Question Details	Asked By	Asked On
U.S. ports in the hands of a state-owned Arab company	Dark_Crow	02/21/06
"It is not as if they will fire all the unionized workers at P&O's U.S. ports and replace them with Arabs." "Powerful Washington lawmakers citing security concerns on Tuesday pushed emergency legislation to block a controversial deal that would place management of six major U.S. ports in the hands of a state-owned Arab company." President Bush has stated we (America) are going forward and, "I will veto any legislation that stops us from going forward. I am not up to date on this matter. Can anyone tell me why we would allow a foreign Corporation to manage our ports? http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-02-21T184041Z_01_N19219437_RTRUKOC_0_US-SECURITY-PORTS.xml&archived=False
Answered By		Answered On
Jim.McGinness		02/22/06
It takes some digging to get past the rampant scandal-mongering associated with this deal. The operation of the ports is already in the hands of a foreign corporation. The port operator must meet the security requirements imposed by both the federal government and the local governments The main threat opportunities concerning ports need to be controlled through enhanced security of ships and containers at their port of origin and in transit. There are nevertheless some areas of legitimate concern. Dubai Ports World also operates many of the originating ports for shipments to the US. While the official US position on Dubai is to consider it an ally in opposing terror, there are still some elements in Dubai who are sympathetic and supportive of Islamist organizations and their goals The Bush administration is placed in a position where it must competently judge the friend-or-foe status of a government-operated company from the Middle East. At this point, the furor seems to be fueled more by anti-Muslim prejudice than by a prudent evaluation of the actual situation. There also seems to be a reluctance to recognize that to accomplish our goals in the Middle East, it's necessary to develop trade ties with that part of the Islamic world which is opposed to terrorism. Just one jumping-off-point link to get deeper into all this: http://lawhawk.blogspot.com/2006/02/no-safe-harbor-from-swirling.html

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