Who is guarding our ports?

masteen · Post by **masteen** » February 22, 2006, 6:55 pm

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/ne ... 929257.htm
Summary is that our government has sold the contracts for security at 6 of our largest ports to a company owned by the UAE (who supported the Taliban).

Chmee · Post by **Chmee** » February 22, 2006, 7:27 pm

a) There is already a thread http://www.veeshanvault.org/forums/view ... hp?t=16974

b) Your statement is incorrect. The contracts for security have not been sold, security at U.S. ports is handled by the US Coast Guard and Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement. What is being sold are some terminal operations. And our government is not sell them. Those terminal operations are currently being handled by a British company. The British company is being bought by the UAE company.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » February 22, 2006, 7:29 pm

My bad. I always skip Sirton's posts due to incomprehensibility.

Moonwynd · Post by **Moonwynd** » February 22, 2006, 8:36 pm

I believe the UAE is one of our middle east allies. I also believe the ownership of the company does not go hand in hand with who is inspecting cargo and manifests (which the USCG does some of already).

There are some terrorist supporters in UAE...there are also some in Great Britain...who owned the company until recently.

I think refusing to allow the UAE owned company to continue would prove to be more devestating than any potential risk. The USA is trying to improve relations with mid east countries...and alienating one of a small few Islamic allies would go a long way to hurting the US in the big picture.

Sendarie · Post by **Sendarie** » February 23, 2006, 9:27 am

Moonwynd wrote: The USA is trying to improve relations with mid east countries...and alienating one of a small few Islamic allies would go a long way to hurting the US in the big picture.

Boy oh boy the libbies are gonna be beating their drums and prepping a lynching party for that statement. Be prepared.

I bet even Nick will come in with one more way to use "reap/sow" just for good measure.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » February 23, 2006, 9:37 am

Sorry to disappoint you dickhead but all I'm going to do is ask you to keep your uneducated labels to yourself and fuck off.

*~*stragi*~* · Post by ***~*stragi*~*** » February 23, 2006, 1:04 pm

oh god guys the redumblicans are going to tooth some horns over dis thred`~
edit: toot

laneela · Post by **laneela** » February 23, 2006, 1:20 pm

Fucking horn-toothers.

Cartalas · Post by **Cartalas** » February 23, 2006, 2:43 pm

masteen wrote:http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/ne ... 929257.htm
Summary is that our government has sold the contracts for security at 6 of our largest ports to a company owned by the UAE (who supported the Taliban).

Wrong Wrong Wrong while I dont agree with a company in the UAE gaining control of US ports. The US is NOT selling managment rights to the UAE, a company in England is. So again the Media spins this shit the way they want to.

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » February 23, 2006, 6:05 pm

"People don't need to worry about security"

GW Bush - 2/23/06

Arborealus · Post by **Arborealus** » February 23, 2006, 8:58 pm

"My Government"

W

2/23/06

Truant · Post by **Truant** » February 23, 2006, 9:21 pm

Voronwë wrote:"People don't need to worry about security"

GW Bush - 2/23/06

You don't need to see their identification?

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » February 24, 2006, 2:03 pm

These arent the droids you're looking for.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » February 24, 2006, 2:08 pm

I got that anthrax baby, and its da bomb!

Kilmoll the Sexy · Post by **Kilmoll the Sexy** » February 24, 2006, 3:51 pm

'The streets will run red with the blood of the infidels!'

-Muslim Zealot_005

Sirton · Post by **Sirton** » February 25, 2006, 3:14 am

Bush handled this like a idiot.

He should of right away said sure congress can look into the situation since the people demand it...It is there government and is the right thing to do.

Wonko Wenusberg · Post by **Wonko Wenusberg** » February 25, 2006, 3:14 pm

Early one morning while making the rounds I took a shot of Global Economy and shot my freedom down! yeeaaah

Metanis · Post by **Metanis** » February 25, 2006, 11:39 pm

Sirton wrote:Bush handled this like a idiot.

He should of right away said sure congress can look into the situation since the people demand it...It is there government and is the right thing to do.

It takes time to push aside the spin offered by nearly every player in this game. The facts on this whole fiasco are tending to discredit Bush less and the nutcases more.

I would tend to agree that Bush overreacted by his bellicose manner in threatening to veto Congressional action.

However, as this is playing out there is a whole new avenue of attack on Democrats as protectionist and racists and small-minded. I especially love the Hillary quote that is being played now. A year ago she was preaching how the USA needs to make friends in the Middle East. Shooting down this deal because the company is <gasp> ARAB <gasp> really exposes her hypocrisy.

Like you Sirton, I really wish that Bush had handled this better. Hindsight is 20/20. Maybe we should be looking at how the damage-control effort is working?

--------------------------

An independent observation is how this issue really confused the conservative commentary folks. Sean, Michael, Michelle, and Ann appear foolish in their insistent opposition. Rush, Hugh, and Bill seemed more willing to take a stand against the knee-jerk opposition. We are the winners of course because we mull their analysis and then decide for ourselves. (The left has a real deficit in respectable commentary. The lack of a morally defensible position has something to do with that.)

---------------------------

Yet another observation... this port deal was moving forward the entire time the national press corpse was orgasmic over Dick Cheney. Maybe Dick should shoot someone else so the press has something to do?

---------------------------

Sueven · Post by **Sueven** » February 26, 2006, 12:04 am

However, as this is playing out there is a whole new avenue of attack on Democrats as protectionist and racists and small-minded

Umm, except for the fact that Bill Frist and Dennis Hastert and Peter King and Tom Ridge said similar things...

