The whole thing is laughable. We have a company, Dubai Ports World, taking over several US ports and the only problem is that the company comes from UAE, through which some of the 9/11 hijackers and financing allegedly passed. Of course, the minute that someone mentions "Arab," there is an immediate picture of an "Islamic Terrorist" in the American's mind, carefully planted by years of incessant propaganda from the corporate media.

One may rightfully ask why is a company from Dubai to be excluded but not the British, Chinese or Japanese or any number of others? After all, foreign investment in the US now tops 1.4 trillion dollars. On the other hand, why the secrecy and denial from the Bush administration? Why all of a sudden is Bush a champion of Arab rights, threatening to use a veto if the deal doesn’t go through?

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) signed off on the deal, under the chairmanship of the Secretary of Treasury, John Snow. The other members of CFIUS are the Secretaries of State (Condoleezza Rice), Defense (Donald Rumsfeld), and Commerce (Carlos M. Gutierrez), the Attorney General (Alberto R. Gonzales), the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (Joshua B. Bolten), the U.S. Trade Representative (Rob Portman), and the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers (Dr. Katherine Baicker, Member). With Condoleezza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld on the committee, how could Bush deny knowledge of the transaction?

Take a look at the White House press release at

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/02/20060222-11.html

and you will see the following statement:

“DP World currently manages 19 container terminals and has operations in 14 countries. The United States government has a strong working relationship with DP World.