Questionable
Today's Fox News article in which the president denies having prior knowledge of the port arrangemets contains some key information in the last paragraphs:
1. What is CFIUS?
The Exon-Florio provision is implemented by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States ("CFIUS"), an inter-agency committee chaired by the Secretary of Treasury. CFIUS seeks to serve U.S. investment policy through thorough reviews that protect national security while maintaining the credibility of our open investment policy and preserving the confidence of foreign investors here and of U.S. investors abroad that they will not be subject to retaliatory discrimination.
2. Who is the Secretary of the Treasury? As the article states, it is John Snow. Before he was appointed by Bush to run the Treasury Department in December 2002, he was the CEO of CSX Rail Corporation where he functioned more as a lobbyist, entertaining officials on the Greenbrier Resort golf course near D.C. that CSX, strangely, owns. In 2004, CSX sold its port operations to the same company, Dubai Ports World, that Bush now wants to operate our 6 key ports. (for more on Snow's background)
3. Such a sale would also require the approval of the U.S. Maritime Administration, which, among other duties, "regulates the transfer of US documented vessels to foreign registries; maintains equipment, shipyard facilities, and reserve fleets of Government-owned ships essential for national defense" (for more)
It just so happens that last month the president nominated David Sanborn to be the head of the U.S. Maritime Administration. And as the article above relates, Sanborn used to work for Dubai Ports as head of operations for Latin American and Europe.
And the White House wants us to believe the president didn't know about this port deal?
Special thanks to my patriotic brother who did this fact checking.
Lawmakers from both parties have noted that some of the Sept. 11 hijackers used the United Arab Emirates as an operational and financial base. In addition, critics 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.Now,
CFIUS approved the sale last Monday and Bush has until March 2 to decide whether to reject it. Without action, the deal will go into effect automatically. Lawmakers have asked him to delay approval until the multi-agency task force can take a closer look at the sale.
CFIUS is headed by Treasury Secretary John Snow and comprised of members of the departments of State, Justice, Commerce, Defense and Homeland Security reviewed the transaction and said it posed no national security threat.
On Wednesday, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., wrote Snow asking him to disclose how CFIUS concluded that approval should be granted, suggesting that CFIUS "approved the sale as expeditiously as possible, without even using the additional 45 day investigation process that was clearly warranted under the circumstances."
Kerry also said that ties between the Bush administration and DP World raise suspicions about the basis for approval. For instance, CSX rail corporation, of which Snow served as chief executive officer, sold its port operations to DP World in 2004. Moreover, David Sanborn, the president's nominee to be head of the U.S. Maritime Administration headed DP World's operations for Latin America and Europe.
"In light of these connections, Congress needs to learn more about the relationship between CFIUS members and DP, and whether Administration officials could have unduly influenced CFIUS's approval process," Kerry wrote.
1. What is CFIUS?
The Exon-Florio provision is implemented by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States ("CFIUS"), an inter-agency committee chaired by the Secretary of Treasury. CFIUS seeks to serve U.S. investment policy through thorough reviews that protect national security while maintaining the credibility of our open investment policy and preserving the confidence of foreign investors here and of U.S. investors abroad that they will not be subject to retaliatory discrimination.
2. Who is the Secretary of the Treasury? As the article states, it is John Snow. Before he was appointed by Bush to run the Treasury Department in December 2002, he was the CEO of CSX Rail Corporation where he functioned more as a lobbyist, entertaining officials on the Greenbrier Resort golf course near D.C. that CSX, strangely, owns. In 2004, CSX sold its port operations to the same company, Dubai Ports World, that Bush now wants to operate our 6 key ports. (for more on Snow's background)
3. Such a sale would also require the approval of the U.S. Maritime Administration, which, among other duties, "regulates the transfer of US documented vessels to foreign registries; maintains equipment, shipyard facilities, and reserve fleets of Government-owned ships essential for national defense" (for more)
It just so happens that last month the president nominated David Sanborn to be the head of the U.S. Maritime Administration. And as the article above relates, Sanborn used to work for Dubai Ports as head of operations for Latin American and Europe.
And the White House wants us to believe the president didn't know about this port deal?
Special thanks to my patriotic brother who did this fact checking.
