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February 21, 2006

Let Dubai guard Bush

Bush wants to allow the United Arab Emirates to guard our ports.

It seems Bush the safety and security man has no problem over looking a few minor UAE details:

The UAE was one of three countries in the world to recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.

– The UAE has been a key transfer point for illegal shipments of nuclear components to Iran, North Korea and Lybia.

– According to the FBI, money was transferred to the 9/11 hijackers through the UAE banking system.

– After 9/11, the Treasury Department reported that the UAE was not cooperating in efforts to track down Osama Bin Laden’s bank accounts.

Not to mention the fact that two of the 9/11 hijackers were from the UAE.

This new deal couldn't possibly have anything to do with more Bush cronyism, right?

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.

The Bush Administration is swapping our port security so that their buddies can make a fat wad of cash.

I say we offer Bush a compromise. We let this UAE company take over our ports when Bush outsources his Secret Service detail to them.

If Bush is willing to cover his own manicured rich boy ass with the security provided by these guys--they can guard our ports. If not...they're out.

Posted by Carla at February 21, 2006 07:41 PM