Ah, the plot thickens…

As the approval rating dip even lower for “Lame Duck” Dubya, we learn today that the White House hass hatched out a plan with Dubai Ports World yesterday, to save face for Bush (or, better put to pull his ass out of a tight spot!), who was in the difficult position of having to veto “a key piece of legislation to protect America’s ports,” ABC News has learned.

Earlier today, Bush said he was “troubled by the political storm that forced the reversal of a deal allowing a company in Dubai to take over operations of six American ports, saying it sent a bad message to U.S. allies in the Middle East.” Soon after his little announcement of what a bad message it was to reverse the deal, the “Lame Duck” administration announced “a postponement in the next round negotiations aimed at reaching a free trade agreement with the UAE,” however they wouldn’t say “whether it was related to the fallen ports deal.”

CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante reports the “announcement” came “after the company’s consultations with White House political strategist Karl Rove.”

Still the question remains who will take on Dubai Ports World stake in the U.S. ports?

…experts believe it’s unlikely DP World can sell its newly acquired U.S. business for $700 million, given the political pressure to quickly hand over those operations to an American company. They warned this could become an expensive case of buyer’s remorse.

“It does seem like they’re unloading this in the equivalent of a fire sale,” said William Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council and a former senior Commerce Department official.

CBS reports, DP World’s suitors could include “PSA International; Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.; Chinese-owned China Ocean Shipping Co.; Hapag-Lloyd AG of Hamburg, Germany; Denmark-based A.P. Moller-Maersk; and Seattle-based SSA Marine.” And of course, the speculation is this will end up in Halliburton’s hands.

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