Well, not quite, but seriously de-fanged in a good way– if you are of the mind that operational control of our ports by a UAE company makes the hair on your back stand up straight. From the AP:

Bowing to ferocious opposition in Congress, a Dubai-owned company signaled surrender Thursday in its quest to take over operations at U.S. ports.

“DP World will transfer fully the U.S. operations … to a United States entity,” the firm’s top executive, H. Edward Bilkey, said in an announcement that capped weeks of controversy.

Relieved Republicans in Congress said the firm had pledged full divestiture, a decision that one senator said had been approved personally by the prime minister of the United Arab Emirates.

Looks like everyone on Capital Hill can take a deep breath, give group hugs, or whatever they do in there when we’re not looking — and so can GW, Rove, Dick, Condi and the crew over at the WH. Everyone dodged bullets here, as this was sorting out to be a battle royal, and no one is really sure that our beloved Pres knows how to write VETO.

It was unclear how DP would manage the planned divestiture, and Bilkey’s statement said its announcement was “based on an understanding that DP World will not suffer economic loss.”

The firm finalized its $6.8 billion purchase Thursday of Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co., the British firm that through a U.S. subsidiary runs important port operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia. It also plays a lesser role in dockside activities at 16 other American ports.

I am sure that DP World isn’t gonna go hurtin’ here. Most businesses try to take advantage of any opportunity to make a deal sweeter, and I would imagine that happened here. It will be interesting to see what is disclosed as this finalizes.

[...] Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum, prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, “advised the company … that this action is the appropriate course to take.”

Some worry that the U.S. may come off as afraid and weak, or that the UAE will pull out large amounts of investment in our economy. I don’t think so — we aren’t weak, and those that misperceive that will pay a steep price someday — see the Taliban, Sadaam — and, business is business. If the UAE can make a better return on their investment here than elsewhere, they’ll still be here. If the UAE government and companies were unstable, knee-jerk reactionaries to be wary of — then they had no business being considered for the original deal on lots of solid grounds.

Michelle Malkin has a news/blogger wrap-up and lots of links (as usual). And, one of her readers emails to her:

“Please, please, please let Halliburton get the ports contract. Sure, they have no experience at running ports–I just want to see moonbat heads explode.”

Now, that would be entertainment!

So, we’re all good now, right? Uh, not really — from the Washington Times:

But Homeland Security officials, who initially said there are about 850 terminals nationwide, now say there are 3,200 terminals, up to about 80 percent of which are operated by foreign companies and countries.

The U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD), publicly held port authorities, and the Coast Guard, which oversees security, all maintain separate lists of who is operating what terminals and are still trying to consolidate the various lists.

It’s as clear as mud,” one Homeland Security official said.

Countries operating U.S. terminals include China and Singapore. Foreign businesses include companies from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, London and Denmark.

We’ve let our shipping industry go the way of steel, sewn goods, manufacturing in general, and maybe soon, the auto industry — which is to say, U.S. based companies aren’t the major players any more. Buying a Toyota instead of a Chevy isn’t going to lead to the stealing of a top-secret weapons system or a terrorist attack. Allowing our ports of entry to be controlled by the Communist Chinese or an Islamic country just might.

I know, I know — there’s a lot of logic that supported the DP World deal based upon the UAE being a good ally in the GWOT. What you have to realize is that there are many levels of allies — some you give the good high-tech weapons to, and some you give the last generation stuff. That has to apply here, too. In any case, the issue is now moot. (db)

Technorati Tags: Dubai, DP World, port deal, Michelle Malkin

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 9th, 2006 at 4:36 pm and is filed under UAE -- Our Buddies?. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.  |   Print This Post  |   Email This Post

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