VIDEO- Bob Menendez on Port Security

[liveoaktx]

Government

[Nothing Without Hope]

1. Thanks for this. This is MSNBC/Hardball. At first it's similar to his

interview with Keith Olbermann:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x476018
thread title (2-20-06 GD): VIDEO- KO on the UAE Ports with Bob Menendez
Comment/excerpt: EXCELLENT. Liveoaktx/ Can-o-Fun VIDEO of Keith Olbermann with Sen. Menendez, who is co-sponsoring with Hillary Clinton a bill to block the Dubai Port Sale. Also includes clips of Chertoff (who expresses support for the sale), Ridge (who says there should be more transparency and that there are concerns about UAE) and d more. Very clear. UAE is apparently a transshipment point for nuclear arms – why could we be certain that they wouldn’t use the ports to bring in biological, chemical or nuclear weapons for terrorists acts? We can’t. Chertoff says that it’s a good idea to support TRADE, for chrissakes, and that there are controls in place. Of course, those controls are SECRET even from Congress. This would be putting control of crucial US ports into the hands of a foreign government. New York is one of them – and two of the 9/11 hijackers came from Dubai and the country was a supplier of cash for the 9/11 terrorists. Menendez calls on Bush to stop the sale before the deadline of March 2. If not, then the legislation will be pursued.”
Menendez did make a mistake, saying that “only 95% of containers are inspected. Actually the number is much lower – he basically got the number backwards - it should be more like 5% or less of shipping containers are inspected: http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/articles/2003/12/18/kerry_says_security_at_ports_is_lacking

But then, in response to questions, more comes out. (paraphrasing) He's asked "what Arab country WOULD he trust to run the ports," and he replies that it's not that the UAE is an Arab country, but that the company buying the ports is state owned and no foreign country should run our ports. He said he would have not have this objection if it were an Arab-owned company that was NOT owned by a foreign country and met all the security criteria. He raised the issue: what if the US were to get into a dispute with a foreign company that ran our ports and they shut them down? It's a SECURITY concern.

K & R. This is another significant one.