Dubai Ports World has had enough, and they’re not going to take it anymore.
The United Arab Emirates company that was attempting to take over management operations at six U.S. ports announced today that it will divest itself of all American interests.
The announcement appears to head off a major confrontation that was brewing between Congress and the Bush administration over the controversial deal.
It was not immediately clear how the divesture would be handled or what U.S. company would take over the operation.
As much as the president wanted this deal to go through, it was dead the minute the blogosphere took hold of the topic. Soon after, the MSM grabbed on and then the calls started coming in from voters nationwide. That’s when Congress’ ears perked up, and all the action started.
We haven’t reached the end on this deal though
White House officials have not backed down in the face of the brewing revolt, however. At the same time the GOP leadership was meeting with Bush, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan repeated Bush’s vow to veto any legislation that interferes with the deal. He has made clear the president’s position is unchanged.
I still don’t know why the president is willing to go to the mat on this whole matter, especially if he didn’t know about it until after his administration had given it the green light. There seems to be a whole lot more to this story than we know today.
I think books will be written on this subject and only then will we see the full picture. For now it’s an explicitly divisive political issue, one that won’t go away as long as Bush continues the fight.