This George is the biggest liar since Nixon.
I am trying to conduct foreign policy now by saying to the people of the 
world, `We'll treat you fairly.'"

Why couldn't a Chines company buy an American oil company?
That was National Security. 
Of course George the oil-man. He is as slick as oil, thats for sure.
How much longer?



Bush: Arab Co. Port Deal Should Proceed By BEN FELLER, AP 
    
President Bush said Tuesday that a deal allowing an Arab company to take 
over six major U.S. seaports should go forward and that he would veto any 
congressional effort to stop it. 

The Senate's Republican leader had promised just such an effort a few hours 
earlier.

"After careful review by our government, I believe the transaction ought to 
go forward," Bush told reporters who had traveled with him on Air Force One 
to Washington. "I want those who are questioning it to step up and explain 
why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different 
standard than a Great British company. I am trying to conduct foreign 
policy now by saying to the people of the world, `We'll treat you fairly.'"

Bush took the rare step of calling reporters to his conference room on the 
plane after returning from a speech in Colorado, addressing a controversy 
that is becoming a major headache for the White House. He said the seaports 
arrangement had been extensively examined by the administration and was "a 
legitimate deal that will not jeopardize the security of the country."

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.

"The decision to finalize this deal should be put on hold until the 
administration conducts a more extensive review of this matter," said 
Frist. "If the administration cannot delay this process, I plan on 
introducing legislation to ensure that the deal is placed on hold until 
this decision gets a more thorough review."

Frist, who spoke to reporters in Long Beach, Calif., where he was on a fact-
finding tour on port security and immigration issues, said he doesn't 
oppose foreign ownership, "but my main concern is national security."

Two Republican governors, New York's George Pataki and Maryland's Robert 
Ehrlich, voiced their own doubts a day earlier, as have other members of 
Congress.

But Bush, who has yet to issue a bill in more than five years in office, 
said sternly he would not back down.

"They ought to listen to what I have to say about this. They'll look at the 
facts and understand the consequences of what they're going to do," he 
said. "But if they pass a law, I'll deal with it with a veto."

In a sign of how volatile the issue has become in the uneasy climate after 
the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Bush pressed the topic yet again 
immediately upon his return to the White House, to make sure his position 
would be on camera as well. "This is a company that has played by the 
rules, has been cooperative with the United States, from a country that's 
an ally on the war on terror, and it would send a terrible signal to 
friends and allies not to let this transaction go through," the president 
said after emerging from his helicopter on the South Lawn.

At the Pentagon, the UAE was praised as an important strategic military 
partner by both Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Gen. Peter Pace, 
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Rumsfeld said a process was in place 
and "the process worked."

"Nothing changes with respect to security under the contract. The Coast 
Guard is in charge of security, not the corporation," Rumsfeld said.

The administration insisted that national security issues had received a 
full airing before the interagency panel that reviews such transactions 
gave the go-ahead.

In Los Angeles, Sen. Susan Collins, who heads the Senate Homeland Security 
and Governmental Affairs Committee, said she and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-
Conn., sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff asking 
that the committee be fully briefed on the ports deal.

Collins, R-Maine, and Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., a ranking member on the 
House Intelligence Committee, said they are going to introduce a "joint 
resolution of disapproval" when they return to Washington next week.

Other lawmakers, including Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., and Sen. Charles 
Schumer, D-N.Y., said they would offer emergency legislation next week to 
block the deal ahead of a planned March 2 takeover. 

Both governors indicated they may try to cancel lease arrangements at ports 
in their states because of the DP World takeover. 

"Ensuring the security of New York's port operations is paramount and I am 
very concerned with the purchase of Peninsular & Oriental Steam by Dubai 
Ports World," Pataki said. "I have directed the Port Authority of New York 
and New Jersey to explore all legal options that may be available to them." 

The arrangement brought protests from both political parties in Congress 
and a lawsuit in Florida from a company affected by the takeover. 

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. 

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