Dubai Gives Up on US Ports
After several months of suffering numerous criticisms, the United Arab Emirates finally yields to political antagonism. Dubai Ports World has ordered the removal of the facilities from the five ports they have purchased from the United States. Dubai has announced their decision right after the meeting between the Republican representatives in both the House and Senate was concluded. In the private meeting held in the morning, the leaders told Bush that that transaction between the U.S and the United Arab Emirates was destined to fail.
Some business factions said that this mounting paranoia in the U.S Senate could possibly harm future trade investments. This defeat, some warned, may come back and haunt the U.S because it may damage the relationship between both countries. It should be noted that the UAE is an important ally nation of the United States in the Middle East. In an act to save the rapport between the two countries, UAE’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum has decided to hand the operations of the P and O Ports North America Inc. to the supervision of the U.S.
Just last February, DP World has announced that they will put their plan to take over the management of six US ports after numerous bombardment of criticisms by several parties. Concerns over the national security of the U.S were voiced out if ever the deal were to take place. It is a well-known fact that the Middle East is home to the terrorist group Al-Queda with some members coming from the United Arab Emirates. Critics who opposed the deal used this as the basis of their opposition, saying that handling the management of the ports to a nation with questionable association to terrorists would compromise national security.
England, along with some officials, defended the deal. They said that paranoia should not be allowed to rule the minds of the people. They added that this is exactly what the terrorists want to happen. Administration officials have repeatedly said that although the management of the ports is going to be handed to the DP World, the national security will still be under the U.S entities' supervision such as the Coast Guard and the Customs of Border Protection.
However, this assurance didn’t stop the House to vote in opposition to the deal, and quite overwhelmingly. After reviewing the transaction under the agreed time of 45 days, the House vote resulted in a 62-2 vote against UAE’s management of the U.S ports.
According to White House officials, the decision came about after the meeting of the Congress and DP World. It has also been said that the senior officials of the administration had no direct involvement in the meeting. Several upper bodies of both governments discussed the issue and worked out a result, which was for the United Arab Emirates-based company to back out. After several weeks of controversy and heated discussions, the conclusion came surprisingly swift. It is still unknown how the company would formalize its departure but DP world would not suffer any substantial economic loss.
