Ports

An Open Letter to Peter DeFazio

like7new — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 22:56:27 -0400

NOBLE RESOLVE - OPEN LETTER TO PETER DEFAZIO author: fear no terror

NOBLE RESOLVE is too dangerous to allow in Oregon. This exercise, drilling War of Terror scenarios in Oregon, comes just as the media is filling up with warnings of a new 9/11 and the recent Presidential Executive Orders: NSPD 51, 5/10/07, "... allows the sitting president to declare a "national emergency" without Congressional approval..."

It's looking more and more like a perfect storm of terror, treason and totalitarianism. Drills like these have a history of going live (e.g. 09/11/01 & 07/07/05) and now we have NSPD 51 — the equivalent of Hitler's Article 48.

NO NOBLE RESOLVE FOR OREGON

July 24, 2007
Rep. Peter DeFazio
2134 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-3704

Eugene, OR 97401

Dear Congressman DeFazio:

The Oregonian recently reported on your investigation of President Bush's "continuity of government" Executive Order, and on how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) thwarted your request for details. As I am sure you are aware, DHS will be leading two emergency response drills in Portland over the next 3 months: "Noble Resolve" in August and "Top Off" in October. Just as you rightly sought details on the Bush Executive Order, Oregon citizens need and deserve information about these military exercises.

We are concerned that federal, state and local agencies will not plan and conduct these "terrorism drills" with sufficient transparency and public oversight. To address this need for local awareness of, agreement to, and participation in exercises ostensibly designed for local security, safety and welfare, we propose the immediate formation of a Portland Citizens' Oversight Committee to represent citizens' interests.

We request your endorsement of this reasonable request and hope you will assist us in establishing such an oversight committee. We hope you will agree that when a Federal agency such as DHS seeks to conduct exercises in Oregon, full transparency to the public and oversight by Oregon citizens is essential.

Our initial research on the Top Off exercise revealed contradictory statements and a disturbing lack of openness on the part of local officials. We do know that Portland will receive $2 million for the Top Off exercise alone. No such figure has been publicized regarding Noble Resolve. The Top Off drill, which DHS calls a "terrorism drill" (but local officials refer to as an "emergency preparedness exercise") will begin on approximately 10/5/07, to last for 9 to 10 days. Though Noble Resolve is scheduled for August, no similar details or schedule have been released. We therefore have a series of immediate concerns about this exercise:

* what will be the precipitating event?
* will there be enhanced police presence?
* will the National Guard be involved?
* will there be contractors involved (e.g., Blackwater)?
* and will either or both drills involve rehearsals of local and federal response to a "catastrophic emergency," as defined under NSPD 51, up to and including the declaration of martial law?

With the Bush track record on disaster response and media manipulation, Oregonians are not naive enough to trust the Federal government to adequately inform and interact with Portland residents prior to these terrorism drills. Case in point, as of now, there has not even been an announcement about Noble Resolve, and it is due to take place in August, just days or weeks from now.

Another general concern is that the Mayor's office seemed almost unaware of the recent Presidential Executive Orders: NSPD 51, 5/10/07, "... allows the sitting president to declare a "national emergency" without Congressional approval, leading to the de facto closing down of the Legislature and the militarization of justice and law enforcement"; and the amended International Emergency Economic Powers Act, 7/17/07, "allowing the US regime to seize the property of anyone found to be interfering with the reconstruction of Iraq." In correspondence with both the Mayor's office and Commissioner Sam Adams' office, I have provided material to round out their knowledge of these Presidential directives.

We would be glad to discuss this matter with you or your staff further, and/or supply resources in addition to those referenced below, that will corroborate the concerns expressed in this letter. We will copy this letter to other Congresspersons, Senators Wyden and Smith, Governor Kulongowski, Mayor Potter, members of City Council, and a variety of local press and online media, to raise awareness of these drills and our urgent proposal for enhanced transparency and public involvement, given the current political climate. We hope to receive your response this week, given the exigency of the August drill. Please inform your staff that we will make a follow up call on this matter if we do not hear back from you.

Thank you and we look forward to talking with you or a representative.

