February 22, 2006

Dubai: Donald Rumsfeld not consulted despite being on CFIUS board

I think this tells you all you need to know (nofollowpolicy):

Donald Rumsfeld, as Secretary of Defense, is a member of Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States. As such, he was one of the people who, according to the Treasury Department, unanimously approved the sale on February 13. How could do that when he didn't even find out about the sale until last weekend?

Previously: "I changed my mind! The Dubai deal must go through!" (/satire)
"Dubai would control part of U.S. military shipments under Bush scheme"
Chertoff assures: massively unsafe, dangerous Dubai ports deal is safe

UPDATE: Now, Bush claims that he also didn't know about the deal until recently. This could be an excuse, but it's also quite possible that other members of his crew didn't bother to tell him.

White House counselor Dan Bartlett said Wednesday the UAE company, Dubai Ports, "is a reputable firm that went through a congressionally approved vetting process." He said the U.S. has "the necessary safeguards to make sure that the security of our country is in place" and that rejecting the deal would send "a dangerous signal to people overseas that America plays favorites."... "The president wants this deal to go forward because it was followed by the book and he wants Congress to understand that," Bartlett said on CBS' "The Early Show." He told Fox News Channel that Bush felt strongly that "we need to be adding strategic partners" in the Mideast.

The last might make some sense, but not with something closely linked with our security. Perhaps we could get those "strategic partners" to supply non-essential products having no relation to security.

Posted to Terrorism at February 22, 2006 04:26 AM

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