Bush did not know of ports deal until after approval

[tocqueville]

By Tabassum Zakaria
41 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush did not know about a deal to hand over operations at six major U.S. ports to an Arab company until after his administration approved it, the White House said on Wednesday.

Surprised by a backlash from Bush's own Republican Party, the White House acknowledged it had erred in not explaining to Congress the administration's recent approval of the sale of the British-based company that now manages the ports to Dubai Ports World, based in the United Arab Emirates.

Many Republican and Democratic lawmakers have decried the deal as a risk to America's national security.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush became aware of the deal through widespread media coverage and that there had been no objections during the review process that would have warranted it being brought to the president's attention.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&u=/nm/20060222/ts_nm/security_ports_dc_14

delete if dupe

[ThoughtCriminal]

1. Worst of both worlds

1. Proves he is clueless puppet.
2. Does nothing to isolate him from uproar over the deal since he will veto any attempt to stop it.

[ProfessorGAC]

2. Then Why Is He Digging In His Heels?

If he didn't even know about it, how could he be this committed to it? Methinks something smells funny.
The Professor

[pinto]

3. I think this is a big deal. It was a cabinet level arrangement, and no one

thought it worth mentioning to the Prez that the UAE angle may be "problematical" as they say?

(on edit) I think it's a big deal that the Prez didn't know about it. This Administration has developed a mid to upper level cabinet bureaucracy that operates on its own...unquestioned and lacking any oversight. (Katrina? anyone...)

Still haven't seen a list of the individuals who signed off on this - they are being mentioned as a thorough review, but who the "they" who reviewed it? Snow, I assume, since it's a contractual type agreement. Rumsfeld has bowed out on on any knowledge. Condi's hard selling Democracy and guns somewhere. Would guess the Transportation Secretary's office was in on it. Karen's out of this loop (she would catch the political implication and protect Busboy with a feel good message for the news shows..)

I don't get it.

It's incompetence at least. No one looked at the big picture?

Blatant sell out to UAE business interests would be my guess. It's about the contractual money.

Scattered post, but I think you all get my drift.

[Rex]

4. Why should Dick Cheney tell em?

Don't tell me the Boy King is just waking up to his puppet-like existence.

[gratuitous]

5. Another self-writing bit of legislative legerdemain

Like those provisions in legislation that write themselves in the middle of the night and hey, presto! turn another chunk of the Treasury over to another well-connected white guy (never in favor of the poor or disadvantaged), Bush now has self-writing executive orders. Nobody knows how they write themselves or where they originate or how to stop them, but one thing's for sure: Once they're passed or signed, there's no going back. Good thing no one's to blame for any of this.

Next up: The tooth fairy and her legions of fans speak out.

[liveoaktx]

6. Couple of Video clips from the WH Briefing today

According to Scotty, Bush found out through the media

Did the president wish he'd known sooner?

I'm of the opinion that he knows and figures it's better to look clueless than look like a crook.

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. Gee that is comforting

but not surprising. El pretzeldente didn't know about Katrina either until his peeps made a DVD for him.