Bush Vows Veto Over Port Deal
President Defends Deal To Give Arab-Owned Firm Control Of 6 U.S. Ports
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Play CBS Video Video Bush, Congress Battle On Ports A bipartisan bloc urged the president to rethink plans to hand over shipping operations at six U.S. ports to an Arab company, but Bush said he'd veto any bill blocking the plan. Jim Axelrod reports.
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Video Foreign Companies, U.S. Ports Though Congress and President Bush are arguing over the deal that would let an Arab company run six U.S. ports, foreign companies are no strangers at American ports. Bob Orr reports.
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Video Bush On U.S. Port Security CBS News RAW: President Bush said the deal allowing an Arab company to take over management of six major U.S. seaports must go forward, and that it won't jeopardize national security.
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President Bush said he would veto efforts in Congress to block his administration's approval of the sale of London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. to Dubai Ports World. (AP)
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Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, left, and Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, right, have both been critical of the deal to allow Dubai Ports World to lease terminals in six U.S. port cities. (AP)
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The city of Philadelphia is not on the ocean but it is a major port. Above: a freighter on the Delaware River, making its way past the skyline of the City of Brotherly Love. (AP)
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New York Harbor, with Governors Island at the mouth of the East River. (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard)
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If the deal is allowed to stand, Dubai Ports World will have leased terminals in the ports of New York, Philadelphia, Newark, Baltimore, Miami, and New Orleans. (AP / CBS)
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Photo Essay Border Insecurity The slow, sensitive path to tighter security along America's borders.
Mr. Bush said that protesting lawmakers should understand his approval of the deal was final.
"They ought to listen to what I have to say about this," the president said. "They'll look at the facts and understand the consequences of what they're going to do. But if they pass a law, I'll deal with it with a veto."
Critics say the screening of cargo relies too much on trust. U.S. Customs officials do review manifests in 42 foreign countries before the freight is shipped. But, truck-sized X-rays and radiation detectors are only used to scan the most suspicious containers, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr.
Mr. Bush, who has never vetoed a bill as president, said on the White House South Lawn:
"This is a company that has played by the rules, has been cooperative with the United States, from a country that's an ally on the war on terror, and it would send a terrible signal to friends and allies not to let this transaction go through."
Lawmakers from both parties have noted that some of the Sept. 11 hijackers used the United Arab Emirates as an operational and financial base. In addition, critics contend the UAE was an important transfer point for shipments of smuggled nuclear components sent to Iran, North Korea and Libya by a Pakistani scientist.
They say a port operator complicit in smuggling or terrorism could manipulate manifests and other records to frustrate Homeland Security's already limited scrutiny of shipping containers and slip contraband past U.S. Customs inspectors.
Rep. King and Democratic Sen. Schumer said Tuesday they would introduce emergency legislation to suspend the ports deal. King, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said the government "cannot consider approving this contract until a much more thorough investigation takes place on this security matter."
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., said they would introduce a "joint resolution of disapproval" when they returned to Washington next week. Collins heads the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Harman is the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
Frist said Congress should have veto authority over such foreign sales, which are reviewed by a secretive U.S. panel that considers security risks of foreign companies buying or investing in American industry. The panel includes representatives from the departments of Treasury, Defense, Justice, Commerce, State and Homeland Security.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld described the United Arab Emirates as a close ally. "It's a country that's been involved in the global war on terror with us," Rumsfeld said. He added that the United States and the UAE "have very close military-to-miltary relations, as well as political and economic relations."
Separately, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said port security would not be threatened. "This is not a question about port security," Gonzales said. "This is a question about port operation."
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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