Shedding some more light on the curious connections behind the ports deal

By Aussiegirl

This latest news -- or shall we call it a scandal -- about the ports deal, along with watching Bush stamp his little foot and declare that he will veto any congressional bill, has given me a royal headache.

If this is such a good idea then why go the route of "trust me and shut up" and threaten a veto? Why not say -- the deal is a good one and if Congress and the people want an airing of the factors behind our decision we welcome such an investigation which we are sure will reassure everyone that this deal is in our best interest. What is the point in arrogantly threatening a veto and demanding that everyone acquiesce in his executive power without a public review when he sees that there is an overwhelming negative public and bipartisan opposition to this plan? Why is he so adamant and angry about this?

It's like handing over the keys to your house with your sleeping children inside to a "reformed" pedophile neighbor just to prove that you are tolerant and trust him. Bush has singlehandedly empowered the dems on the one issue they were vulnerable on. It's simply incomprehensible -- and now they are bringing out the "race card" just like they brought out the "sexist" card with Miers.

I'm going to go and watch the ladies figure skating until my headache clears -- but don't worry, I'll be blogging more about this tomorrow

New York Daily News - Home - W aides' biz ties to Arab firm

The Dubai firm that won Bush administration backing to run six U.S. ports has at least two ties to the White House.

One is Treasury Secretary John Snow, whose agency heads the federal panel that signed off on the $6.8 billion sale of an English company to government-owned Dubai Ports World - giving it control of Manhattan's cruise ship terminal and Newark's container port.

Snow was chairman of the CSX rail firm that sold its own international port operations to DP World for $1.15 billion in 2004, the year after Snow left for President Bush's cabinet.

The other connection is David Sanborn, who runs DP World's European and Latin American operations and was tapped by Bush last month to head the U.S. Maritime Administration.

The ties raised more concerns about the decision to give port control to a company owned by a nation linked to the 9/11 hijackers.