The port nonsense
I got nothing to say about the really stupid decision to allow port regulation by the UAE folks that hasn’t already been said. It’s short-sighted and stupid. It’s also indicative of the fact that Bush is someone’s croney for whatever reason. Quid pro quo? Tit for tat? Something lame and America could suffer for it. And Phelps nails it:
I’m honestly flabbergasted. I just don’t get it. No veto on any prospective Scary Weapons Ban. Not pork laden budget after pork laden budget. Not the Medicare Drugs fiasco. But letting foreign companies accept contracts for American civil service. That is the foundation of our republic, and the thing that we send George W. Bush to the White House to protect.
February 23rd, 2006 at 11:53 am
I’m not sure what Phelps means by “civil service.” From what I gather, the ports will still be owned by the same local governments that own them now. The physical work will still be done by the same U.S. longshoremen that did it before. Security will still be the job of the Coast Guard, customs and the Dept. of Homeland Security. The only difference is that the profits will go to a different foreign holding company than the one that used to get them. I frankly don’t see what the big deal is here.
February 23rd, 2006 at 1:01 pm
The big deal is access to information. Personel data. Surveyed maps. Traffic data. Audit information. Wouldn’t it be nice to a terrorist to have someone who could tell him which ports had workers with Muslim names, when they worked, where someone could slip though security, and most importantly, who is the manager who has been stealing to support his gambling habit that can be leaned on to look the other way for some “innocent smuggling”? The management of the port would have easy access to all that. And the UAE Kleptocracy has shown many times in the past that they are incapable of rooting out the terrorist sypmathizers in thier ranks.