John Kerry Calls on Secretary Snow for Full Disclosure in Dubai Ports Deal
by Pamela LeaveyIn the latest development in Dubai port takeover deal, John Kerry sent a letter today, to Secretary John Snow, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) asking him to release all information relating to contacts between Administration officials, CFIUS members and staff, and Dubai Ports World (DP).
Kerry is demanding full disclosure on the events leading up to the deal proposed by the Bush administration to have the United Arab Emirates based company run operations at six major United States ports.
Below is a copy of the letter, as received by The Democratic Daily:
February 21, 2006
The Honorable John Snow, Chair
Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States
Office of International Investment
Department of Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Room 4201 NY Washington, DC 20220Dear Mr. Secretary:
I write to you in your capacity as Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) regarding the review and approval of the sale of Peninsular and Oriental Steamship Navigation Company to Dubai Ports World (DP). As you know, this sale would give DP, a company owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates, significant operational control over six major US ports.
Specifically, given the national security implications of this sale, I am concerned about the process by which this transaction was approved by CFIUS. First, it appears that CFIUS approved the sale as expeditiously as possible, without even using the additional 45 day investigation process that was clearly warranted under the circumstances.
Further, several media reports have cited ties between Administration officials and DP that raise questions about the basis for the approval of this sale by CFIUS. As you know, the CSX rail corporation, where you previously served as Chief Executive Officer, sold its port operations to DP in 2004. Moreover, the President’s nominee for Administrator of the Maritime Administration, David Sanborn, was DP’s Head of Operations for Latin America while this transaction was being reviewed by CFIUS. In light of these connections, Congress needs to learn more about the relationship between CFIUS members and DP, and whether Administration officials could have unduly influenced CFIUS’s approval process.
Therefore, in the interest of full disclosure and the transparency appropriate under these circumstances, I request that you provide to the relevant committees in Congress all documentation and information relating to contacts between Administration officials, CFIUS members and staff, and DP, including any lobbyists or registered foreign agents working on behalf of DP.
Given the national security implications surrounding this transaction, it is essential that lawmakers have access to this information so that Congress can conduct meaningful oversight.
Sincerely,
John F. Kerry
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Here’s something curious that just came through:
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MSNBC Breaking News
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White House: Bush didn’t know of port deal until it was done. Details soon. -
Here’s more:
AP BREAKING NEWS
Updated: 10:43 a.m. ET Feb. 22, 2006
WASHINGTON – President Bush was unaware of the pending sale of shipping operations at six major U.S. seaports to a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates until the deal already had been approved by his administration, the White House said Wednesday.
Defending the deal anew, the administration also said that it should have briefed Congress sooner about the transaction, which has triggered a major political backlash among both Republicans and Democrats.
Thanks Ron. Typical isn’t it. He knew, but oh wait no he didn’t know.
Oh Pamela, I give up. You and I know, anything Bush and folks does, we Democrats will pick on it and “challenge” them. However this time, I just happen to have som extra background information/knowledge about Dubai and the UAE, as I was born and raised in the UAE amongst, British, Americans, Asians and Arabs – hence I am not fighting with the Bush folks on this one, because I know what he is saying is true and valid points. Now I am feeling bad as a Democrat, we seem to shooting ourselves and this country from doing good business with the most strongest American ally/Americanized country in the ME region -when approached with a genuine business deal!
I blame the Bush ppl for this – they fed this whole Arab Paranoia and created the “Myth” bwtween 9/11 and Iraq and mythical Iraqi WMD’s – which now has most of America up in arms on this deal – because the buyer happens to be “Arab”!
Roshan
Hopefully this will all work out in the end. I can understand your feelings towards your native country. It’s just a lot more involved that just doing business with a foriegn country unfortunately.
A conservative blog linking to us has an interesting point:
“It seems there’s only one American company that can run our ports. Do you think the newly security conscious Dems would prefer that alternative?”
She links to another post claiming that the only US company which can do it is Halliburton. Anyone know more about this to say if any other US companies could actually do this?
She may or may not be right about Halliburton–I don’t know enough about the port industry to day. However her credibility is shot when she makes baseless claims such as “newly security conscious Dems.” After all, it was Democrats who were warning about the threat of terrorism long before the Republicans were willing to take it seriously. It was Democrats who have been pointing out the failures of Bush to listen to the pre 9/11 warnings of an imminent attack. If we want to go back further, it was Democrats who won two world wars in the 20th century and who first stood up to Communism.
Link to the post I mentioned above:
http://tinkertytonk.blogspot.com/
Ron
I have a little info about “newly security conscious Dems” coming up.
There’s a lot more which can be said about this.
I should also point out that it was Democrats who were talking about port security before the Republicans, often pointing out the folly of attacking Iraq post 9/11 while failing to pay attention to security at home.
It was also John Kerry who pushed for greater port security in the debates while Bush responded that it was too expensive. I would think that such security would have been a far better use of our money than attacking Iraq at the time. If we couldn’t afford necessary functions such as port security, then maybe Bush should have also reconsidred his tax cuts.
Roshan,
That is information that should be explored. The problem that I think you have cited in one way, is also the Bush tendency to involve or appoint people who have ties and potential economic interests in the company that gets the contract. Kerry cites this very well in the letter.
As far as other companies that could do it, was there a problem with the company that had the contract? Granted our ports are not secure, as Ron points out – due to spending money in Iraq and tax cuts- but that is solely due to the amount the company is paid for what services.
AMERICAN PORTS AS WELL AS AMERICAN VALUES SHOULD NEVER BE FOR SALE. AMERICAN JOBS ARE ALREADY BEING EXPORTED TO OTHER COUNTRIES AND NOW WE WANT OTHER COUNTRIES TO OWN AND MANAGE OUR PORTS. IS SOMEBODY NOT SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT THIS IS A UNION BUSTING MOVE, BECAUSE THIS OTHER COUNTRY-STATE BUSINESS DOES NOT NEED TO OWN UP TO PROTECTING ITS AMERICAN EMPLOYEES, ITS NOT VESTED AS SUCH IN THE WELL BEING OF THE PEOPLE AFFECTED BY ANY DECISIONS MADE BY ITS FOR PROFIT EARNINGS. JUST LOOK AT HOW WELL THE US COMPANY’S PROTECT THIER EMPLOYEES OVERSEAS.(SWEAT SHOPS, CHILD LABOR ETC) THE US COMPANY’S TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE PEOPLE, AND THE COUNTRIES THAT THEY WORK IN FOR HUGE PROFITS THERE IS NO REASON FOR ME TO BELIEVE DUBAI WILL NOT DO THE SAME. ALSO GIVEN THE BUSH RELATION TO BIG BUSINESS AND WORLD DOMINATION RATHER THAN THE AVERAGE AMERICAN I WOULD VOTE FOR IMPEACHMENT. I JUST DON’T BELIEVE THE MAN HAS ANY SENSE OF TRUE AMERICAN VALUES, HE LIES,FLIP FLOPS AND IS ONE OF VERY FEW PEOPLE WHO IS ACTUALLY PROFITING FROM 9/11.