Port Deal Affects 8 Ports, Not 6

Despite outcry over the transfer of contract services for six major U.S. seaports to Dubai Ports World, a company owned and operated by Dubai's ruling Maktoum family (Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is one of the seven emirates that make up the UAE) in the United Arab Emirates, it seems that too few realize that the operations at two other major ports will be affected by this transfer.

In addition to the well publicized list of the six major ports: New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia, two vital ports in Texas would also have a strategic part of their operations managed by DP World.

Based on a contract extension involving the United States Department of Defense, DP World would also oversee and manage the flow of U.S. military assets through the ports in Beaumont and Corpus Christie, Texas, bringing the total of affected ports to eight rather than six. Again, contract services at these ports directly involve the oversight and management of U.S. military assets by an Islamic owned company.

There are at least two troubling ties to the White House in this deal. The first involves David SANBORN, director of European and Latin American operations for DP World.

Last month, SANBORN was appointed by President George Bush to head the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD), reporting directly to Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta. MARAD is charged with strengthening the U.S. maritime transportation system, including infrastructure, industry and labor, to meet the economic and security needs of the Nation.
MARAD is also responsible for the training and certification of maritime security professionals.

The second link to the White House is U.S. Treasury Secretary John SNOW, who was chairman of the CSX rail firm that sold its international port operations to DP World in 2004 for $1.15 billion. It was also John Snow’s agency that heads the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS) that signed off on the $6.8 billion contract service transfer to Dubai Ports World.

Meanwhile, those who dare question the legitimacy of the change in service providers from London-based Peninsula and Oriental Steam Navigation Company ("P & O") to Dubai Ports World can expect to be called Anti-Arab and anti-Islamic by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC).

In a press release dated yesterday, the ADC, whose Midwest Regional Director, Imad Hamad is an open supporter of Islamic terrorist groups, is titled "Anti Arabism Now at a Port Near You."