XPost: uk.politics.misc, alt.politics.british, alt.conspiracy   
   XPost: alt.conspiracy.new-world-order, alt.america, us.politics   
   From: 7won-t15h@dea.spamcon.org   
      
   mimus wrote:   
   > On Wed, 29 Mar 2006 01:11:52 +0100, Stephen Glynn wrote:   
   >   
   >> mimus wrote:   
   >>> On Tue, 28 Mar 2006 23:27:49 +0100, hummingbird wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>> On Tue, 28 Mar 2006 16:29:20 -0500, mimus    
   >>>>  mysteriously appeared thru the usenet mist to inform us thus...   
   >>>>   
   >>>>> Not to mention DHS Secretary Chertoff, who sees nothing wrong with Dubai   
   >>>>> and China overseeing port security here.   
   >>>> Except that in the ports deal, Dubai would never have been overseeing   
   >>>> security.   
   >>> Really? so it'd be fine, no danger to security at all, to have, say, Iran   
   >>> or Pakistan or North Korea run the ports?   
   >>>   
   >>> I think we should sell the ports of Houston and San Diego to the Mexican   
   >>> government-- I'm sure that'd be no danger to the immigration and smuggling   
   >>> laws.   
   >> Do you say that Britain has been responsible for the security of some US   
   >> ports in recent years, then?   
   >   
   > In that degree, apparently so.   
   >   
   > The bizarre part is, it's against US Federal law for international   
   > _airports_ in the US to be operated by foreign firms/ governments, out of   
   > longstanding security concerns-- but it's OK for _ports_ to be.   
   >   
      
   How does owning and operating a port equate to being responsible for its   
   security?  We in the UK don't really have a problem with this (well, I   
   don't); our police, customs, immigration and so on are nothing to with   
   whoever happens to own the port or airport -- the owners have to comply   
   with British law on how the facilities are operated, just as the British   
   owners of US ports have had to comply with the relevant US law.   
      
   I genuinely don't understand why it's a problem.   If you suspect the   
   operators -- be they American or foreign -- of breaking US law, then   
   presumably the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and God knows who   
   else, are capable of doing something about it.   
      
   Steve   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)