Whaaa!?!
That is most people's first reaction to the news that an United Arab Emirates-owned company (DP World) was buying the operations contract for a half-dozen of the largest ports on the east coast and that President Bush is okay with that. Firedoglake and ThinkProgress have excellent reports on this, so I don't have to repeat the details.
If I wanted to bring a few dozen Stinger missiles or a couple of Pakistani nuclear bombs into the country, I'd stick them in a container with "farm equipment" and ship them through the port of New York or Baltimore, depending on whether my target was the Big Apple of DC. If I wanted to do it safely, I'd use a port operated by my buddies. So, the question begs, Why Allow This?
The answer can be found in the nominee to head the U.S. Maritime Administration, David Sanborn (the Republican crony, not the blues saxophonist). His previous position was Director of Operations for Europe and Latin America for DP World. I've no doubt that Sanborn cut the deal and greased the wheels. Sanborn will oversee DP World's operations of the ports in the future. Sanborn, no doubt, has made a tidy little profit. No doubt, no doubt, some of that money will filter through to Republican campaign coffers. Such is life in a kleptocracy.
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Wouldn't the old Soviet KGB have loved to be operating these ports in 1980 say? No security rules or conditions would have kept them from hurting us bad. And they would have been really good at not getting caught. If this foolish deal goes through, terrorists WILL infiltrate the UAE company. They WILL make these ports covert terror operations. And they WILL hide that fact until they have killed millions of us. I'm a life-long Republican and veteran who voted for George Bush twice because I was sure he would protect my family better than the other guys. For some reason, he has clearly lost his mind. Hopefully Congress can protect my family; he surely isn't.
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