President George W. Bush reiterated on Friday Feb 23 that his administration would not reconsider its approval for a United Arab Emirates company to manage six U.S. ports, a deal described by Thomas Kean, former Republican governor of New Jersey who led the bipartisan probe of the Sept. 11 attacks, as "never should have happened."
The uproar sparked by the deal involving selling six domestic shipping operations to a United Arab Emirates-owned company continues with opponents, including the agency that runs New York and New Jersey ports, taking the case to the court, and the company, Dubai Ports World, intensifying efforts to change the minds of congressional critics.
Lawmakers, both Republican and Democrats have pledged to scupper the deal, claiming that their opposition is mainly tied to the fear that Arab management of the ports will lead to “terror” attacks.
However, an editorial on The Daily Star says, “this logic is at best flawed, and at worst racist.”
The deal's opponent claim that Dubai Ports World is owned by a foreign government whose nationals were involved in September 11 attacks on the U.S., but nobody cited similar concern when the ports were under the management of a British firm, despite the fact that some “terrorists” have also carried British passports- No concerns were ever raised about the UK involvement in the U.S. ports, although the British Army once burned Washington. [ Aljazeera]
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