Ebay, ports for sale, billionaires only apply, background checks not important.

Source

The Bush Administration drew the ire of both Republicans and Democrats when they signed off on a deal for the firm, Dubai Ports World, owned by the United Arab Emirate of Dubai.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration gave control of six crucial ports to a Sept. 11-linked Arab nation after a flimsy investigation and with weak guarantees the company in charge can stop Osama bin Laden from infiltrating, the House homeland security chairman said.

"There are conditions, which shows they had concerns, but it's all procedural and relies entirely on good faith," Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y., told the New York Daily News. "There's nothing those conditions ... nothing that assures us they're not hiring someone with bin Laden."

The firm, Dubai Ports World, owned by the United Arab Emirate of Dubai, cut a $6.8 billion deal last week to buy control of the ports - including Manhattan's cruise ship terminal and Newark, N.J.'s, giant container port - from a British firm.

This is the same U.A.E. with a rather flakey relationship in its love of all things terrorism.

Terrorism:
Known Terrorist Attacks Concerning United Arab Emirates:
August 26, 1982: Bombay, India Premium Content

Known Groups Operating in United Arab Emirates:
Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula Premium Content

Now give me a second to put this in prospective.

We have a country that is known to have terrorist cells in house with its own branch of Al Qaeda (the 9/11 bombing was planned in Dubai, after all). We have this same country with known financial ties to terrorist groups and bombings. We get a flim-flam investigation that is rubber-stamped all the way through the Department of Homeland Security (sounds about the same being uttered out of Hitler's mouth as it does GW's), and finally, we get extremely weak guarantees that the company in charge can stop Osama bin Laden from infiltrating.

Just like we stopped the Cole and 911 bombings, right?

This whole deal looks bad.

If it looks rotten, it smells rotten, then there is a 99% chance that it is rotten. This deal reeks of donor nepotism and definitely gets a F+ grade for again doing a spectacular job at window dressing and not addressing "homeland security" issues.