[Mb-civic] Every Inlet an Outlet for Anger Over Ports - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Every Inlet an Outlet for Anger Over Ports

By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, March 1, 2006; A02

Is there no safe harbor from the Dubai port imbroglio?

Wherever they went yesterday, and whatever they spoke about, Bush 
administration officials could find no shelter. The controversy intruded 
on President Bush when he tried talk about NATO and Afghanistan with the 
Italian prime minister. It stalked Director of National Intelligence 
John D. Negroponte at the Senate Armed Services Committee, followed 
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to the Senate 
Appropriations Committee, and harassed Chertoff deputy Michael P. 
Jackson at the Senate Commerce Committee.

Even the U.S.S. Ken Mehlman, an agile vessel, could not successfully 
navigate the port deal's shoals. Appearing before the Jewish Council for 
Public Affairs, the Republican National Committee chairman tucked a 
one-sentence, indirect reference to the fuss nearly 20 minutes into his 
speech -- "We have a military presence in the United Arab Emirates that 
is vital to stability" -- then left before he could be questioned about 
the deal.

Mehlman's Democratic counterpart, Howard Dean, wasn't about to let 
Mehlman off the hook with that. Next on the JCPA stage, Dean reordered 
his speech, which usually starts with a jeremiad about Republican 
corruption. "I want first to speak about defense," Dean said, pivoting 
to the ports.

"Today we see the specter, as reported in the Jerusalem Post, of a 
company who is about to take over American ports, which actively 
continues today to boycott Israel," the Democratic National Committee 
chairman declared. "Foreign governments of any kind ought not to be 
controlling American ports, especially when the Coast Guard already 
recommended that they could not guarantee the security of the ports."

The crowd loved it. "Isn't xenophobia wonderful?" a delegate at the New 
Jersey table wondered aloud.

No matter what the ostensible subject matter, virtually every political 
gathering yesterday eventually listed toward ports. Sen. Patrick J. 
Leahy (D-Vt.) started talking about it at a Senate Judiciary Committee 
hearing on the NSA's National Security Agency's eavesdropping program. 
Former president Bill Clinton, giving a news conference about health 
care at the National Governors Association meeting, fielded a battery of 
questions about the ports. "This has shocked us into facing the fact 
that we have repeatedly failed to secure our ports in a proper way," he 
scolded.

The incessant talk about ports drove the Associated Press to 
distraction. The wire agency, issuing the seventh version of its port 
security story at 2:30 p.m., suddenly and without warning turned 
Chertoff into a cigar and Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) into an 
Eskimo moccasin. "Homeland Security Secretary Michael Cheroot called the 
Coast Guard documents 'an early report,' " the AP reported. "Pressed by 
Sen. Barbara Mukluks, D-Md., Cheroot said he saw the Coast Guard memo 
'about a week ago.' "

Only Vice President Cheney found a way to avoid any discussion of the 
port deal. He gave a 24-minute speech to the American Legion without 
even a peep about Dubai Ports World -- and he left without taking questions.

Mehlman, at the Jewish group, attempted the same strategy, at first 
telling the audience he wouldn't take questions. When organizers 
resisted, he agreed to take questions on index cards screened by a 
moderator. The gambit worked: Mehlman's four questions were soft, 
including one asking him about "the leadership the president has shown" 
on Sudan.

His boss was not so lucky. In the Oval Office photo op with Italy's 
Silvio Berlusconi, the president spoke about Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, 
the Olympics -- anything but the ports. But, inevitably, a reporter 
floated a port question.

"My position hasn't changed," Bush snapped, suggesting to members of 
Congress to "please look at the facts."

When he finished his answer, he turned to the interpreter. "You don't 
need to interpret," the president said. "That's a U.S. question."

There was good cause for the presidential prickliness. A new CBS 
News-New York Times poll found Bush's support at 34 percent -- only 18 
percent rated Cheney favorably -- with just 21 percent favoring the 
United Arab Emirates deal.

Republican lawmakers continued to drift from Bush on the port deal.

Sen. Olympia J. Snowe (Maine) signed a letter to the administration 
demanding more answers. Sen. Judd Gregg (N.H.) used a subcommittee 
hearing he chaired to accuse the administration of adding "further 
confusion" with its explanation of the Coast Guard memo questioning the 
deal.

At another hearing, Sen. James M. Inhofe (Okla.) said he had no security 
worries about the deal, but he still criticized the administration for 
"allowing people to demagogue this thing."

And Rep. John A. Boehner (Ohio), giving his first sit-down session with 
reporters since becoming House majority leader, said he remained "a bit 
surprised no one on the political level is part of this process."

It was becoming clear that the president was not going to bid this issue 
Dubai anytime soon. The White House tried, gamely, to move on. The press 
office issued a presidential proclamation announcing "Save Your Vision 
Week, 2006." A few hours later, Bush boarded Air Force One for a trip to 
the relative tranquility of India.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/28/AR2006022801433.html
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