Quotes of the Morning: A Fine Port Whine

“This is how you know that what you are doing is annoying EVERYONE… When you are a neo-conservative and DeLay says that you are doing something stupid, you have officially jumped the shark.”
-Skippy

“U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay said Wednesday that President Bush is making a big mistake backing a sale of shipping operations at six major U.S. seaports to a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates.
The former Republican majority leader said the administration's approval of the deal is ‘pretty outrageous.’ DeLay made the remarks during a campaign event with Houston real estate executives.”
-Associated Pres, February 23, 2006

“And this really doesn’t seem like something that just happened ‘accidentally’”
-Skippy

“The Bush administration secretly required a company in the United Arab Emirates to cooperate with future U.S. investigations before approving its takeover of operations at six American ports, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. It chose not to impose other, routine restrictions.
As part of the $6.8 billion purchase, state-owned Dubai Ports World agreed to reveal records on demand about "foreign operational direction" of its business at U.S. ports, the documents said. Those records broadly include details about the design, maintenance or operation of ports and equipment.
[…]
The administration did not require Dubai Ports to keep copies of business records on U.S. soil, where they would be subject to court orders. It also did not require the company to designate an American citizen to accommodate U.S. government requests. Outside legal experts said such obligations are routinely attached to U.S. approvals of foreign sales in other industries.”
-New York Times, February 23, 2006

“So it looks like there are two options here.. Either we HAD to do it for some reason..”
-Skippy

“Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John W. Warner (R-Va.) said last night that he will convene his panel today for a public briefing to be led by Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert M. Kimmitt and five other administration officials involved in the security review of the deal. Warner was briefed yesterday by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The senator said he was satisfied that proper procedures were followed on the deal.
But he said he would withhold judgment on the deal's national security implications until after today's briefing. The United Arab Emirates provides docking rights for more U.S. Navy ships than any other nation in the region, Warner noted. He added: ‘If they say they have not been treated fairly in this, we run the risk of them pulling back some of that support at a critical time of the war.’"
-Washington Post, February 21, 2006

…or we just WANT to do it for some reason..”
-Skippy

“The Dubai firm that won Bush administration backing to run six U.S. ports has at least two ties to the White House.
One is Treasury Secretary John Snow, whose agency heads the federal panel that signed off on the $6.8 billion sale of an English company to government-owned Dubai Ports World - giving it control of Manhattan's cruise ship terminal and Newark's container port.
Snow was chairman of the CSX rail firm that sold its own international port operations to DP World for $1.15 billion in 2004, the year after Snow left for President Bush's cabinet.
The other connection is David Sanborn, who runs DP World's European and Latin American operations and was tapped by Bush last month to head the U.S. Maritime Administration.”
-New York Daily News, February 21, 2006

“..but either way, we all know one important fact. Dubya has no idea what is going on around him, again.”
-Skippy

“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.”
-Associated Press, February 22, 2006