Best regards,
Informed Dissent

CC:
Office of Mayor Tom Potter,
Sam Adams,
Erik Sten,
Dan Saltzman,
Randy Leonard,
Governor Ted Kulongoski,
Senator Ron Wyden,
Senator Gordon Smith
Representative Earl Blumenauer,
Representative Darlene Hooley,
Representative David Wu,

~~Media
Oregonian
Willamette Week
KBOO
KPOJ / Air America

REFERENCES:
NATIONAL SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE/NSPD 51 - http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20070509-12.html
Message to the Congress of the United States Regarding International Emergency Economic Powers Act - http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070717-4.html
USJFCOM gears up for Noble Resolve - http://www.jfcom.mil/newslink/storyarchive/2007/pa033007.html
JFCOM brings virtual world closer to home - http://www.fcw.com/article98147-04-04-07-Web
------------------------------------------------------
Bush Directive for a "Catastrophic Emergency...", Prof. Michel Chossudovsky - http://www.globalresearch.ca/PrintArticle.php?articleId=6134
The "Use of the Armed Forces" in America under a National Emergency... - Prof. Michel Chossudovsky - http://www.globalresearch.ca/PrintArticle.php?articleId=6169
Brzezinski Suggests False Flag Event Could Kick-Start Iran War - http://www.nowpublic.com/brzezinski_suggests_false_flag_event_could_kick...
Wake-up Call: Watch for Another 911/WMD Experience, Paul C. Roberts - http://www.vdare.com/roberts/070718_wakeup.htm
Impeach Bush and Cheney Now, Paul C. Roberts -
http://www.vdare.com/roberts/070715_impeach.htm

Terror Drill in Portland, Oregon

like7new — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 11:07:09 -0400

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/07/362706.shtml

NOBLE RESOLVE - OPEN LETTER TO PETER DEFAZIO

author: fear no terror

NO NOBLE RESOLVE FOR OREGON

July 24, 2007
Rep. Peter DeFazio
2134 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-3704

Eugene, OR 97401

Dear Congressman DeFazio:

Thank you and we look forward to talking with you or a representative.

Best regards,
Informed Dissent

~~Media
Oregonian
Willamette Week
KBOO
KPOJ / Air America

A Southern Moonlit Sauna Has Me Thinking of Bush and Jesus

Ana Maria — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 08:02:53 -0400

With the beauty of Saturday night’s moon beaming brightly upon the water, hundreds of people gathered at the Bay St. Louis Yacht Club to listen to the deliciously divine music of Deacon John, a New Orleans legend playing all the favorites going back some fifty years. I couldn’t believe how hot it was or that sweat was running down my legs! A young friend informed me, “That isn’t sweat. It’s the humidity stuck to your legs.” I guess it’s been a while since I went dancing under the moonlight with humidity in the night air making life almost unbearable were it not for Deacon John’s music.

I immediately thought, “Thank GAWD I wore shorts and a t-shirt.” Looking around, I saw sweat poring of off everyone. Thus the reason for the HUGE four to five foot fans under the tent where the band played and the rest of us danced. Now, if you thought this was some uptight-dressed-to-the-nines-with-diamond-jewels kind of crowd, you’d have been wrong as wrong could be. At best, everyone wore picnic attire, the same thing many of us had worn earlier that day when we went to the annual Crab Festival at Our Lady Academy, the Catholic all girl high school I attended.

I bought myself a shrimp po-boy—a New Orleans specialty—and sat down at a table filled with folks I didn’t know. Like me, they were enjoying the divinely mouth-watering delicacies for which our region is so well-known. Across from me was a couple who had lost a 5,000 square foot home in Katrina. What did their insurance carrier offer for the damages? $19,000. What a jaw dropper!

Being smart business people, they had tried to get flood insurance and were denied it because they didn’t live in a flood zone. This insurance nightmare pushed this couple into joining one of the Scruggs Katrina lawsuits.

After we finished our meal and concluded our discussion, we parted knowing that we’d be seeing each other at THE event of the weekend: dancing to Deacon John that night. Indeed, we ran into each other soon after the gig began to crank up. Music and dancing are a strong part of our cultural history here which can be most easily understood when taking into consideration the fact that many families, like my own, are originally from New Orleans. Our heat and humidity are other similarities to the birthplace of Jazz.

The South’s Natural Sauna
Saturday night, I voluntarily re-experienced the “Southern Sauna,” as my brother Michael called the horrendous humidity with which we grew up. Of course, being out under the moonlight dancing with my friends was pleasurable play time. I was just out having a good time as sweat ran down the back of my t-shirt and the humidity grabbed a hold of my legs then rolled right down. At least, I could go over to a fan and cool off occasionally. Eventually, I would return to my car with air conditioning which I would drive to my mother’s home that was also air conditioned. I could jump into the shower. These are choices that most of us take for granted.

