NY Daily News- Pols say Bush's new Dubai deal will float

Saturday April 29, 2006

From NY Daily News:

Pols say Bush's new Dubai deal will float

Saturday, April 29th, 2006

WASHINGTON - President Bush signed off yesterday on the sale of another U.S. company to a Dubai business, but unlike the botched ports deal, this one is headed for smooth sailing.

Bush said an extensive review by an interagency committee that vets the national security implications of such sales had determined there was no reason to block the deal.

"I'm convinced, at the recommendation of the ... committee, as well as our military, that it's a sale that should go through," Bush told reporters.

Legislators who led the opposition to the ports deal said they expected to support the sale of Ross Catherall U.S. Holdings Inc., which makes engine parts for Pentagon jets and tanks, to a Dubai holding company.

"This is a product, not a service," said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). "The opportunity to infiltrate and sabotage is both more difficult and more detectable."

Rep. Peter King (R-L.I.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told the Daily News he believes Congress will back this deal. "This has been a far more thorough investigation," King said, "and I'm confident there will not be another firestorm."

Last month a public furor forced the administration to scrub a deal that would have allowed a subsidiary of Dubai-based DP World to operate ports in Manhattan, Newark and four other cities.

Thomas M. DeFrank

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