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » February 26, 2006, 12:09 am

but we already knew those guys were racist xenophobes.

Arborealus · Post by **Arborealus** » February 26, 2006, 12:22 am

Knew it hell, those are key planks in their platforms...

Sueven · Post by **Sueven** » February 26, 2006, 12:33 am

but we already knew those guys were racist xenophobes.

Ooh, got me.

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » February 26, 2006, 12:33 am

The whole thing is rather a moot point, very few containers are ever checked (I've heard figures of less than 1%).

Economics trumps defence; if the economy collapses you have greater problems than losing a couple of mainland cities from nukes in containers (as a worst case scenario).

This really is a case of government understand risk better than most, difference here is they aren't exaggerating it to further their ends as they usually do.

Metanis · Post by **Metanis** » February 26, 2006, 1:42 am

Sueven wrote:
However, as this is playing out there is a whole new avenue of attack on Democrats as protectionist and racists and small-minded
Umm, except for the fact that Bill Frist and Dennis Hastert and Peter King and Tom Ridge said similar things...

You are absolutely correct. Republicans were tripping over themselves trying to distance themselves from Bush and this deal. Before summer arrives they will be claiming they never really were against the plan, they just wanted more oversight and transparency.

A good example of the herd mentality. These professionals all getting sucked along even though they really should know better.

Tangurena · Post by **Tangurena** » February 26, 2006, 2:11 pm

Metanis wrote:However, as this is playing out there is a whole new avenue of attack on Democrats as protectionist and racists and small-minded.

In the beginning, bush claimed that the Exon-Florio committee voted unanimously to approve this merger. Rumsfeld is on this committee, and he never voted for it, and only heard about it on the news. Treasury Secretary John Snow is chairman of this committee that voted unanimously, and he neither voted for/against it, nor knew about it until he read about it in the news. To make things more fishy, Snow is looking to make about $32,000,000 on his stocks if this merger goes through. bush and his press secretary are now trying to claim that they didn't know about this until reading it in the news.

Treasury Department wrote:Amendments. Section 837(a) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1993, called the "Byrd Amendment," amended Section 721 of the Defense Production Act (the "Exon-Florio provision"). It requires an investigation in cases where:

o the acquirer is controlled by or acting on behalf of a foreign government; and

o the acquisition "could result in control of a person engaged in interstate commerce in the U.S. that could affect the national security of the U.S."

Source bush is threatening to veto any legislation that forces the administration to do the legally required investigation.

The bush administration rode this anti-arab fearmongering to power, and I find it hypocritical that they don't want it now. When it is inconvenient to the wallets of his cronies.

The Nation wrote:Republicans and Democrats are frothing in unison, instead of polarizing incivilities. Together, they are all thumping righteously on the poor President. I expect he will fold or at least retreat tactically by ordering further investigation. The issue is indeed trivial. But Bush cannot escape the basic contradiction, because this dilemma is fundamental to his presidency.

A conservative blaming hysteria is hysterical, when you think about it, and a bit late.
...
So why is the fearmonger-in-chief being so casual about this Dubai business?

Because at some level of consciousness even George Bush knows the inflated fears are bogus. So do a lot of the politicians merrily throwing spears at him. He taught them how to play this game, invented the tactics and reorganized political competition as a demagogic dance of hysterical absurdities, endless opportunities to waste public money. Very few dare to challenge the mindset. Thousands have died for it.
...
Bush was the principal author, along with his straight-shooting Vice President, and now he is hoisted by his own fear-mongering propaganda. The basic hysteria was invented from risks of terrorism, enlarged ridiculously by the President's open-ended claim that we are endangered everywhere and anywhere (he decides where). Anyone who resists that proposition is a coward or, worse, a subversive.
...
It would be nice to imagine this ridiculous episode will prompt reconsideration, cool down exploitative jingoism and provoke a more rational discussion of the multiplying absurdities. I doubt it. At least it will be satisfying to see Bush toasted irrationally, since he lit the match.

Source

Chmee · Post by **Chmee** » February 27, 2006, 2:39 pm

Drezner has some more information in a more recent post.

http://www.danieldrezner.com/archives/002603.html

Still looks to me as being not that big of a deal.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » February 27, 2006, 6:06 pm

The left has a real deficit in respectable commentary.

Yeah if only the left had a few Ann Coulters

Metanis · Post by **Metanis** » February 27, 2006, 10:41 pm

Nick wrote:
The left has a real deficit in respectable commentary.
Yeah if only the left had a few Ann Coulters

Exactly.

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » February 28, 2006, 4:17 am

If Janeane Garofalo does anal, I'd call her close enough to the anti-Coulter.

Metanis · Post by **Metanis** » March 1, 2006, 10:30 pm

Zaelath wrote:If Janeane Garofalo does anal, I'd call her close enough to the anti-Coulter.

What the hell is that supposed to mean? We are just supposed to reduce everyone we dislike to crude sexual jokes?

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » March 1, 2006, 10:41 pm

Metanis wrote:
Zaelath wrote:If Janeane Garofalo does anal, I'd call her close enough to the anti-Coulter.
What the hell is that supposed to mean? We are just supposed to reduce everyone we dislike to crude sexual jokes?

http://ifuckedanncoulterintheasshard.blogspot.com/

(OMG, yes, I know it's a parody)

And no, while I think you've probably got too much hate for anything left of Thatcher not to be full of repressed sexuality, the last thing I want to do is think about you burying the bone. So no jokes there.

VeeshanVault

Who is guarding our ports?

Who is guarding our ports?

Re: Who is guarding our ports?