Two years ago when Katrina hit, electricity and safe-water were near non-existent commodities. My older brother Rosie told me that he would put water in jugs and sit them out in the sun to warm up all day. That way he would have relatively warm water for an evening wash up. Because the water source wasn’t safe for weeks after the storm, he’d put bleach in the jugs to kill the germs.

Rosie said he noticed that those who failed to put bleach in their water ended up with sores on their bodies. And the weather was more scorching than it is at this point in the summer. As I think and write about these things, I cannot imagine the turmoil and nightmare that family, friends, and strangers all lived through in those months, particularly with the horrendous weather.

The worst weather comes in August and September, the two months in which hurricanes tend to hit the Gulf Coast region. Hurricane Betsy hit New Orleans on September 9th, 1965. Camille hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast August 17th, 1968, and Katrina hit on August 29th, 2005, devastating my beloved Gulf Coast and breaching the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers’ levees which flooded our New Orleans.

Sister cities: New Orleans and Baghdad?
I have often thought that the destruction, betrayal, and their accompanying mental toll along the Gulf Coast and in New Orleans resembles that experienced in war-torn areas of the world.The other day, I came across an excerpt in a Daily Kos Diary of an Iraqi blogger writing about his experience in New Orleans. I thought his words particularly insightful.

New Orleans Isn't Very Different from Baghdad!
What shocked me the most in this trip was how the city looked like Baghdad. New Orleans looked like Baghdad after the war in 1991; I swear I kid you not. The devastation, empty houses, the people returning to their life in the city, the "rituals" people practice before they completely come back, the bumps in the streets and the smell of destruction (it has a distinctive smell people. Yes it does.)

I arrived to New Orleans Thursday. On the way to the hotel, I saw the same thing I saw on tv two years ago, destroyed buildings. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Two years later and the scene is the same? Where are we? A government that spent hundreds of billions of dollars on wars overseas is not capable of dealing with a crisis on its own soil! A crisis that all what it needed was money!

Priorities, Hearts, and Money
I grew up with a saying that my mother would recite. It went something like this. “Show me where you spend you money, and I’ll show you where your priorities are.” Other times it would end with “I’ll show you where your heart is.”

When it comes to the priorities and heart of George W. Bush, his White House, and his cronies in the corporate insurance industry, evidence abound. Plenty of taxpayers’ money and resources for his big time campaign contributors even if fraud is committed in padding his contributor’s pocketbook. Nothing much for the rest of us, including his Republican supporters in the Katrina ravaged region.

On the floor of the House of Representatives, Gulf Coast Democratic Congressman Gene Taylor showcased these fraudulent-riddled priorities with regard to Katrina recovery. Specifically, Taylor discussed FEMA trailers that were

“delivered by a friend of the president by the name of Riley Bechtel, a major contributor to Bush administration. He got $16,000 to haul a trailer the last 70 miles from Purvis, Miss., down to the Gulf Coast , hook it up to a garden hose, hook it up to a sewer tap, and plug it in. 16,000.” [Watch the video.]

Clearly, Bush’s priorities are heartless.

Families remain in the toxic formaldehyde-FEMA trailers. Grants remain unpaid. Insurance companies refuse to pay appropriately on claims without the force of attorneys, refuse to provide insurance at reasonable rates, and/or refuse to write policies anymore. Bush has turned a deaf ear refusing to respond appropriately to the heartfelt prayers of the families in need of real leadership in Katrina Land.

Bush and Jesus
My return to the annual fair that the Catholic elementary school of my youth had put on this weekend has me thinking. At Mass and Catholic school, I learned about charity and service to others. More than anything, though, I learned about taking one's responsibilities seriously. Truly, God forbid if I didn’t follow through on some responsibility. I have no idea what would have happened had I been a slacker like George W. Bush. All I know is that I was taught to be responsible. Like many of you across the country, I learned this at home, at school, and at my family’s place of worship.

When it comes to the many responsibilities that Bush neglects from upholding the U.S. Constitution to getting out of his horrifically senseless and needed Iraq War to all things here in Katrina Land, I’d like to ask Mr. “I’m the nation’s Preacher-in-Chief” one question. What responsibilities would Jesus neglect?

