All Your Ports are Belong To Us

WaPo:

DP World officials suggested yesterday that within days, Peninsular & Oriental's operations will belong to them, no matter what Congress does.

This is what happens when you put your country up for grabs to the highest bidder.

GOP Congresscritters, however, are jumping ship on this one, with their political asses on the line this November:

Defying President Bush, House Republican leaders said Tuesday that they would take immediate steps to scuttle a deal giving a Dubai company control of some major seaport operations without awaiting the outcome of a 45-day review of potential security risks.

Representative Jerry Lewis, the California Republican who is chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said he would use a committee hearing on Wednesday to add a provision preventing the deal from moving forward.

Mr. Lewis said he would add the provision to an essential emergency spending measure that provides money for the war in Iraq and for Hurricane Katrina recovery. "It is my intention to lay the foundation to block the deal," he said.

"Our public is very concerned about a foreign country, in this case specifically a foreign country from the Middle East, having a major role in our ports," Mr. Lewis said.

The effort was endorsed by Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, who has rarely broken with Mr. Bush.

After a meeting of House Republican leaders, Ron Bonjean, a spokesman for Mr. Hastert, said, "We do not believe the United States should allow a government-owned company to operate American ports."

The House effort marked a remarkable public breach with the White House after years of working in tandem or quietly settling any differences behind closed doors. It demonstrated that the administration's effort to dampen opposition by negotiating a new security review and emphasizing Dubai's strategic value as an asset was failing.

A White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino, said the administration would continue to work with Congress to try to resolve the matter, giving the company, DP World, the right to operate some shipping terminals at Eastern ports.

What this means is that the Administration is going to bring out all the photos they have of Congressmen with dead girls or live boys in order to bring them back into line. My guess is that all this means nothing; GOP representatives are nothing if not good little brownshirts who will eventually bow down before their Almightly Leader.