Why is a United Arab Emirates Co. Poised to Oversee Six US Ports?

[Clara T]

Associated Press
UAE Co. Poised to Oversee Six U.S. Ports
By TED BRIDIS , 02.11.2006, 09:41 AM

A company in the United Arab Emirates is poised to take over significant operations at six American ports as part of a corporate sale, leaving a country with ties to the Sept. 11 hijackers with influence over a maritime industry considered vulnerable to terrorism.

The Bush administration considers the UAE an important ally in the fight against terrorism since the suicide hijackings and is not objecting to Dubai Ports World's purchase of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co.

The $6.8 billion sale is expected to be approved Monday. The British company is the fourth largest ports company in the world and its sale would affect commercial U.S. port operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.

DP World said it won approval from a secretive U.S. government panel that considers security risks of foreign companies buying or investing in American industry. The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States "thoroughly reviewed the potential transaction and concluded they had no objection," the company said in a statement to The Associated Press. The committee earlier agreed to consider concerns about the deal as expressed by a Miami-based company, Eller & Co., according to Eller's lawyer, Michael Kreitzer. Eller is a business partner with the British shipping giant but was not in the running to buy the ports company.

http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/ap/2006/02/11/ap2518368.html

[Deja Q]

1. If the Arab world hates us right now, I agree...

[ingac70]

2. Must be a job Americans won't do....

:sarcasm:

[Me.]

3. Spread The Word On This

Send emails, don't let secret government panels give our country away.

[Coastie for Truth]

4. I have serious concerns about this

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I have very serious professional concerns about this.

Coastie

Lieutenant, United States Coast Guard (Honorably Discharged)
HazMat Officer, Coast Guard Captin of the Port, New Orleans, LA

BUY MY BOOK

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This is the latest edition. I was Project Officer on the First Edition

[CatholicEdHead]

5. Toll Roads in IL and IN are also controlled by foreign companies

http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzfill4615869feb06,0,7616967.story?coll=ny-business-headlines

"Indiana officials hope to sign a lease this spring with a Spanish-Australian partnership that would operate the toll road for a profit for the next 75 years.
.........
Last year, Chicago became the first U.S. government entity to lease an existing tollway to private investors. The city turned over the 7.8-mile Chicago Skyway to the same Spanish-Australian consortium for 99 years in exchange for $1.83 billion."

[HeeBGBz]

6. Why would they hand something like that to another country?

Stinks like everything else connected to this administration.

[Clara T]

7. "All roads lead to Dubai when it comes to money,"

Dubai is also one of the region's most open banking centers and is the commercial capital of the United Arab Emirates, one of three countries that maintained diplomatic relations with the Taliban until shortly after Sept. 11. Sitting at a strategic crossroad of the Gulf, South Asia and Africa, Dubai has long been a financial hub for Islamic militant groups. Much of the $500,000 used to fund the Sept. 11 attacks came through Dubai, investigators believe.

"All roads lead to Dubai when it comes to money," said Patrick Jost, who until last year was a senior financial enforcement officer in the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. "Everyone did business there." When the U.S. bombs began pounding Taliban and Al Qaeda targets last autumn, the rush of gold and money out of Afghanistan intensified.

<snip>

“Dubai's links to suspected terrorist financing and money laundering have long been a point of contention between the United States and the United Arab Emirates. "There is no question the UAE was used by terrorists, the question is why," a U.S. official said. "It is no more lax and unregulated than many places. The answer is, Dubai is so damn convenient."

http://www.globalpolicy.org/nations/corrupt/2002/0218gold.htm

[Initech]

8. Because by going with UAE, they can get away with doing it tax-free?

[TacticalPeek]

9. Kick.

:kick: