Bush argues that DPW should manage six twenty-one American ports because they are an ally in the war on terrorism, and it would send a terrible sign if we blocked the deal. Okay, fair enough. But what sign will it send to Israel (also an ally), considering that DPW supports the boycott of Israel? UPDATE: They’re also trying to stifle … Read More
Who Does Port Security?
Fred Barnes writes: This isn’t true. Security would remain in the hands of the U.S. Coast Guard and Customs Service. And the personnel operating the ports would be the same. Only the company owning the terminals would change. I’ve come to accept this as true, which is why I’m not terribly up in arms about the Dubai Ports World deal. … Read More
Government Secrets For Sale At Amazon.com
The government’s program to reclassify (or de-un-classify) documents, as discussed here and elsewhere, is leading to absurd results. For example, if you go to the National Archives, you can no longer find a copy of the 1958 Department of Defense "Emergency Plans Book," an early cold war description of response planning for a nuclear attack on the United States. But … Read More
Halliburton Overcharges; U.S. Pays Anyway
It kind of makes you wonder what these people are thinking. Halliburton had a contract with the U.S. Army to deliver fuel and repair oil in Iraq. (It actually was one of many no-bid contracts that Hallilburton has with the government with respect to Iraq). The contact was for $2.4 billion, but Halliburton overcharged Uncles Same by $236 million. Obviously, … Read More
Another Conservative Admits The Truth
This time, it’s none other than Bill Buckley: One can’t doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed. The same edition of the paper quotes a fellow of the American Enterprise Institute. Mr. Reuel Marc Gerecht backed the American intervention. He now speaks of the bombing of the especially sacred Shiite mosque in Samara and what that has precipitated … Read More
This Is Old News…
…to most of us, but Flickr now has images of the notes of Department of Defense staffer Stephen Cambone, taken on September 11. 2001. The notes (11 pages of them) include Donald Rumsfeld’s 2:40 PM instructions to General Myers to find the "[b]est info fast… judge whether good enough [to] hit S.H. [Saddam Hussein] at same time – not only … Read More
How Bad Are Things For Bush?
This bad Bet you thought you never see those numbers, eh?
Dubai Deal Was For 21 Ports, Not Six
UPI story here How thorough could the security investigation have been if our government spokesmen have been mistating how many ports are involved?
Good Iraqi News
Lately, I’ve been reporting about the escalation of the Iraqi civil war, due to the Golden Dome mosque bombing earlier this week. Leave it to Karl Rove to spin the bombing into a good thing: SNOW: So you expect this [the bombing of the mosque] is going to strengthen the opposition to the terrorists? ROVE: I think it could. I … Read More
Blank Stares
The Nation: [S]enior administration officials from the Departments of Defence, State, Treasury and Homeland Security trooped up to Capitol Hill to brief the Senate Armed Services Committee about the plan to let Dubai Ports World, a firm owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in charge of ports up and down the east coast. Noting a particularly … Read More
A Civil War By Any Other Name
The brass at the Pentagon "reject" the notion that a civil war is brewing. Well, I guess the Pentagon has to say that, although ex-Pentagon officials have been signing a different story for quite a while: “It’s just political rhetoric to say we are not in a civil war. We’ve been in a civil war for a long time,” said … Read More
What? Me Worry?
Regarding the Dubai Ports deal, Bush said this morning: The management of some ports, which, heretofore, has been managed by a foreign company will be managed by another company from a foreign land. And so people don’t need to worry about security. This deal wouldn’t go forward if we were concerned about the security for the United States of America. … Read More
To The Batmobile!
It looks like Osama’s days are numbered: In his latest adventure, Batman will dispense with his old enemies, the Riddler and the Joker, and take on Osama bin Laden instead. In Holy Terror, Batman!, a new graphic novel by the Batman writer Frank Miller, the Caped Crusader will take on al-Qa’eda when his home town, Gotham City, which is based … Read More
The Real Port Problem
It’s not who is conducting the stevedoring operations, and not really whether they are an American company, a Great British company, or a Dubai company. The real problem from a national security standpoint is, and always has been, this: Only 4 percent or 5 percent of those containers are inspected. There is virtually no standard for how containers are sealed, … Read More
This Is, Like, Bad
Relating to my earlier post about the bombing of the Golden Dome in Iraq, I think it is worth noting that Middle East expert Juan Cole says: The threat of terrorism and attacks on Americans just went way up. Read the whole thing.