Selling Off America: Six Ports At A Time

Don’t worry
Be happy

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff refused to explain why the Bu$hadministration has turned over control of operations at six of the nation’s largest ports to a company owned by the United Arab Emirates, a country with dubious ties to international terrorism:

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 through 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.

The discussions are classified. I can’t get into the specifics here…As far as my agency is concerned, port security really rests principally with the Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection.

In other words, don’t worry about it, the Coast Gaurd has it covered. Kim Petersen, president of the largest maritime security consulting company in the United States, SeaSecure, disagrees:

"Port security is a big problem because the Coast Guard does not have enough resources for the waters close to ports.It doesn’t have either the people or the necessary physical resources to provide the in-water patrols that are so desperately needed,”

Sounds like Chertoff has the whole situation under control.