P&O, recently acquired by Dubai Ports World, is one of only a handful of organizations that have the expertise to operative major port facilities in the United States, or so we have been told by the advocates of the UAE port deal. Furthermore, it has been argued, no US firms are capable of such a monumental task as the operation of 6 major US ports.

Are we to believe such nonsense? The UAE deal involves several major eastern ports including: the ports of New York and New Jersey, Miami, New Orleans, Baltimore and Philadelphia. Understandably, this deal, recently announced by the Bush administration, has sparked outrage on both the left and the right and placing the Bush administration in a distinctly untenable position. The president contends that such an arrangement poses no security threat to the United States; such an argument is dubious given the UAE’s questionable past with regard to terrorism. UAE was a financial and operational jumping off point for the 9/11 hijackers; to make matters worse UAE was one of only a handful of countries to recognize the terror supporting Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. Even Iran didn’t recognize the Taliban.

The supposition that only Dubai Ports World has the technical expertise to run these US ports is utterly absurd. There are several major ports in the US, operating at peak efficiency under US based management. Of the 15 largest ports* in America, only 2 (New York/New Jersey and Miami) are included in this UAE deal. If DP World is the only firm with the expertise to handle such operations then how is it that Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Charleston, Hampton Roads (VA), Tacoma, Seattle, Savannah, San Juan, Houston, Honolulu, Jacksonville and Port Everglades manage to function with out the worldly insight of the esteemed company from the United Arab Emirates? The president is fighting a loosing battle if he hopes to convince the American people that this arrangement is in the best interest of the United States.

*Port rankings are based on "TEUs," or 20-foot equivalent units, the standard measure for containers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4737940.stm