For the full flavor of A Southern Moonlit Sauna Has Me Thinking of Bush and Jesus, listen to the podcast.
______________________________________________________________________________

Ana Maria Rosato authors A.M. in the Morning!, dispatches from Katrina's ground zero . . . a distinctly progressive political perspective. In March, this native daughter drove from her home in Silicon Valley, Calif., to surprise her mother with a visit to their family home in Bay St. Louis—ground zero for Katrina’s devastation. The surprise was on Ana Maria.

She launched her blog in May 2007 and added podcasts in June 2007 to express her dismay and provide detailed, poignant, on-the-ground accounts of what the people of the Gulf Coast are still experiencing nearly two years after Katrina’s devastation. She is committed to using her blog to reinvigorate the discussion and generate a renewed national sense of purpose to efficiently and effectively rebuild the area. The blog includes the Center for Political Hell Raising, which provides phone scripts and email letters readers may use when contacting whoever is the lucky one Ana Maria targets.

Bush Renews Port Veto Threat As Congress Crafts Legislation to Block Sale

Chip — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 16:12:44 -0500

Update #2 - Save Our American Ports (SOAP) and SCRUB THE DEAL! Proposed operation of 21 American ports on the eastern seaboard, from Maine to Texas, by the United Arab Emirates' owned-company Dubai Ports World remains contested today, as Mr. Bush renewed his threat to veto any congressional action blocking the sale. Despite that, the Republican-dominated House Appropriations Committee voted 62-2 (only Reps. Jim Kolbe, R-AZ and Jim Moran, D-VA, voted against the measure) today to bar DP World from holding leases or contracts at US ports. House Republicans, attempting to gain the upper-hand on the aggressive Democratic legislative response over the past weeks to the national security concerns, plan to amend the must-pass $70 billion Iraq war-funding legislation scheduled for passage next week to address those concerns. Another Republican congressman went on record saying that the previous Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) review gave security matters only "a very superficial look." Mr. Bush's opposition to legislation aimed at insuring national security is at odds with our national experience and common sense, and he is running the risk of appearing weak on terror - which he is. It's odd that he would threaten to use his premier veto on this issue, parting company with both his own party and the American public, barely 4 months after a scathing 911 Commission Final report graded as "D" all these categories critical to national security:

"Critical Infrastructure Assessment"
"Intelligence Oversight Reform"
"Checked Bag and Cargo Screening"
"International Collaboration on Borders and Document Security"
"Maximum Effort to Prevent Terrorists from Acquiring WMD"

Four and a half years after 911, after millions upon millions of dollars appropriated (often without spending guidelines), little old ladies are frisked at air terminals while the cargo holds remain largely unscreened. Now, the scrutiny of the ports deal is displaying the absurdity of form over function, revealing how the cosmetic approaches actually divert scarce (and growing scarcer) resources from more effective prevention measures. We've seen the results of "compassionate conservatism" as we watched horrified while our fellow Americans on the gulf coast begged for assistance, for food, water, sanitation, medical care, and evacuation from Katrina. Recent videotape reveals that Bush knew the danger, knew the urgency, and simply didn't care enough to respond with meaningful action. It's said that past performance is indicative of future performance. By that standard, we are warned to be afraid, be very afraid – and isn't fear of the unknown one of the Bush administration's gambits?

Save Our American Ports (SOAP) and SCRUB THE DEAL - This Friday 3/2 - it's too late!

Chip — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 22:54:21 -0500

Remember the shells and bean game? Hide a bean under a nutshell, rapidly move the shells around, then ask "Where's the bean?" Are the American people unwittingly involved in a shells and bean game with much greater stakes: our national security vs. our American ideal of non-discrimination? The status of the acquisition of the operation of 6 American ports remains murky today, just hours before the scheduled turnover to the United Arab Emirates' government's corporation, DP World. The turnover of the ports is scheduled for this Friday, March 2nd, despite congressional calls for Mr. Bush to intervene. Today Mr. Bush renewed his support for ports deal. This means that he sees no threat to our national security as a result of the United Arab Emirates operating American ports. Bush's unwavering support for the transfer to the UAE puts him at odds with lawmakers of both parties and congressional houses. Yesterday, a bi-partisan group of Senators, including Senators Boxer (D-CA), Clinton (D-CA), Coburn (R-OK), Coleman (D-MN), Collins (R-ME), Durbin (D-IL), Lautenberg (D-NJ) Menendez (D-NJ), Mikulski (D-MD), Reed (D-RI), Santorum (R-PA), and Snowe (R-ME) co-sponsored emergency legislation introduced by Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY). The bipartisan emergency bill sought to:

Require the President to place a stay on DP World’s takeover of P&O ports.
Require the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) commence an immediate 45-day investigation on the takeover’s effects on national security. The bill also requires CFIUS to coordinate with other agencies, such as the Coast Guard, and to take in to consideration past security assessments of ports operated by DP World.
Require the Secretaries of Homeland Security and the Treasury to prepare a full report and brief members of Congress on their findings.
Upon receiving the report, Congress would have the authority to disapprove the sale within thirty days.

