A story that has received a lot of attention in the US but not much attention here in the UAE is the story of DP World, a UAE company, buying P&O, thereby getting control over commercial operations at ports in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia. The US government has apparently approved the deal and President Bush has also signed off on it, but now many are really upset about this since they perceive it as national security threat.
Lawmakers in the US have “expressed deep reservations” about this deal and it seems everyone has to have a strong point of view about this.
In the Washington Post (really an AP story) you could read:
A company in the United Arab Emirates is poised to take over significant operations at six American ports as part of a corporate sale, leaving a country with ties to the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers with influence over a maritime industry considered vulnerable to terrorism.
The Bush administration considers the UAE an important ally in the fight against terrorism since the suicide hijackings and is not objecting to Dubai Ports World’s purchase of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co.
The $6.8 billion sale could be approved Monday and would affect commercial port operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.
DP World said it won approval from a secretive U.S. government panel that considers security risks of foreign companies buying or investing in American industry. The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States “thoroughly reviewed the potential transaction and concluded they had no objection,” the company said in a statement.
At The Business of America is Business they said:
Earlier this week Dubai Ports World, based in the United Arab Emirates, announced that it would purchase London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. (P&O). The deal gives DPW control over commercial operations at six US shipping terminals- New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.
This fact has caused a small but growing number of US lawmakers to press the White House and the Treasury Department to review their decision on the grounds that Arab control over American ports could jeopardize national security.
Apparently, Crystal’s very own Senator from South Carolina is getting a bit hot-and-bothered about this too:
Republican senator Lindsey Graham joined the fray on Sunday when he said in an interview on Fox that it was a mistake for the White House to have approved the deal.
“It’s unbelievably tone deaf politically at this point in our histroy, four years after 9/11, to entertain the idea of turning port security over to a company based in the UAE who avows to destroy Israel,” said Mr Graham.
In addition to US politicians, US business is also taking a keen interest in this and try to fight it:
A company at the Port of Miami has sued to block the takeover of shipping operations there by a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates. It is the first American courtroom effort to capsize a $6.8 billion sale already embroiled in a national debate over security risks at six major U.S. ports affected by the deal.
The Miami company, a subsidiary of Eller & Company Inc., presently is a business partner with London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which Dubai Ports World purchased last week. In a lawsuit in Florida circuit court, the Miami subsidiary said that under the sale it will become an “involuntary partner” with Dubai’s government and it may seek more than $10 million in damages.
The Miami subsidiary, Continental Stevedoring & Terminals Inc., said the sale to Dubai was prohibited under its partnership agreement with the British firm and “may endanger the national security of the United States.” It asked a judge to block the takeover and said it does not believe the company, Florida or the U.S. government can ensure Dubai Ports World’s compliance with American security rules.
As you may have noticed this has a strong US-slant to it but there are Middle Eastern views of this issue too, and rather good ones at that, for example (somewhat edited for length):
First, some basic facts to clear up some fundamental misconceptions:
1. The transaction is private, P&O is being bought out as a private entity. No American government involvement except regulatory.
2. DPW is a corporation, not a government agency. Its capital is held by the Dubai government-backed Dubai Ports, Customs and Free Zone Authority but its management is international and not simply “Arab”. It is, in short a state-owned firm run like a private corporation.
3. The US ports “coming under control” of DPW with the P&O acquisition are private assets (management leases of port assets with local authorities).
4. The control of security will remain with US Gov authorities and Port staffing will be American (obviously).
5. DPW / P&O is not the sole owner of the all ports in question. NY/NJ is only 50 percent owned in a joint-venture with P. Møller-Mærsk (formerly Royal P&O Nedlloyd, branded as Mærsk ) on a 30-year lease with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to operate the 180-acre container terminal in Port Newark, New Jersey; Miama is a joint-venture as well.
6. Despite much loose guilt by association talk, no UAE or Dubai governmental involvement has ever been shown with respect al-Qaeda/anti-Western activities. While as a regional financial hub, certainly all kinds of funny money has passed through banks in Dubai, the same kinds of illogical, loosey-goosey guilt by association ‘facts’ can be asserted about London and Geneva, and in terms of 11 Sep, Germany, not Dubai or UAE was the site of planning. In reality, UAE has been pro-Western and helpful in taking steps to combat radical groups. Obvously helpful to reward that by smearing the Emirates with unfounded insinuations about terrorism.
Others are also taking a more level-headed view of this issue:
Lost in all of this is the fact that the government of the United Arab Emirates is exactly the sort of Arab/Muslim government we should be rewarding for their loyalty to us in the War on Terror. The U.A.E. has, in fact, been the very model of the ‘moderate’ Arab/Muslim state we loudly proclaim must take a firm and unbending stand against al-Qaeda and the Middle Eastern Fascists we are fighting.
It is worth noting that Ed Morrissey (and through him, Michelle Malkin) attempt to justify his position on this “issue” by using the 9/11 Commission to claim that a number of the September 11 terrorists spent time in the U.A.E. planning operational details. He further notes that the report states that monies used in the operations passed through banks in the U.A.E., which he deems to be highly significant. What Morrissey and Malkin both fail to note, however, is that none of the Commission Report citations point to either direct or indirect involvement by the government of the United Arab Emirates. The one mention (in passing) of a possible link between U.A.E. government officials and Osama bin Laden comes from Richard Clarke… The same Richard Clarke both Morrissey and Malkin found so completely incompetent and untrustworthy a short time ago.
We should also understand that if the use of U.A.E. territories and banking facilities are a legitimate criterial for excluding their firms from touching U.S. ports, then U.S. firms would, if subjected to those same criteria, fail that acid test… Those same terrorists lived, trained, banked and travelled throughout these United States. In some cases for years. But Ed and Michelle don’t mention that, do they?
What Morrissey and Malkin are equally careful to avoid is any discussion of the U.A.E.’s role in the War on Terror. To do so would put their “concerns” in a much less flattering light… A light far closer to simple racial and religious animus than to national security. That’s because when one actually takes the time to review the actions and policies of the United Arab Emirates dispassionately, what one finds is an Arab/Muslim state quietly providing meaningful, material support to the United States and the Coalition in the War on Terror. In other words, they are doing exactly what we have stated we expect from them.
[posted with ecto]
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