Dubai Ports World. Thus, UAE will be given the task of operating six of the most critical ports on the Eastern seaboard.  Such a sale, already approved by the Bush Administration is fraught with risk. One of the ports affected by the sale is the port of Miami which is one the nation’s busiest.  It serves as a hub for the nation’s cruise ships which carry more than 6 million passengers a year. The seaport also services more than 30 ocean liners and delivers more than 1 million cargo containers every year, 95% of which are not even inspected.

Condoleezza  Rice,  who sold Congress on the need to wage war based on non-existent WMD’s, responded to the firestorm raised by Democrats and Republicans, that the transfer of ownership would not compromise security because the UAE is a  ''long-standing friend and ally and said the United States and UAE have a good relationship”. The Administration would like us to forget that two of the 9/11, 2002 hijackers came from the UAE. UAE was one of three nations that recognized the brutal Taliban regime in Afghanistan and also served to route (Pakistan’s) Khan’s nuclear bomb-making material to Libya and Iran.  In an odd ironic twist, it is the fear factor, that the Bush Administration has exploited so well that has generated so much ‘shock and awe’ outrage among the general population. It is not surprising that the Bush Administration has decided to mothball this reckless move which would further endanger our security. After so many appalling domestic and foreign policy blunders, the general public is no longer willing to accept the Bush theme song, “trust me, be happy.”