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Bush's push on ports

Promises to use veto if Congress tries to block contract to Arab firm for control of six major U.S. ports

BY CRAIG GORDON | NEWSDAY WASHINGTON BUREAU

February 22, 2006

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush dug in his heels yesterday over plans to let a Middle Eastern firm run six ports, including some in New York, pledging to veto any congressional move to block the deal amid a growing bipartisan uproar.

A defiant Bush also suggested the deal's opponents were employing a racial double-standard, because the company is from the Arab world.

Bush's threat to use his first-ever veto capped a fast-moving day of developments over the Dubai Ports World contract, including the exceedingly rare sight of the top two Republican leaders in Congress publicly breaking with the president.

That set up a possible showdown as early as next week over the deal, particularly because the two men - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee and House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois - control what legislation moves to the floor.

Closer to home, one regular White House ally, House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King (R-Seaford), teamed up with a frequent Bush critic, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), for an all-New York call on Bush to put the deal on hold and reinvestigate the company.

But by day's end, Bush made clear he had no such plans of doing so, and more than that, didn't want Congress meddling in the deal. He said to reverse course now would send the wrong signal to U.S. allies in a part of the world where he is desperately trying to win friends.

"If there was any chance that this transaction would jeopardize the security of the United States, it would not go forward," Bush said.

"I want those who are questioning it to step up and explain why all of a sudden a Middle Eastern company is held to a different standard than a Great British company," which formerly held the contract, Bush said. "I am trying to conduct foreign policy now by saying to the people of the world, 'We'll treat you fairly.' "

The $6.8 billion deal will allow Dubai Ports World, a state-owned company in the United Arab Emirates, to run major commercial port operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans, Miami and Philadelphia.

A U.S. government body designed to look at the national security implications of the deal approved it "with flying colors," a senior administration official said.

King and Schumer disputed that assessment, with Schumer saying the review was "cursory" at best.

King said he was "absolutely mystified and extremely disappointed" over Bush's veto threat, but said he wouldn't back down. He and Schumer also predicted they would have the votes to override a Bush veto.

Both men questioned whether it was a good idea to put a nation with what they called a questionable record on terrorism in charge of the nation's ports, already viewed as extremely vulnerable to terror attack.

Two of the Sept. 11 hijackers came from the United Arab Emirates and the nation was one of only three to recognize the outlaw Taliban regime in Afghanistan before the 9/11 attacks.

"People on the street are scratching their head in disbelief, how could we turn over one of the most vital areas of homeland security to a company run by a country that has a nexus of involvement with terrorism," Schumer said.

But in the U.A.E., Bush sees a rare Middle Eastern ally, a nation that has helped the United State in the war on terror and even pledged $100 million to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

That's part of the reason senior administration officials say Bush reacted so sharply to try to cut off the growing political firestorm over the contract, which was first revealed last week but has taken a slow-boil to political controversy in recent days.

Staff writers Ray Sanchez, Melanie Lefkowitz and Bryan Virasami contributed to this story.