I have been thinking about the UAE Port scandal

[Savannah Progressive]

I have to wonder if we are being set up. We know we can't trust these Repugniks and we know the only things that motivate them is money and power. Knowing that, and looking at the situation anew, I have to wonder if we are being set up.

If we push for, and join with the Repugniks to pass a bill prohibiting this sale, undoubtedly one section of that will be that the UAE can own it, but they have to have someone else run it. We would be thinking of one of the Union Companies like SSA, who has the contract to run the port in Iraq, but are the Repugniks thinking along the same lines as we are?

What if the Repugniks already have someone in mind to run it, like Halliburton? Halliburton already has hundreds of no bid contracts, and they are defended saying "no one else can do what Halliburton does" so is it a huge stretch of the imagination to think that they would get the port operation deal?

Halliburton is an oil company, and the UAE is an oil producer, and the obvious business contacts are there. How do we react when it's announced that Halliburton has the contracts to actually operate the ports for the UAE?

[Avalux]

1. Halliburton may run security at the ports.

Or another Bushco company. The UAE completely revamped it's port in Dubai in 2003, for the specific purpose of handling Iraqi oil:

Dubai Ports Authority (DPA) is on course to complete the new Jebel Ali port expansion master plan on schedule and will be ready to meet the expected demand from the Iraqi market, according to a senior official.

Last year the DPA announced its master development plan for Jebel Ali Terminal, which when completed will offer an extra three major terminals and a total of 82 berths equipped with 125 quayside cranes enabling DPA to handle over 21 million TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units).
DPA has already completed the development phase of berths 11 and 12, berths 22 and 23, the new container empty strip, general cargo berths 37-39 and berth 4. The reshaped quay 4, berth 10/10A, while berths 24 and 25 are currently under construction and to be completed early next year, said a Khaleej Times report. ‘By then Jebel Ali will have excess capacity for this trade,’ he said. To date this year DPA handled 5.2 million TEUs, while the total throughput for the year is expected to touch 6.1 million TEUs.

Meanwhile, Jamal Majid bin Thaniah, chief executive officer DPA, said the general cargo volumes loaded to Iraq through DPA in the last eight months have grown tremendously. It is expected to double, exceeding last year’s volumes by the end of this year, he said.
“Ro-ro units exported through DPA to Iraq have shown same upward trend as January-June figures this year are higher than last full year figures. We have accelerated the investment programme for this and next years to meet such an increase in trade between the UAE and Iraq.”

http://www.oilandgasnewsonline.com/bkArticlesF.asp?Arti...

[Wordie]

2. I think the UAE company has already said it will honor union contracts at

the ports, hasn't it?

[On the Road]

3. I Think They're Just Getting More Brazen

and caring less and less about public opinion. Bush has survived so many things that should have taken him down, I'm sure he feels invulnerable. That's actually good, because no one is invulnerable, and Republicans are getting more and more fed up.

[WePurrsevere]

4. Actually that thought had crossed my mind as well but ...

although I know Halliburton has a hand in rebuilding NO and are into construction could they handle this type of contract?

If not Halliburton then which US company could and do they have ties to BushCo as well?

God/dess/etc I hate feeling this parnoid and cynical about our government all the time. It seems to me that we should be able to at least semi trust those we have running our country. A little caution and being watchful ofour politicians is a good and healthy thing but with this bunch it seems that it's something new and wildly illegal, unethical or totally facsist/BS every day.
:nuke:

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Think more like a nightmare

we are being set up, yes... for a terra attack...

This is what I jsut sent my fish warap and congrenssioanl delegation on this by the way

Well well, either we have an executive who is stupid or our national security is for sale to the highest bidder... or... this is what nightmares are made off... we are being set up for the next terrorist attack, which they need to quiet all the protesters.

Read the damn Project for a New American Century, Rebuilding America's Defenses and what it has to say about a new Pearl Harbor. One came and went, and you'd think after that new Pearl Harbor we would not sell our ports to a government infiltrated by terrorists... yet we are? What kind of post 9.11 world is this anyway? Oh I know exactly what kind, distract, terrify, go to war on made up reasons, distract some more and loot the treasury. This summarizes the current administration, which is now spying on the American people because we are not as dumb as they thought... yet we are not as hungry as we could be either.

Sincerely,