Erik A. Mattila wrote:

Is there any nation on earth that has a U.S. company (much less the
U.S. government which is what this U.A.E. deal is -- the government of
the U.A.E., not a company) running their ports? Let's leave out
countries that we've invaded and are occupying.

The answer is no.

Actually, the answer is yes. For example, Dubai Ports World bought out
CSX (a Florida based company) global port assets. which includes Latin
America and Asian ports. I'm sure there are other US firms operating
ports in other countries. Until a few years ago, one of the ports in
Onan was operated by Land-Sea (which I think was absorbed by CSX) until
it was taken over by a Swedish company.

You have yet to name one country which allows a U.S. company (privately
owned or government owned/operated) to run its' ports. Not one.

How do you think the idiots who voted for Bush and who vote for
Republicans would like it if they knew that the Red Chinese were
running our ports? They are.

This is why Bush is so secretive. He knows that his supporters would
have a cow and realize that Bush is playing them for fools! All of
these deals, NAFTA and with China, are not in the best interests of the
American people. While Bush and Cheney, and the richest elite 1% are
raking in obscene wealth, Americans are losing their jobs, their homes,
their health, going backwards financially and educationally. The
Corporate Elitests that Bush and Cheney represent have created
competition for limited resources on the planet. Oil. Water.
Forests. We're running out of everything.

In the name of deregulation and privatization, Bush has made us more
vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Just to make a buck.

Americans are starting to wake up to the fraud that is this Presidency.

Yes, but I think the security aspect of this deal is weak.

You do? How do you come to think that? Are you some sort of expert?
Do you have working knowledge of ports, and/or terrorism?
On a purely practical, day-to-day basis, if I was a terrorist, if I was
Osama Bin Laden, I would be giddy from joy over this deal. To learn
the operational details of America's busiest ports, enabling entry of
both personnel and the means for attack operations within the United
States? Priceless.
U.A.E., like other royal family-ruled, oil rich countries (Saudi
Arabia), goes to great lengths to keep its' citizens (and all Arab
people) from focusing rage on them, the royal rulers. U.A.E. operates
something like an open-port, with hoards of people (Middle Easterners,
Asians) flowing through it to other destinations. 75% of the work
force is foreign. The U.S. recently relaxed and expedited the visa
process from U.A.E. into the U.S. It can even be done online now.
Especially the student visa process.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2006/February/theuae_February380.xml&section=theuae&col=

The UAE was used as an operational and financial base for some of the
Sept. 11 hijackers. Critics also contend the UAE was a transfer point
for shipments of smuggled nuclear components sent to Iran, North Korea
and Libya by the Pakistani nuclear engineer Abdul Qadeer Khan, who ran
a nuclear proliferation ring.

Last September, a government-run think tank in Dubai said the al-Qaida
network was recruiting and sinking roots in the region. Some terrorism
specialists have said Dubai was an ideal logistical hub for Osama bin
Laden's network because of its cosmopolitan lifestyle and freewheeling
business rules.

In case you didn't know -
http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/United_Arab_Emirates


Joseph King, who headed the U.S. Customs Service's anti-terrorism
efforts under the Treasury Department and the new Department of
Homeland Security, said national security fears are well-grounded.

He said a company the size of Dubai Ports World would be able to get
hundreds of visas to relocate managers and other employees to the
United States. Using appeals to Muslim solidarity or threats of
violence, al-Qaida operatives could force low-level managers to provide
some of those visas to al-Qaida sympathizers, said King, who for years
tracked similar efforts by organized crime to infiltrate ports in New
York and New Jersey. Those sympathizers could obtain legitimate drivers
licenses, work permits and mortgages that could then be used by
terrorist operatives.

Dubai Ports World could also offer a simple conduit for wire transfers
to terrorist operatives in the Middle East. Large wire transfers from
individuals would quickly attract federal scrutiny, but such transfers,
buried in the dozens of wire transfers a day from Dubai Ports World's
operations in the United States to the Middle East would go undetected,
King said.
http://www.theeagle.com/stories/022306/nation_20060223002.php

I think you need to get clear on the culture that breeds terrorism, and
it begins with our own government -
http://911.gnu-designs.com/Chapter_5.3.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/network/personal/cron.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/network/personal/whowere.html#atta
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/network/personal/whowere.html#jarrah
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/network/personal/whowere.html#al-shehhi

George W. Bush and the selling off of American assets, this massive
shift in wealth from the poorest and the middle class to the fewest
richest in the U.S. (through very few others in some of the most
repressed, undemocratic regions of the world, that breeds this kind of
terrorism) are making everything worse and quickly! All the while
turning America into a police state.

I think Chuck Baldwin has some good points in this article -
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/12539.html

If you want
to take a shot at the Bush Admin. (I know I do) I think the better angle
is to answer the question how it is that Dubai is in a position to
gobble up so many international assets right now. Start checking out
the economies of all the Gulf States - cash is flowing in there like
nowhere else in the world. Two reasons...the price of oil (and it's
prudent to keep in mind that Dubai has very little oil) and investment
climate. Big investment cartels have little confidence in the US
economy because of the megagigantic debt that has doubled in magnitude
during Bush's 5 years on the watch. Well, now you can go skiing in
Dubai, of all things. The Gulf States are awash in cash. They are the
benefactors of Bush's foreign psudo-policy.

They are also awash in terrorists just looking for ways to destroy the
U.S.

Bush is also selling off America's roads. To foreigners.

Bushies out there - is this really what you wanted, what you expected,
when you voted for him and the other Republicans?