What Are We Not Being Told About Dubai Port Deal?

It's fair to say that everyone's gotten a large amount of political BS from Congress and the White House with regards to the Dubai Ports World acquisition of Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company in the last few days.

The political toilet surrounding this deal overflowed into the Oval Office and into the media as Democrats and Republicans attacked the White House position of supporting the purchase and transfer between two private firms.

Now, the question is this: what is REALLY going on?

Are we talking about TERMINALS, which is defined as "a facility where cargo containers are loaded or unloaded from ships to land vehicles, for further transport" or a PORT which is defined as "a natural or artificial harbor and its terminal facilities for the transfer of goods and passengers to or from waterborne means of transport?"

My understanding is that this deal is for the loading and unloading of cargo onto or off of ships at the terminals of six American seaports. The ports themselves remain under U.S. government/law enforcement control, while the terminals are administered by the Dubai company, which is controlled by the UAE government. The port security is handled by American security, while the security IN and AROUND the terminal itself are handled by Dubai Ports World.

The government must do a MUCH better job in explaining who would be in charge of what.

In addition, if only 5% of incoming containers are inspected by port authorities before they are handed off to the terminals for transport to their final destinations, then whose responsibility is it to get it up to 100%? The SAME government that is bellyaching about this terminal deal.

The government needs to quit screwing with itself and fix the problem NOW. They can start by passing legislation which prohibits foreign companies from controlling terminals that ship cargo across state lines. They can do that, you know. Then they should appropriate money in the budget to bring the inspection process up to scratch and keep it that way.

National security is not a political hot potato and it's quite disappointing to see the politicians wasting time arguing about this. They are behind schedule on meeting their obligations as it is. And if they don't do their jobs, let's FIRE 'EM ALL in November!