The bill was referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), Committee Chair, in early October warned: "The Treasury Department [which chairs CFIUS] may believe that the process is sufficiently transparent...This is the United States Senate committee with jurisdiction over the process in question, and we most certainly do not agree." His statement underscored deep reservations about the process by which investigations of foreign takeovers are conducted. The issue has become a power struggle between Congress and the White House, according to the report. Bush's renewed endorsement of the UAE takeover prior to the comprehensive inquiry mandated by law and negotiated between Congress and the White House undercuts the deal by presupposing the outcome, and not delaying the ports' transfer to the United Arab Emirates administered by the Treasury Department until after the legal requirements of the Exon-Florio provision of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 are met. It also raises the question of whether the CFIUS can reach an objective assessment of the risk to our national security, given the clear expectation of their boss at the White House. Mr. Bush made his statement of support after the Department of Homeland Security disclosed that it initially objected to the sale of operations, and on the heels of the Coast Guard revealing "concerns weeks ago that, because of U.S. intelligence gaps, it could not determine whether the UAE company, DP World, might support terrorist operations." John Negroponte, national director of intelligence, and a fellow member with Mr. Bush in the secretive Skull & Bones society, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that "We didn't see any red flags come up in the course of our inquiry." Given Mr. Bush's stated support of the deal, he is betting our national security on the UAE, a nation that funded terrorists, laundered funds for them, and supplied two of the 911 terrorists. Unless we act quickly to convince Congress to Save Our American Ports – SOAP it, and SCRUB THE DEAL.

GOP Port $ellout Begins

Bob Fertik — Sun, 26 Feb 2006 09:28:47 -0500

If it seems like only yesterday that Senate and House Republicans were talking tough on the Dubai Ports deal, that's because it was!

Today, GOP leaders are singing a completely different tune. Here's Bill Frist:

Frist said Republicans trust the Bush administration and think its determination that the port deal doesn't threaten American security is "in all likelihood absolutely the right one."

Have we learned anything new to give us more confidence in Dubai? Not exactly! This is from the evil Rupert Murdoch's GOP rag:

Al Qaeda warned the government of the United Arab Emirates more than three years ago that it "infiltrated" key government agencies, according to a disturbing document released by the U.S. military.

The warning was contained in a June 2002 message to UAE rulers, in which the terror network demanded the release of an unknown number of "mujahedeen detainees," who it said had been arrested during a government crackdown in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

The explosive document is certain to become ammunition for critics of the controversial UAE port deal, who fear the Dubai-based firm could be used by terrorists to sneak money and personnel into the United States.

Were there really no objections to the deal within the bureaucracy? Not exactly.

Homeland Security Protested Ports Deal

The Homeland Security Department objected at first to a United Arab Emirates company's taking over significant operations at six U.S. ports.

Do all "security experts" support the deal, as NPR's Adam Davidson claimed in his atrocious report? Not exactly.

Thomas Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey who led the bipartisan probe of the Sept. 11 attacks, said the deal was a big mistake because of past connections between the 2001 hijackers and the UAE.

"It shouldn't have happened, it never should have happened," Kean said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

The quicker the Bush administration can get out of the deal, the better, he said. "There's no question that two of the 9/11 hijackers came from there and money was laundered through there," Kean said.

Has Bush abandoned his Doctrine of Permanent War Against Evildoers and their Friends (like the rulers of the UAE) been abandoned? Not exactly:

I've set a clear doctrine: America makes no distinction between the terrorists and the countries that harbor them. If you harbor a terrorist, you're just as guilty as the terrorists, and you're an enemy of the United States of America.

So why the triple back flip by the GOP? Because there's $$$$$ involved!!!

Poppy Bush's Carlyle Group has skin in the game, as Bill Press make clear:

Who sold all their shipping operations in Hong Kong and South America to Dubai Ports? The Carlyle Group! Who’s already one of Dubai Ports’ biggest customers? Horizon Lines, the former CSX Lines, now owned by — you guessed it — the Carlyle Group!

