BUSH NOT INTERESTED IN HOMELAND SECURITY

Yet another disturbing sign. From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

Bush says he'll veto effort to block port deal

Earlier, Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist urged the administration to reconsider its decision to allow the transaction, under which a British company that has been running six U.S. ports would be acquired by Dubai Ports World, a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates. Frist said he'd introduce a bill to delay the deal if the administration doesn't do so on its own.

The British company, Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., runs major commercial operations at ports in Baltimore, Miami, New Jersey, New Orleans, New York and Philadelphia.

And

Critics have noted that some of the 9/11 hijackers used the UAE as an operational and financial base. In addition, they contend the UAE was an important transfer point for shipments of smuggled nuclear components sent to Iran, North Korea and Libya by a Pakistani scientist.

Click here for the rest.

So the point is, if you haven't been following the story, that even though the United Arab Emirates may be officially listed by the US as an ally in the "war on terror," there are serious doubts about where their loyalties may really lie. And this isn't simply a Middle Eastern company that's buying these port operations; this company is actually owned by the UAE. So if the UAE, in fact, supports terrorism, allowing them to take over these ports is essentially handing terrorists the key to the city. Not a good idea. Bush claims that everything has been checked out, but seems unwilling to share his information. As far as I know he hasn't even tried to refute the allegations about 9/11 and nuclear tech transfer.

So what's going on here? Maybe Bush is right and it's just a case of arrogance on his part: I can do this; I'm the President and don't have to explain my actions. That wouldn't be surprising given how up against the wall they seem to be at the White House. It is, however, politically stupid. On the other hand, I'm inclined to believe what I wrote as the title to this post. Bush just isn't interested in homeland security. I've written several times about mind-boggling examples of how, over four years after 9/11, America seems completely unprepared to deal with terrorism at home, which includes, but is not limited to FEMA's dismal response to Hurricane Katrina, unguarded chemical and petroleum plants, and weird border incidents such as allowing the psycho-killer from Canada into the US with his bloody chainsaw.

It's almost as though Bush wants another high profile terrorist attack here, which is also not surprising, because fear has been the one thing that he's been able to consistently turn into votes. At this point, most of the nation has had it with his overall agenda. Except for anti-terrorism, which still seems to be polling above 50% approval. Another successful attack might be just the thing to send frightened citizens to the ballot box to support the tough guy Republicans in November.

But then, I'm fairly paranoid these days, myself. Here's a saner opinion on the subject from CNN's Jack Cafferty, courtesy of Eschaton:

Wolf, this may be the straw that finally breaks the camel's back, this deal to sell control of six US ports to a company controlled by the United Arab Emirates. There are now actually Senators and Congressmen and Governors and Mayors telling the White House "you're not gonna do this." And it's about time. No one has said "no" to this administration on anything that matters in a very long time. Well this matters. It matters a lot. If this deal is allowed to go through, we deserve whatever we get. A country with ties to terrorists will have a presence at six critical doorways to our country. And if anyone thinks that the terrorists, in time, won't figure out how to exploit that, then we're all done. Nothing's happened yet, mind you, but if our elected representatives don't do everything in their power to stop this thing, each of us should vow to work tirelessly to see that they are removed from public office. We're at a crossroads - which way will we choose?Here's the question: What should be done to stop a deal that would allow an Arab company to run US Ports??

Click here for some video of the commentary courtesy of First Draft, courtesy again of Eschaton.

Well, okay, Cafferty sounds pretty nutty too, but I guess that's just the times in which we live. At any rate, this whole deal stinks. Bush needs to either explain where he's coming from much better, or call the whole thing off. I bet neither happens.

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