Dean trumpets Democrats for derailing the Dubai plan
WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the Democratic National Committee yesterday accused Republicans of having a ''pre-9/11 mind-set" on ensuring safety at US ports.
In his party's weekly radio address, Howard Dean trumpeted the Democrats' success in helping to derail a plan for a Dubai-owned company to manage some operations at six US ports.
Bush strongly backed the deal involving the United Arab Emirates-based company, but many lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, opposed having a foreign government oversee operations at ports vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
DP World said Thursday it would transfer terminal operations at six ports to a US entity, sparing Bush a veto showdown with GOP lawmakers.
However, the Financial Times of London reported Friday that DP World is considering retaining a 49 percent interest in the port operations. A DP World spokesman could not confirm the report.
''America had a great victory this week in the war on terror," Dean said in the radio address. ''Key Democratic senators and representatives forced President Bush to give up the idea that six major American ports should be run by a foreign country." 