And who stands to make a ton of money from all the business that Carlyle’s fleet of Horizon Line ships is going to do with Dubai Ports? Old Pappy Bush himself, who is a major shareholder in, and big-time consultant to — the Carlyle Group!

Follow the money! Maybe the reason President Bush is willing to fight so hard for an Arab country against the United States is because he wants his daddy to make a lot of money out of the Dubai Ports deal now — so he can inherit it later.

How much money could the Carlyle Group make in UAE? Billions, as Joe Conason observes:

Last year, to cite only the most recent example, Carlyle's newest buyout fund won an infusion of at least $100 million from the Dubai Investment Corp. -- another state-owned outfit created by the ruling families to reinvest the enormous inflows of capital from rising oil prices and oil consumption. If that individual deal with Carlyle represented only a small fraction of the Emirates' investments, the upside potential of the relationship could be far greater in the future. The directors of Dubai Investment expect to invest as much as $5 billion every year for a long time to come.

BushBrother Neil Bush is extremely tight with the UAE, as Joe Conason observes:

The ports controversy could cause similar problems for Neil Mallon Bush, the president's most troublesome brother, who has become a familiar face in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Neil Bush seems to be in constant pursuit of investors and government contracts in the Emirates, and is treated there with a respect and deference that have always eluded him in his own country. For reasons that must be painfully obvious, UAE royals have been quite eager to engage the former Silverado Savings and Loan director ever since his eldest brother entered the Oval Office. That embrace only intensified after 9/11.

In October 2001, only a month after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, Neil Bush showed up in Dubai to attend a technology trade fair -- and to meet with Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. While peddling the products of Ignite!, his educational software company, Bush was feted as the guest of honor at a gala dinner for a charitable foundation, also hosted by the crown prince. (Former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore, who had been scheduled to travel to the Emirates around the same time, both canceled their attendance at those events.)

Some of Neil Bush's UAE friends would be pretty appalling to Bush's Jewish and fundamentalist supporters, if they only knew:

Sheik Zayed also funds the Abu Dhabi-based Zayed Center for Coordination and Follow-Up, a prominent think tank of the Arab League, founded in 1999. The Zayed Center, described on its Web site "as the fulfillment of the vision of Sheikh Zayed," promotes Holocaust denial, anti-American conspiracy theories and hate speech in its lectures, symposiums and publications. In August 2002, the Los Angeles Times quoted Mohammed Murar, the executive director of the Zayed Center, saying about Jews that "the truth is they are the enemies of all nations." His comment came on the heels of a Zayed Center report stating that "the Zionists are the people who killed the Jews in Europe."

And then there's the GOP dirty money machine, as Joseph Cannon points out:

Jeff Wells at rigorousintuition.com takes us way past politics by linking to this Village Voice piece from Wednesday. The Voice asserts that the port deal with the UAE is all about their "management" of the very cargo that Dubai is so famous for trafficking, namely drugs, guns, and money. Invisible money. At the center of this intrigue is a ruthless Russian arms dealer named Victor Bout, accused by the UN of selling arms to all manner of tyrants, including the Taliban. One wonders if he might have run into Tom and Jack on their Russian excursion.

Impeach Bush and Cheney - and Defeat All Republicans!

Democrats ahead of Bush on national security

Sat, 25 Feb 2006 06:16:23 -0500

Now, ram it home, Democrats. Get some spine and ram it home. From Rasmussen Reports:

Just 17% Favor Dubai Ports Deal

February 24, 2006--Just 17% of Americans believe Dubai Ports World should be allowed to purchase operating rights to several U.S. ports. A Rasmussen Reports survey found that 64% disagree and believe the sale should not be allowed…

For the first time ever, Americans have a slight preference for Democrats in Congress over the President on national security issues. Forty-three percent (43%) say they trust the Democrats more on this issue today while 41% prefer the President.

The preference for the opposition party is small, but the fact that Democrats are even competitive on the national security front is startling. [Emphasis added.]

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

UAE Would Run 21 Ports

Bob Fertik — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 15:55:47 -0500

Surprise - Bush lied again! Remember when it was ~~just 6 ports~~?

UAE terminal takeover extends to 21 ports

By PAMELA HESS
UPI Pentagon Correspondent

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- A United Arab Emirates government-owned company is poised to take over port terminal operations in 21 American ports, far more than the six widely reported.

The Bush administration has approved the takeover of British-owned Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co. to DP World, a deal set to go forward March 2 unless Congress intervenes.

