Posted by Mark Silva at 4:25 pm CST
So we've landed in Shannon, Ireland to jettison the crew from the charter ferrying the press to India and pick up some new fuel and a fresh crew. (Which begs the question about what sort of shape we'll be in when we reach New Delhi.)
President Bush is breathing a sigh of relief as well, departing from Washington and the crisis of the week, the big port sale.
Bush was ready to jettison the hanging issue of his own long week in Washington, making it clear that he expects nothing less than a ratification of the purchase of American shipping port terminal operations by Dubai Ports World after the United Arab Emirates-owned firm undergoes a voluntary 45-day review of the deal. Bush was asked about all of this during an appearance alongside Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at the White House today before boarding Air Force One for his own passage to India.
"My position hasn't changed to my message to the Congress," Bush said, and that's a direct quote.
"And I appreciate the fact that the companies concerned have asked the Congress for a review of all the security implications," he said. " Let me just make something clear to the American people. If there was any doubt in my mind, or people in my administration's mind, that our ports would be less secure and the American people endangered, this deal wouldn't go forward.
"And I can understand people's consternation because the first thing they heard was that a foreign company would be in charge of our port security, when, in fact, the Coast Guard and Customs are in charge of our port security," he said. "Our duty is to protect America, and we will protect America.
"On the other hand, this company is buying a British company that manages the ports. And by the way, there are a lot of foreign companies managing U.S. ports. And so my question to the members of Congress as they review this matter is, one, please look at the facts. And two, what kind of signal does it send throughout the world if it's okay for a British company to manage the ports, but not a company that has been secure -- been cleared for security purposes from the Arab world? So I look forward to a good, consistent review."
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Comments
I'm sure Bush is very excited to visit India, where he can tout all the lost American manufacturing jobs, flaunt his pro-outsourcing policies without the slightest bit of regard for the bigots and racists - words his administration has used to describe 67% of he people he leads - including folks like me who voted for him twice.
One would also think the Indians will be happy to see Bush, and probably hope he'd anounce a free trade deal with India or offer to sell them the rest of American Ports, military bases, public schools and Universities.
Unfortunately it seems the indians aren't happy to see Bush, if the indian press is any measure of how the people feel. But who cares what a people extremely obsessed with becoming a "superpower" have to say?
What I find irritating however, is why and how each time I read anything about India, in the Nytimes, Washington Post and sometimes the Tribune, its usually written by some nationalistic Indian who poses as an objective journalist, singing their usual but boring praise about their native country. Didn't know there's an acute shortage of Americans who can describe Indian-American relations from our point of view.
You'd read how superb the Indian economy's doing, how Americans are just hated all over the world, how Bush must compete for india's friendship, how the Americans now have a serious global competitor, how Bollywood's taking over Hollywood - as if thats a bad thing.
I can manage these rants in the times of India, but the Nytimes? Washington Post? Chicago Tribune? It almost seems like they've become bribed cheerleaders of this impoverished and over-stratified anti-American country, while at the same time marketing the US as country that tortures, human rights violators and Abu Ghraib lovers.
I also thought it was the media's job to inform America how and why this trip is worth anyone's notice, other than physical evidence that Bush's out-sourcing policies and disregard for America's dwindling manufacturing base are producing results in India and China?
As many of us watch Bush live in his own special world, all republicans facing elections in november must emphatically steer clear from Bush and his clintonian internationalism. We have problems here in America. Charity they say, begins right here at home. They can start with New Orleans.
Posted by: TJ | March 1, 2006 3:00 AM