[Vision2020] Lies, Ports, and Saudi Arabia Yet Again!

[Joan Opyr]

My apologies to Ted and the list. I posted my piece in response to Pat's 
comments before I read Ted's more thorough and thoughtful analysis. (I'm 
reading my email backwards, most recent post first. Think I'll stop that!)

I'll only add this to the detailed analysis and information Ted has 
provided: I should think that the anti-statists among you (to borrow a 
phrase from Dale Courtney) would immediately see the difference between 
private company management and United Arab Emirates management of the 
ports in question. Private company versus dictatorship, private company 
versus dictatorship . . . 

I believe that the "war" on terror is a sham and a bust, but surely George 
W. Bush doesn't believe that. Why then should he approve and fight for a 
multi-port management sale to a country that remains a persistent burr 
under our counterterrorism saddle?

Too bad we killed Pablo Escobar. Perhaps we could have outsourced that 
other great sham and bust, the "war" on drugs, to his highly-sophisticated 
operation.
 
Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment
www.joanopyr.com

PS: I'm appending the whole of Ted's post below because I think we would 
all do well to read it again. With Ted's permission, I'd like to print it 
out and read it on the AE and BC Show next week. I only wish I could hold 
George W. Bush down and read it to him. Maybe if I glued it between the 
covers of My Pet Goat . . .

> DC, Joan et. al.
> 
> Most US ports are run by foreign based private sector businesses at this
> time, but the turnover of port operations to the UAE involves a foreign
> government owned company, not a private corporation, operating critical 
US
> ports.  This raises different concerns, given the UAE's conduct and
> connections in the Islamic world.
> 
> Dubai Ports World is acquiring London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam
> Navigation Co., a company that operates the port of Miami (yes, the
"limeys> "
> already operate some US ports), which in effect means that this very 
active
> US port is already associated with this state owned UAE company, and this
> fact is being fought in court now.  Excerpt below from this link/article,
> that explains the objections to the UAE takeover:
> 
> http://wjz.com/topstories/local_story_049154722.html
> 
> A company at the Port of Miami has sued to block the takeover of shipping
> operations there by the UAE owned business. It is the first American
> courtroom effort to capsize the sale.
> 
> 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.
> --------------------------------------
> Although the UAE has troubling links to terrorism and terrorists, the 
fact
> that two UAE nationals were among the 19 9/11 hijackers is overshadowed 
by
> the Saudi 9/11 connections, with 15 of the 9/11 hijackers of Saudi
> nationality, and the ominous funding trail for the 9/11 attacks that
> flowed from within the Saudi borders:
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11,_2001_attacks
> 
> Fifteen of the hijackers were from Saudi
> Arabia<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Arabia>,
> two were from the United Arab
> Emirates<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Arab_Emirates>,
> and one each came from Egypt <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt> and
> Lebanon <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanon>.
> ----------------------------------
> 
> The lack of a full well publicized government investigation into Saudi
> terrorist links to 9/11 and other terrorist activities, and the influence
o> f
> the 100s of billions of Saudi US investments and US reliance on Saudi
fossi> l
> fuels, on the US economy and government, is far more of a critical issue
> than the UAE terrorist connections, though I agree it is good that port
> security and the terrorist links of so called Middle East "allies" is now
> more on the media and congressional radar.
> 
> One critical question is how the sad state of US port security has gone 
so
> long without public demands for improvement, while we invade other 
nations
> spending hundreds of billions ostensibly to keep the US safe from
> terrorism?  The lack of necessary improvements in US port security in
recen> t
> years raises serious questions regarding the truth behind the agenda of 
the
> "War on Terror" and the functioning of the Homeland Security Dept.
> 
> More info on the UAE below:
> 
> http://www.thinkprogress.org/2006/02/17/ports-uae/
> 
> 
> Some facts about the
> UAE<http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/Dubai_Ports_letter.pdf>
> :
> 
> – The UAE was *one of three countries in the world to recognize the
> Taliban*as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.
> 
> – The UAE has been a *key transfer point for illegal shipments of nuclear
> components* to Iran, North Korea and Lybia.
> 
> – According to the FBI, *money was transferred to the 9/11 hijackers
thro> ugh
> the UAE banking system*.
> 
> – After 9/11, the Treasury Department reported that the UAE was *not
> cooperating in efforts to track down Osama Bin Laden's bank accounts*.
> 
> -----------------------------------
> 
> Ted Moffett


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