Bush Unaware of Ports Deal Before Approval

A part of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal is seen in New York February 21, 2006. British firm P&O may have to retain management of six major ports in the United States even though it is on the verge of being taken over by Dubai Ports World, a U.S. congressman said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Seth Wenig


I've been watching this "Portgate" going on for the past week with a detached fascination, but not really sure how to comment on it. The gist of the story is sort of a non-issue here--shipping operations in six big American ports were sold to Dubai Ports, of the United Arab Emirates. What is fascinating is how this story has brought out a number of issues--September 11th, terrorist infiltration, security concerns, al Qaida's using the UAE as a base of operations, Homeland Security, secret government security studies, and the utter disregard for congressional consultations. And of course, the Bush White House is swirling in the middle of this latest scandal, scrambling to put together its political spin-meister PR.

Now this is from Yahoo News:

WASHINGTON -
President Bush was unaware of the pending sale of shipping operations at six major U.S. seaports to a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates until the deal already had been approved by his administration, the White House said Wednesday.

Defending the deal anew, the administration also said that it should have briefed Congress sooner about the transaction, which has triggered a major political backlash among both Republicans and Democrats.

Bush on Tuesday brushed aside objections by leaders in the Senate and House that the $6.8 billion sale could raise risks of terrorism at American ports. In a forceful defense of his administration's earlier approval of the deal, he pledged to veto any bill Congress might approve to block the agreement involving the sale of a British company to the Arab firm.

Bush faces a rebellion from leaders of his own party, as well as from Democrats, about the deal that would put Dubai Ports in charge of major shipping operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.

While Bush has adamantly defended the deal, the White House acknowledged that he did not know about it until recently.

"He became aware of it over the last several days," McClellan said. Asked if Bush did not know about it until it was a done deal, McClellan said, "That's correct." He said the matter did not rise to the presidential level, but went through a congressionally-mandated review process and was determined not to pose a national security threat.

"The president made sure to check with all the Cabinet secretaries that are part of this process, or whose agencies or departments are part of this process," the spokesman said. "He made sure to check with them — even after this got more attention in the press, to make sure that they were comfortable with the decision that was made."

"And every one of the Cabinet secretaries expressed that they were comfortable with this transaction being approved," he said.

Now I don't know how much the president knew of this issue, or even if it was near the top of his agenda for this past week. In one sense, it doesn't make a difference whether the president was aware of the port deal or not. The real issue is the utter lack of contempt that this administration has for any type of checks and balances, or even consultations with Congress on any issue. The Bush administration--or at least the lower underlings of the administration--though they could push this port sale through without any type of input from Congress, or the American public. Congress is a rubber-stamp for whatever the White House feels it can do. This attitude has been brought in by President Bush and his top advisors, and it is consistently reinforced down through the lower levels of the administration. Thus, the deal is considered good for business--in this case Dubai Ports, which may have lobbied for the sale and provide campaign contributions. The deal goes through a secret government committee, which is probably made up of Bush apparatchiks, who view this deal through political eyeshades. Every facet of this deal goes through White House channels that are accountable to no one.

And where is Congress in all this? Congress has become a rubber-stamp for this country, and this White House. The Republican leadership in Congress has place party loyalties above the greater interests of the country, and of the legislative branch of this government. Hence, we get the delays of any type of congressional oversight and legislative investigation into a number of the Bush scandals--the intelligence failures in Iraq, the Valerie Plame leak, the Katrina fiasco, the illegal NSA domestic spying, and so many others that have gone on over this past five years. The White House considers Congress as a rubber-stamp, and the Republicans have gone along with it. And as the Republicans congressional leaders have shirked their duty in oversight, this has emboldened the Bush White House to push for even more executive power at the expense of Congress, and to continually reinforce their hatred and contempt for the legislative branch. This becomes a self-fulfilling cycle.

Now we come to this port sale. The sale becomes public, and all of the sudden there is this outcry of criticism. What happened? The sale was pushed through the administration without any type of congressional or public consultations. As the Republicans in Congress, and the American public, learn of these details, the issues of September 11th terrorist attacks and homeland security are brought to the forefront of this story--issues that the administration may have ignored, or have brushed aside. The Republicans in Congress, who have shirked their responsibility of oversight, have woken up to the fact that the American public wants some type of check against unbridled executive power, with polls showing they feel that they feel that the Democrats can do a better job as leaders in Congress, than the Republicans. And this year is a midterm election year. And with this secret deal being pushed through without congressional knowledge, this calls into doubt that the Republicans in Congress can provide any leadership, or protection of the American public. This issue becomes a political issue for the Republicans in Congress, since the White House never informed Congress of the sale. The Republicans have to face the American voters this November, and how can they explain to the American voter that they let the White House push a sale of American port operations to an Arab country, which may have ties to al Qaida terrorists? An issue regarding national security that the Republicans claim they have stronger credentials on, over that of the Democrats? That is the reason you're watching this outrage brewing in Congress. The Republican leaders in Congress know that if this sale goes through, they are going to be tarred with allowing terrorists to gain access into the 'homeland' for conducting attacks on the American public. And if such terror attacks do occur as a result of this sale, it would be a public relations disaster for the Republican Party.

Now we come to the White House on this issue. This is another disastrous policy that the Bush administration has embarked on. The first problem with this sale is that the Bush administration has failed to inform Congress on this issue--had they informed Congress, they may have learned that the issues of terrorist attacks and security concerns would be at the forefront of the American public, with the public demanding answers from their congressional leaders during an election year. The second problem is the contempt that the White House has over Congress. President Bush believes he is a "unitary executive," who has practically dictatorial powers that he can use in fighting terrorism. Bush believes he is accountable to no one--and this belief has filtered down through his administration underlings. So this administration pushes this sale through with utter disregard to what Congress, or the American public may feel about it. Finally, as this sale becomes public and the outrage grows because of the issues of terrorism and security, the White House continues playing their political PR-spinmeister game in defending any action they give as being right. First we have President Bush defending the sale as being good for the country, and threatening to use the presidential veto if Congress passes legislation blocking this sale (Of course, Bush has never vetoed any bill during the past five years). And now we have the story coming out that President Bush was unaware of the proposed sale, but that he still defends the sale--even though he never knew about it? This administration rules through political campaigning and PR-spin--not through any type of policy analysis. Whatever policies they choose to embark on, is decided through ideology or how it helps their corporate benefactors and lobbyists. And when such policies that the administration favors due to ideology, or political lobbying that runs contrary to the public's interest becomes known, the Bush White House counters through their tired, old political campaigning spin.

We're watching that spin unfold here with Portgate.