Monday, February 20, 2006
I Wonder Which Bush Crony Is Making Money Off This Deal?
Lots of news stories this morning about how members of both parties think the Bush administration is crazy for wanting to allow a terror-linked Dubai company to run ports in six cities in the United States including New York and New Jersey. But this NY Daily News article really gets to the emotional crux of the problem, if you know what I mean:
Gee, it sucks when your opponents outdemagogue you on the 9/11 issue, but that's what Schumer did to the Bushies on this port/Dubai problem.
Funny thing is, Schumer and the other opponents of the administration policy are right. The ports should not be run by a company with ties to terrorists and port security needs to be increased. Inspecting 5% of the cargo entering this country is NOT good enough. George W. and Deadeye Dick claim only they can keep the U.S. safe from terrorists and yet they have done nothing about port security in the nearly five years since 9/11.
I guess the Bush administration only cares about security when it means they get to expand executive power, as with the NSA domestic spying program.
POSTSCRIPT: I don't know why so many people are surprised that the Bush administration is insisting upon a Dubai-controlled company getting the job to run ports in six U.S. cities. Isn't it obvious that somebody close to the administration is going to be making money off of the deal? I mean, if the cronies could make money off of the Iraq war, the Katrina reconstruction, the Medicare fiasco, and so many other Bush mistakes, doesn't it compute that they're making money off the Dubai deal too?
'President's gone insane' – 9/11 dad
BY JIMMY VIELKIND
DAILY NEWS WRITER
Monday, February 20th, 2006
Peter Gadiel just doesn't get it.
How, asks Gadiel, whose son James died in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, can a company owned by a terror-linked country get control of our nation's ports?
"I'm a lifelong Republican and I think the President's gone insane," said Gadiel, 58, who heads 9/11 Families for a Secure America.
Two of the 19 9/11 hijackers were citizens of Dubai, the Arab emirate whose bid to run ports in New York, New Jersey and four other cities was okayed by the White House even though investigators have found signs that money used to finance terrorism flowed through Dubai banks.
"How the hell could this happen?" fumed Bill Doyle, 58, a retired Staten Island stockbroker whose son Joseph also died when the Trade Center fell.
"We're not securing our country in any way by selling our ports to foreigners," he said.
Gadiel and Doyle stood with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) yesterday at the harbor to express their outrage.
Bruse DeCell, 55, whose son-in-law died in the attacks, said that homeland security should be the highest concern when approving the activities of foreign business interests.
"This administration is putting the selling of our country on a fast track," he said. "There are a lot of loose ends that caused 9/11 to happen. I'm trying to close them."
Only 5% of the cargo containers entering U.S. ports are inspected, said Schumer, who has called for upgrades in port security for years.
Gee, it sucks when your opponents outdemagogue you on the 9/11 issue, but that's what Schumer did to the Bushies on this port/Dubai problem.
Funny thing is, Schumer and the other opponents of the administration policy are right. The ports should not be run by a company with ties to terrorists and port security needs to be increased. Inspecting 5% of the cargo entering this country is NOT good enough. George W. and Deadeye Dick claim only they can keep the U.S. safe from terrorists and yet they have done nothing about port security in the nearly five years since 9/11.
I guess the Bush administration only cares about security when it means they get to expand executive power, as with the NSA domestic spying program.
POSTSCRIPT: I don't know why so many people are surprised that the Bush administration is insisting upon a Dubai-controlled company getting the job to run ports in six U.S. cities. Isn't it obvious that somebody close to the administration is going to be making money off of the deal? I mean, if the cronies could make money off of the Iraq war, the Katrina reconstruction, the Medicare fiasco, and so many other Bush mistakes, doesn't it compute that they're making money off the Dubai deal too?
