Another Port Story: Hong Kong Co Wants Cargo Security
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Another Port Story: Hong Kong Co Wants Cargo Security
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
[Now a Hong Kong company is angling for a no-bid contract to handle nuclear
security cargo screening in the Bahamas for the US. This time, the Bush
regime is sending Homeland Hyseria Czar Chertoff off to "tour" a Hong Kong
port run by the same company, which is owned by someone described as "Asia's
richest man." They also gave a heads-up to Republicans in Congress to avoid
another firestorm. The real problem is: Aside from a very few corporations,
like Halliburton, there aren't any companies left inside the US who can
handle jobs like this one, and certainly not on the cheap. Global capitalism
and xenophobia are bound to clash.-NYTr]
AFP via Yahoo - Apr 1, 2006
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060401/pl_afp/hongkongussecurity_060401171219&printer=1;_ylt=AhhZtTTtRxTegAAEr1mFmbOtOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-
US homeland security chief visits Hong Kong port
US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff toured a port in Hong Kong
operated by Hutchison Whampoa, which is negotiating with Washington for a
major contract in the Bahamas.
Chertoff inspected operations and met with officials at the Kwai Chung Port
in the former British colony, the US consulate said in a statement.
Hutchison, the world's largest ports operator controlled by Asia's richest
man Li Ka-shing, had said the deal with Washington would involve the
screening of cargo entering the Bahamas for radioactive material.
The deal has not been finalized and no agreement has been signed, the
company has said.
Chertoff's visit to Hong Kong was part of a wider trip through Asia, with
stops in Tokyo, Singapore and Beijing.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse.
***
AP via Yahoo - Mar 31, 2006
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060401/ap_on_go_pr_wh/port_security_bahamas_2&printer=1;_ylt=AmPKNKAODawHAscPo_nbCWsGw_IE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-
White House Tipped Lawmakers to Port Story
By TED BRIDIS
Associated Press Writer
Anxious to avoid new flare-ups over seaport security, the White House
alerted dozens of Republican lawmakers on the eve of a story by The
Associated Press on the subject and provided their staffs with an advance
briefing.
The March 22 briefing involved between 50 and 100 congressional offices,
participants said. It focused, they said, on an AP story being published the
next day that disclosed that the Bush administration was hiring a Hong Kong
conglomerate to help detect nuclear materials inside cargo passing through
the Bahamas.
The no-bid, $6 million contract represents the first time a foreign company
will be involved in running sophisticated U.S. radiation-detection equipment
at an overseas port without the presence of U.S. Customs agents. The deal
involves a company, Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., that some Republicans have cited
for national security concerns in the past.
By the time the briefing took place, the AP had conducted numerous
interviews with administration officials and they were familiar with the
issues that would be raised in the story.
Though administration briefings for Congress are common, participants said
the conference call was unusual because of the number of people involved and
because the topic was a yet-to-be-published story.
The call was "to let them know we anticipated a story," said White House
spokeswoman Dana Perino, who participated in the briefing. She and other
participants said Republicans were not coached about whether or how to react
to the story.
Earlier this year, an outcry by Republicans in Congress scuttled plans to
permit a Dubai-owned company to take over significant operations at major
American ports.
"Having their fingers burned, they're being more active in making sure the
Hill knows," said Republican consultant Rich Galen.
Though Democrats and newspaper editorials have raised questions about the
Hutchison deal since the story, Republicans have remained largely mute. This
week, the administration announced it would negotiate with Bahamian
officials to station Customs inspectors there by fall.
Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press.
*
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Four-Way Windowpane
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> Hash: SHA1
>
> Another Port Story: Hong Kong Co Wants Cargo Security
>
> Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
>
> [Now a Hong Kong company is angling for a no-bid contract to handle nuclear
> security cargo screening in the Bahamas for the US. This time, the Bush
> regime is sending Homeland Hyseria Czar Chertoff off to "tour" a Hong Kong
> port run by the same company, which is owned by someone described as "Asia's
> richest man." They also gave a heads-up to Republicans in Congress to avoid
> another firestorm. The real problem is: Aside from a very few corporations,
> like Halliburton, there aren't any companies left inside the US who can
> handle jobs like this one, and certainly not on the cheap. Global capitalism
> and xenophobia are bound to clash.-NYTr]
Oh, that makes a lot of sense, giving the security screening contract
to a country that we likely will go to war with in the near future.
China could move thousands of nuclear weapons into the country, hide
them in every U.S. city, then on the day we go to war detonate them
all by remote control. All the trillions of dollars we spent on
radar, missile defense systems, and giant laser space frisbees won't
matter as every American city is simultaneously destroyed by the
Chinese nukes buried underneath them. Chinese agents could also be
smuggled in that way.
And why are there no American companies that can handle the job? And
if not, why can't the U.S. government handle it?