Connect the Dots on Bush's Dubai Ports Deal

See If You Can Connect the Dots
The 'War on Terror' Is Really a Series of Mega Deals

from the Washington Post:

Thomas H. Kean (R), a former New Jersey governor who chaired the commission that examined the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, came out against the port deal, telling the Associated Press "it should never have happened."

"We're in a no-win situation," Kean said, referring to the United Arab Emirates. "There's no question that two of the 9/11 hijackers came from there and money was laundered through there."

[Why is President Bush so adamant that a money-laundering Arab sheikhdom that helps fund terror operations should control U.S. ports? Why are Republican leaders asking merely for a delay, rather than outright cancellation of the ports deal? It does seems strange--until you follow the money trail...and the business ties that profited Treasury Secretary John Snow (formerly CEO of CSX Lines), Bush Senior's Carlyle Group and the business links that Bush Senior has with Arab governments like Dubai.]


[On January 17, 2006, Bush announced several appointments, including one of special note]:
The President intends to nominate David C. Sanborn, of Virginia, to be Administrator of the Maritime Administration of the Department of Transportation. Mr. Sanborn currently serves as Director of Operations for Europe and Latin America at DP World.

Follow this Corporate Chronology on the CSX web site:

1990
Mar. 8: Sale of CSX Energy to Enron Corp.

2002
December 9: CSX Chairman and CEO John W. Snow appointed Secretary of the Treasury by President George W. Bush.

2003
February 27: CSX and The Carlyle Group announce conveyance of CSX Lines, LLC, from CSX to a venture formed with The Carlyle Group. The new name of the ocean-going carrier is Horizon Lines, LLC.

From MSNBC:
The U.S. government reviews these purchases through what is known as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The committee is chaired by Treasury Department Secretary John Snow. The Bush administration considers the U.A.E. an ally in the war on terror, but the 9/11 Commission found that some of the money for the terror attacks went through banks located in the Arab Emirates and two of the hijackers were, for what it‘s worth, from the U.A.E.

A State Department report declares, “The United Arab Emirates is believes to be a transshipment point for traffickers moving illegal drugs from the major drug producing countries, especially Afghanistan, westward. Frequent reports of seizures of illegal drugs in the UAE during the past year underscore this conclusion.”

Peter Gadiel who lost a son on 9/11 said, "It‘s simply beyond belief that the president would tolerate this kind of insanity."

Next, look at this transaction glowingly reported on the Carlyle Group web site:

May 24, 2004

The Carlyle Group Announces Sale of Horizon Lines to Castle Harlan

Washington, DC – Global private equity firm The Carlyle Group today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell Horizon Lines (formerly known as CSX Lines), the nation’s leading Jones Act container shipping company, to private equity firm Castle Harlan for a purchase price of $650 million.

Finally, read about the from Bloomberg UK:

January 27, 2006--DP World, Dubai's port company, yesterday agreed to pay 520 pence a share for P&O, or 3.88 billion pounds ($6.9 billion). PSA International Pte, Singapore's largest port company, must offer more than 546 pence a share to prevent DP World's offer being put to P&O investors on Feb. 13.

The purchase of P&O, which was founded in the year Queen Victoria took the throne in Britain, would turn DP World into the world's third-largest port operator and gives it control of 29 terminals at ports from New Orleans to Manila.

Read the full Bloomberg story here