Perhaps a better title would be “how not to run a P.R. campaign.”
This port sale story has been blown completely out of proportion. President Bush has exacerbated the problem by not exposing the half-truths perpetrated politicians trying to exploit this story. Unfortunately, the president said little other than the usual “trust me” and, in a surprise move, threatened to use his first veto to kill any legislation that delays the sale.
Too bad he couldn’t find his veto pen when the spending bills passed Congress.
Because so much misinformation is being published, I thought I’d set the record straight. The story itself is simple. Dubai Ports World, a port operating company owned by the United Arab Emirates, is buying out P&O, or the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, which is a British port operating company. P&O ran the operations of the New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Miami ports – every major port on the east coast.
Given that we’re coming up on midterm elections this November, politicians on both sides of the aisle are up in arms about the sale. Democrats are once again happy to rip the President over security issues – something they’re traditionally weak on – while some Republicans are eager to distance themselves from the President in hopes of attracting moderate voters.
The arguments being raised range from understandable to amazingly misinformed. Critics worry that we’re outsourcing our ports to another country, never mind the fact that P&O was owned by Britain. They’re also concerned that the sale will permit Muslim terrorists to run our port security.
I’d first like to point out that the state the port is in owns the port, not the operating company. All the operating company does is unload ships; it does not run security. That’s what the United States Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security are for. Any suspicious tanker would be caught by the Coast Guard first, and if it passes security it would be allowed to enter the country’s ports. Of course, port security is another matter entirely, since only 4 to 5 percent of all cargo is inspected – which is what Congress should really be worrying about instead of who buys out P&O.
The idea that Muslim terrorists would be running our ports is as equally absurd as suggesting that the UAE (United Arab Emirates) would own the ports and run port security. As part of the deal, Dubai Ports World has promised that P&O would remain intact. That means P&O’s headquarters would still be in London, and all the employees – who, by the way, are Americans or legal aliens who’ve passed background checks – would keep their jobs. Essentially, only the name on the paycheck will change.
There is another reason to relax about the terrorists, aside from assurances from Dubai Ports World that American workers would keep their jobs. Realistically, there is no way that Dubai Ports World could ship in enough workers to run all six ports and have them cleared to work in the United States in a timely enough fashion to make their new acquisition profitable.
I am confused about our apparent hypocrisy concerning the sale. Many politicians, including New York Senator Chuck Schumer, have expressed concern that we’re dealing with a country that had Al Qaeda bases and served as a transfer point for smuggled nuclear components that were sent to Iran, North Korea and Libya. But aren’t we allies with Pakistan? And wasn’t a Pakistani scientist aiding those same countries with their nuclear programs? Don’t we also deal with Saudi Arabia, Osama bin Laden’s home country?
I’ll grant the critics that the Saudis aren’t running airport security. But how many American companies run our major ports? Zero. The only other firm to bid on P&O was a Singapore-based port operations company. Every major port operator is foreign, so how do we expect to control our own ports? By subsidizing yet another sector?
Remember, this is a foreign takeover. Dubai Ports World is buying out P&O, which is something we have no say in if they want to push it through. Our only option is to end the lease to P&O and give the contract to another company. Unless we want Halliburton running our ports (something I’d love to see), we’d better get used to foreign companies doing it for us.
There is a bright side to this over-blown story. We don’t have to hear about Cheney’s hunting accident.
Contact the columnist at [email protected]