[Mb-civic] Bush Threatens Veto Against Bid To Stop Port Deal - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Bush Threatens Veto Against Bid To Stop Port Deal
State-Run Arab Firm Poses No Threat, President Says Amid Bipartisan 
Criticism

By Jim VandeHei and Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, February 22, 2006; A01

President Bush yesterday strongly defended an Arab company's attempt to 
take over the operation of seaports in Baltimore and five other cities, 
threatening a veto if Congress tries to kill a deal his administration 
has blessed.

Facing a sharp bipartisan backlash, Bush took the unusual step of 
summoning reporters to the front of Air Force One to condemn efforts to 
block a firm from the United Arab Emirates from purchasing the rights to 
manage ports that include those in New York and New Orleans.

The Bush administration recently approved the sale of a London-based 
company that currently manages the ports to state-run Dubai Ports World. 
The deal has raised alarms on Capitol Hill and with the Republican 
governors of Maryland and New York. Critics note that the United Arab 
Emirates has been a home base for terrorists.

The federal government has approval rights over business transactions 
with national security implications. In this case, Dubai Ports World 
would handle shipping arrivals, departures, unloading at the docks and 
many security-related functions. The federal government would oversee 
those security operations.

"I want those who are questioning it to step up and explain why all of a 
sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard than a 
[British] company," Bush told reporters.

He said the transaction was thoroughly scrutinized by administration 
officials, who concluded that it poses no threat to national security. 
He praised the United Arab Emirates as a close ally against terrorism 
and warned of sending the wrong message to the world by condemning a 
business just because it is Arab-owned.

But many Republicans and Democrats who represent the seaport regions 
remain deeply skeptical of a UAE-owned company playing such a central 
role at some of the most sensitive entry points in the country. They 
noted that some of the hijackers involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, 
terrorist attacks used the United Arab Emirates as an operational and 
financial hub.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Speaker J. Dennis 
Hastert (R-Ill.) called on Bush to delay the takeover and reevaluate the 
security risk. Frist threatened to introduce legislation to delay the 
takeover if Bush does not act quickly.

Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) called Bush politically tone-deaf. "Of all the 
bills to veto, if he lays down this gauntlet, he'll probably have 350 
members of the House ready to accept that challenge," Foley said.

Bush welcomed the fight. "They ought to look at the facts and understand 
the consequences of what they're going to do," Bush said. "But if they 
pass a law, I'll deal with it, with a veto."

In a 20-minute airborne news conference en route to the White House from 
Colorado, Bush also dared opponents to try to make a political issue of 
the new Medicare prescription drug benefit -- Democrats call it a 
bureaucratic fiasco -- and said the newly elected Hamas leadership of 
the Palestinian Authority can expect no U.S. financial support until it 
formally recognizes Israel's right to exist. Hamas is formally known as 
the Islamic Resistance Movement.

But Bush's purpose in calling reporters to his front cabin was clearly 
to assuage the growing concerns raised by his Republican allies over the 
port issue.

In recent days, Hastert and other GOP leaders had sent word to the White 
House that conservative lawmakers and voters are furious over the notion 
that a country with terrorism links -- even if indirect ones -- would be 
managing U.S. seaports. On C-SPAN, Fox News and conservative talk radio, 
Republicans from across the country are criticizing Bush with an 
intensity rarely seen by this White House.

Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) went to Dundalk yesterday to 
discuss the deal with leaders of the labor union that represents port 
workers and to issue a warning. "Job one is public safety," Ehrlich 
said, calling it "paramount during a time of war, a terror war, a 
nontraditional war."

Ehrlich stopped short of saying he would seek to have Maryland, which 
controls the Baltimore port, break its contracts to scuttle the deal. He 
said more review of the deal is needed.

On Capitol Hill, Republicans and Democrats rushed throughout the day to 
endorse a plan to impose a 45-day review of the purchase. "If the 
president insists on using his first veto on this bill, Congress should 
give him the opportunity to do so," said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), 
who, along with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), has promised 
legislation to ban firms owned by foreign governments from controlling 
operations at U.S. ports.

Republicans who had previously spoken out against the port deal appeared 
just as undeterred. "I'm not changing my mind," said Rep. Vito Fossella 
(N.Y.), who said a legislative showdown now appears inevitable. "The 
momentum is there. The genie is out of the bottle."

GOP leaders are also fuming that they had not been consulted on an issue 
with such obvious political implications. "It's strange that the 
administration didn't consult Congress," a Republican leadership aide 
said. "They might not have had to, but it was going to be a big deal on 
Capitol Hill. To not know that is mystifying."

Minutes after the president's veto threat came to the GOP leadership's 
attention, Hastert sent a letter to Bush calling for "an immediate 
moratorium" on the deal and a more thorough administration review.

"Finally, this proposal may require additional Congressional action in 
order to ensure that we are fully protecting Americans at home," Hastert 
wrote.

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."

The deal has already passed muster with the Committee on Foreign 
Investment in the United States, a secretive 12-member board that 
includes Cabinet members and White House officials. The panel operates 
behind closed doors, with little or no consultation with Congress.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/21/AR2006022100722.html?nav=hcmodule
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