British Expatriate Network

Over the past couple of weeks I have heard a bunch of Talk radio people throwing a
wobbly about a company in the UAE taking over port operations in 6 ports.

I am getting abit pissed how folks are trying to scare monger the country, cuz it shows they know nothing about port operations, cuz customs, port police etc etc will still be the ones that call the shot on security. If we are going down the road of not dealing with middle east companies are we going to be consistent and say no to their oil.

Wish people will stop scaring people that everyone is out to get us.

Your in good company the president agrees with you..

"I am trying to conduct foreign policy now by saying to the people of the world, 'We'll treat you fairly'," he said.

"It would send a terrible signal to friends and allies not to let this transaction go through," he told reporters. (BBC)

Great news for the people of the world. What was the policy before. shock

The thing is, they are currently being run by P&O, a British company. So all this Our Ports Will be in The Hands of Foreigners cry is rather funny. What they mean is Foreigners We Don't Like.

http//www.lloyds.com/CmsPhoenix/DowJonesArticle.aspx?id=78370

been following this story here in Bawlmer, its not as if terrorists armed to the teeth will come spilling out of container vessels then sneak past the customs people to launch a full scale assault on the US, i mean, duh!
roll ! ?

The difference is that it was run by a commercial company; the new outfit is an arm of the UAE government.

All a fuss about nothing.

Nothing changes at all. All the staff remain the same. All the people in charge of the staff remain the same. The top man in charge of P&O will remain in charge. The US Coast Guard and US Customs will remain in charge of security. The people of wherever the ports are will, as tax payers, still "own" them. The frieght cargo and ships were never owned by the US or US companies.

Scaremongering of the worst kind.

Agreed, along with islamophobia, xenaphobia and the typical ignorance of talk radio hosts.

If they really want to get upset, they should take a look at how much money DHS directs to port security compared with airport security - not to mention the LNG tankers that sail through downtown Boston several times a week....

Truth is they don't understand or care to understand the real issues - they just want to indulge in populist crypto fascism.

I think that is the key here.

It is rather fun seeing the Republican party self destruct, though. :lol: I thought Bill Frist was a total Bush toadie until this little incident.

Maybe its all part of the master plan to get congressional Repubs' re-elected - if they can distance themselves from the whitehouse..... :neutral:

Despite the the opinions of the members here, most Americans object, and they are letting the politicians know. Bush said he wanted "bipartisan" legislation, although, ironically, he has been a divider till this. This will be the first bipartisan legislation since the original Homeland Security Act.

I have emailed my Senators and congressman to tell them it is not acceptable, I hope to increase the division lol

We might get the peoples business done if we can get the legislature to unite against the administration.

Londonsquare I understand what you are saying, about the people letting the government know, but the only reason they know is because they are being scared
sh*tless by a bunch of talk show folks that don't have all the facts. As I said no of them know the facts on how a port works.

They talk about what if this or that. If you work that way we can all just never go out the house, as a comet my hit my head lol.

Maybe we should have public debates about every company take over now ???

Again if they kick this company out, it will go down like a lead ballon with people in those countries. So much with winning hearts and minds.

Goosy 3 is right on with his posts on this subject.

too many bombs to win any hearts or minds.

I think it is a great example of "what goes around, comes around."

If an administration gets people so worked up and fearful of terrorists under every bed for the past five years, then they can have little cause to complain when the people question such news as the potential owners of their ports.

Serves them right and I'm having a quiet little chuckle from my little corner of the world as God's Own Party goes through another Harriet Myers-like tizzy fit.

Sadly,
A leading Democrat - Chuck Schumer - is also opposed to the deal. Hilary Clinton is quoted in the NY Daily News saying she is against it. They are really just as blinkered as the Republicans. America has two crap political parties.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/...?s=ic&s=lh

Many of you are missing the point, in this case, the talking heads have read the response of the public and are using it, but the response was there first. I think part of it is that this news came out of the blue, the administration's penchant for secrecy rebounded. I know that I and many of my friends were jolted. If they had released the news that they were looking at it and then the limited affect on homeland security, they might have been OK

I personally don't want facilities to be run by foreign governments, by the same token, I don't like America attacking and running facilities in other countries.