Senate leader says ports deal could still move forward if buyer isn't foun

[sabra]

http://www.kaj18.com/Global/story.asp?S=4620755

Senate leader says ports deal could still move forward if buyer isn't found


WASHINGTON Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says U-S ports could still end up being managed by a Dubai-owned company.

Frist told A-B-C's "This Week" that if an American buyer is not found and the Bush administration determines there are no security risks, then a deal could go through with Dubai-owned D-P World. He says under those conditions he doesn't "see how the deal would have to be canceled."

Republican Senator John Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is not convinced. He tells C-N-N's "Late Edition" that "the deal is over."

D-P World pledged last week to fully transfer its U-S port operations. It was responding amid growing congressional resistance to its six-point-eight (b) billion-dollar purchase of the British company that currently handles port operations in New Jersey, New York, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.

[Eugene]

1. IOW: The deal is still on.

Bechtel and the Carlisle Group have too much riding on this deal
to let it fall through and BushCo won't give up.

They are not going to find a buyer. They'll just wait for
the controversy to blow over. Standard operating procedure.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

2. you've got them pegged. They simply ignore and wait out those they hate

or disagree with. This is the most lawless group of faux-cowboy yahoos we've ever had the displeasure of suffering in office.

[Virginia Dare]

3. Yep, it was all a smokescreen..

make it go away for a little while until they can secretly ram it through while everyone is worrying about something else for a while.

[applegrove]

4. If a buyer cannot be found. You just close the ports down. That is

how capitalism works at it's most extreme.

[Lochloosa]

5. The problem here is there is not an American firm capable of running

the ports. It's not something we do. All of the ports in the world are run by foreign companies.

And the repugs know this. That is why Frist is pushing the bill. It scores him points.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

6. not true.

more than a few ports are run by the cities where they are located.
More than a few were built, designed and operated just fine before the corporate merger manias and take-overs.
Given the opportunities to do it again, you bet it can be done. Without Haliburton or Carlyle or Bush or Dubai

[Divernan]

7. Time to nationalize these port operations -

That's what DHS SHOULD be doing - is securing the "Homeland" is it's mission.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

8. There is NOTHING that DHS has doen to protect us against foreign

attack. It has been an incremental change and reorganization over potential DOMESTIC enemies. Translated - you and me, bud.

Has DHS safeguarded foreign airports? ha. Last year I walked straight onto a AA flight from scotland to chicago - no x-ray, no search, no magnetic screening, nothing. Yeah, we were all unsafe. Not.

Has DHS safeguarded against ships or cargo attacks? 1% of our cargo is searched after it reaches the US. 1%! ! ! !

Has DHS safeguarded our planes on domestic flights? Hell, no. Most airports still have little control over the people who clean and service the planes on the ground. They tried, but the impact on the finances was so great, that those programs have been quietly set aside.

The enemy is no longer Al Qaida.
The enemy is within the NSA, the pentagon and the White House.

DHS simply gives them more power of us.

[Loose Nuke]

10. You got- that's FEMA's original purpose

To establish martial law if there was an attack here- or if there was widespread opposition to a military invasion abroad. People who protest unneccessary and unjust wars are "5th columnists".
Doesn't mean they can get away with it forever- our political ancestors threw out the British empire- the American Revolution was not even a popular revolution at the time, and we have a heritage
of democracy in this country. People have fallen asleep and a large % mistakenly believe the media tells the truth about the big important issues facing our country. Ghandi looked at history and observed that the tyrants always fall. They were able to drive out the British empire non-violently. S America has been rejecting these pigs in their elections. Russia, Georgia and a couple other E European countries (what were there names???) overturned coups and stolen elections. When the word gets out here about the extent of their crimes, the Bush dictatorship won't stand either. They need the appearance of legitimacy to function effectively.

"Be part of Citizens Counter-Coup, The Formula For Change Now"
http://3c.911truth.org

[KansDem]

9. This whole debate should be about "rewarding" terrorists!

Certainly the security concern is valid, but what the GOP will try to do is have another one of their Senate investigations which will conclude that there is no reason to be concerned about security (and we know how the GOP conducts Senate investigations!). This is their end run. What should be discussed is whether or not the U.S. should "reward" terrorists, who had a hand in the 9/11 attacks, with a multi-billion-dollar deal.