P&O is the parent company of P&O Ports North America, which leases terminals for the import and export and loading and unloading and security of cargo in 21 ports, 11 on the East Coast, ranging from Portland, Maine to Miami, Florida, and 10 on the Gulf Coast, from Gulfport, Miss., to Corpus Christi, Texas, according to the company's Web site.

President George W. Bush on Tuesday threatened to veto any legislation designed to stall the handover.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. said after the briefing she expects swift, bi-partisan approval for a bill to require a national security review before it is allowed to go forward.

For the past 3 days, the airwaves - especially FOX - have been filled with Busheviks insisting UAE control of port operations would have no impact on security. That's a Big Lie too!

Port facility operators have a major security responsibility, and one that could be exploited by terrorists if they infiltrate the company, said Joe Muldoon III. Muldoon is an attorney representing Eller & Co., a port facility operator in Florida partnered with M&O in Miami. Eller opposes the Dubai takeover for security reasons.

"The Coast Guard oversees security, and they have the authority to inspect containers if they want and they can look at manifests, but they are really dependent on facility operators to carry out security issues," Muldoon said.

The Marine Transportation Security Act of 2002 requires vessels and port facilities to conduct vulnerability assessments and develop security plans including passenger, vehicle and baggage screening procedures; security patrols; establishing restricted areas; personnel identification procedures; access control measures; and/or installation of surveillance equipment.

Under the same law, port facility operators may have access to Coast Guard security incident response plans -- that is, they would know how the Coast Guard plans to counter and respond to terrorist attacks.

"The concern is that the UAE may be our friend now ... but who's to say that couldn't change, or they couldn't be infiltrated. Iran was our big buddy," said Muldoon.

In a January report, the Council on Foreign Relations pointed out the vulnerability of the shipping security system to terrorist exploitation.

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. customs agency requires shippers to follow supply chain security practices. Provided there are no apparent deviations from those practices or intelligence warnings, the shipment is judged low risk and is therefore unlikely to be inspected.

CFR suggests a terrorist event is likely to be a one-time operation on a trusted carrier "precisely because they can count on these shipments entering the U.S. with negligible or no inspection."

"All a terrorist organization needs to do is find a single weak link within a 'trusted' shipper's complex supply chain, such as a poorly paid truck driver taking a container from a remote factory to a port. They can then gain access to the container in one of the half-dozen ways well known to experienced smugglers," CFR wrote.

Impeach Bush Now!

A Sweetheart Deal in Every Port

Bgilmore — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 05:48:09 -0500

ON HISTORICAL MARKERS AND DIRTY DEALS

A SWEETHEART DEAL IN EVERY PORT (The UAE to run our ports? ...Help me out...Is that a democracy?)

Come on. When does all this "I'M SHOCKED" crap from the public get old?

You have to hand it to MICHAEL MOORE for being hot on the trail - the man who said the Bush family relationship with oil-rich Arabs, including the bin Laden family, was suspiciously tight. The Carlisle group (Bush) and the once near-bankrupt Halliburton (Cheney) are now making fortunes from the U.S. cookie jar.

WHAT ARE WE STARING AT NOW? A SWEETHEART DEAL IN EVERY PORT.

Throughout the 80s the Taliban/AlQaeda were funded by the House of Saud and American Neocons, with Pakistan as the paymaster. Yes, they started to think they were independent in the 90s, but the big powers did not lose ALL their influence. Remember the ultimatum upon their return to power? Sign this pipeline deal and get a carpet of gold, or refuse and get a carpet of bombs? Or reports in the Asian press in the spring of 2001 that the U.S. was planning a war in Afghanistan for the fall of 2001?

AlQaeda provided soldiers for the PRETEXT for invasion, the 9/11 attacks, and now we are seeing some of the paybacks to the house managers. But only some. The American Neocons are not fighting a noble "War on Terrorism." They are MANAGING it for a domestic war on American democracy and a global war on the world. Look how little they worry about port security and 9/11 happening again when it seems so logical a worry to all other Americans! That's not new either: Look how confident they were as self-styled neo-saviors who would prevent a second 9/11, but at the same time refusing to investigate how it happened. How does one manage that trick? (Even Conan O'Brien figured it out in one of his jokes).

Some cry foul at criticism of the deal: Britain is okay, but not the UAE? Why doesn't anyone say, "Dubai running our ports? Is the UAE a democracy?" Recall how THAT was always the test of which country's weapons programs were spied on. At least once in the late 80s an attempt by Iranian agents to buy banned materials was thwarted because "As long as these countries are not democracies...."

