See, so while the whole Portgate deal makes Bush appear like a blithering idiot who doesn't even know what's going under his own watch, making it look like we're pretty much handing terrorists free reign and access over and into our country, in Bush's cognitively dissonant "reality," this is really about showing how the Administration really IS tough on terror after all!
Clever how they do that, isn't it? From the AP [Emphasis mine.]:
The Bush administration secretly required a company in the United Arab Emirates to cooperate with future U.S. investigations before approving its takeover of operations at six American ports, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. It chose not to impose other, routine restrictions.Silly me, thinking that some Bush loyals really meant their criticisms. I'm sure they knew this smoke and mirrors trickery all along. It's amazing how creative they can be to try and get around the whole "torture" thing, yet they fail to use their same, twisted imaginations to solve the real problems on our own soil.
As part of the $6.8 billion purchase, state-owned Dubai Ports World agreed to reveal records on demand about "foreign operational direction" of its business at U.S. ports, the documents said. Those records broadly include details about the design, maintenance or operation of ports and equipment.
The administration did not require Dubai Ports to keep copies of business records on U.S. soil, where they would be subject to court orders. It also did not require the company to designate an American citizen to accommodate U.S. government requests. Outside legal experts said such obligations are routinely attached to U.S. approvals of foreign sales in other industries.
"They're not lax but they're not draconian," said James Lewis, a former U.S. official who worked on such agreements. If officials had predicted the firestorm of criticism over the deal, Lewis said, "they might have made them sound harder."
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