Bush Sneaky Bahamas Ports Deal

Here we go again!

Before the dust even settles......on the United Arab Emirates-owned Dubai Ports World deal for the management of or a presence in 24 U.S. ports; and, the Inchcape Shipping Services deal involving more than a dozen U.S. ports and our U.S. Navy ship schedules....we have uncovered the latest Bush administration "deal" as reported by the Associated Press.

And, such a deal, for China.

Of course, the Chinese military already manage the Panama Canal and a deep-sea port in Los Angeles. Not satisfied with these security risks, the Bush administration has hired, with a no-bid contract, the Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, to run a sophisticated U.S. radiation detector for cargo passing through the Bahamas to the United States and elsewhere.

And, there will be no American customs agents present.

Supervised by Bahamian customs officials, Hutchison employees will drive the towering, truck-like radiation scanner over large cargo containers looking for radiation that might be emitted by plutonium or a radiological weapon.

The billionaire chairman of Hutchison, Li Ka-Shing, is described by Larry M. Wortzel of the U.S. Commission who studies China security and economic issues as "pretty close to a lot of senior leaders of the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist party." Others not so touchy about administration reaction just say his firm has ties to China's armed forces.

A U. S. military 1999 intelligence report once marked "secret" cited Hutchison's port operations as a potential risk for smuggling arms and other prohibited materials into the United States from the Bahamas.

Whoa!

Where are our Senators on this? Who reviewed this deal? Why are we so stupid?

The Bush administration has convinced us that terrorists are everywhere just waiting to hurt and destroy us. So why are they continuing to keep us at risk with their ports, borders and illegal immigration policies?

Just who is in charge anyway?

The increasingly dawning reality seems to be "no one."

Or, at least no one with our best national interests in mind.