Bush seems to be making the world safe for non-democracies.

But look at the situation from the Neocon perspective: Some of their bad boys kill 3000 Americans and they, the Neocons, get 14 bases in oil-rich Iraq in return (throw in a pipeline deal here or there). That's a good deal. That's some nice back scratching.

We're wasting a lot of time in a state of disbelief at this so-called government because we continue to think it IS a government instead of a CORPORATE PROTECTION RACKET launching hostile takeovers with an all-expenses-paid credit card account from the U.S. taxpayers. They staked For Sale To Foreigners signs on dozens of state-sponsored industries in Iraq (spiking unemployment), and now they are itching to cannibalize the U.S. even further than the off-shore tax incentives and one-sided trade agreements have done.

AN HISTORICAL MARKER IS ALSO STARING US IN THE FACE:

During WWII, Bush's grandfather PRESCOTT BUSH had his banking operation shut down by the feds under the TRADING WITH THE ENEMIES ACT. A Nazi sympathizer and financier, Bush was reportedly making big profits on German concentration camp labor.

Germany was the reigning SUPERPOWER then. It believed in its own EXCEPTIONALISM. All you had to do was tolerate their invasions of countries and the killing of a lot of Jews.

What do we have today? The grandson in the nominal lead of today's superpower, armed with the PNAC view of American EXCEPTIONALISM. All we have to do is tolerate their invasions of countries and the killing of a lot of Arabs.

Anti-Semitism for profit. We don't even have to change the name of the prevailing diagnosis.

The difference today, of course, is that these monsters OCCUPY the government instead of just being a thorn in Roosevelt's side.

Bush Family Ties to the UAE

Bob Fertik — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 14:22:22 -0500

Lou Dobbs has the story, Crooks & Liars has the video, and Bush has a face-full of birdshot. I can't wait for the next rounds of polls!

Bush Family Ties to the UAE

DOBBS: President Bush's family and members of the Bush administration have long-standing business connections with the United Arab Emirates, and those connections are raising new concerns and questions tonight in some quarters about why the president is defying his very own party leadership and his party in defending the Dubai port deal.

CHRISTINE ROMANS: The oil-rich United Arab Emirates is a major investor in The Carlyle Group, the private equity investment firm where President Bush's father once served as senior adviser and is a who's who of former high-level government officials. Just last year, Dubai International Capital, a government-backed buyout firm, invested in an $8 billion Carlyle fund.

Another family connection, the president's brother, Neil Bush, has reportedly received funding for his educational software company from the UAE investors. A call to his company was not returned.

Then there is the cabinet connection. Treasury Secretary John Snow was chairman of railroad company CSX. After he left the company for the White House, CSX sold its international port operations to Dubai Ports World for more than a billion dollars.

In Connecticut today, Snow told reporters he had no knowledge of that CSX sale. "I learned of this transaction probably the same way members of the Senate did, by reading about it in the newspapers." [Yeah SURE!]

Another administration connection, President Bush chose a Dubai Ports World executive to head the U.S. Maritime Administration. David Sanborn, the former director of Dubai Ports' European and Latin American operations, he was tapped just last month to lead the agency that oversees U.S. port operations.

And in other news...

Bush takes the words right out of our mouths: "This deal wouldn't go forward if we were concerned about the security for the United States of America."
Dubai Ports World hired Bob Dole to sell its deal to Congress and the American people. NC Democratic Chair Jerry Meek demanded that Liddy Dole recuse herself from the issue.
The former Emir of Dubai, Sheik Mohammed ibn Rashid al Maktum, hunted birds in Afghanistan with Taliban and Al Qaeda officials in the 1990's. (He died in January.) He went with Turki bin Faisal al-Saud, then the Head of Saudi Intelligence and now the Saudi Ambassador to the U.S.
Prince of Darkness Richard Perle, who served on the Committee on Foreign Investments, told CBS it is "a bit of a joke."

DarkSyde spots a few minor inconsistencies in Bushevik propaganda:

The deal has been long scrutinized and is backed up by our War President and the DoD and it's perfectly fine

Rummy and Bush just heard about it the other day

The UAE has been the best ally in the war on terra and has cooperated in all investigations

The UAE owned company promises to cooperate in future investigations IF they get this deal

Except they don't have to fully cooperate and have even been granted a special deal so that they don't have to keep records available to U.S. subpoena or court order, you know, just in case there's that needs to be hidden