Malkin: No More Business as Usual

In her post today, Michelle Malkin tears apart the Bush Administration and the WSJ editors backing it up on the Dubai Ports selloff:

The Journal approvingly cites the blessing of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which "includes representatives from the departments of Treasury, Defense and Homeland Security," but offers nothing more.

Do not be reassured. The business-as-usual Journal editorial writers may have complete faith in this panel's dealings. You should not.

Contrary to the official assurances that this deal has been "thoroughly reviewed" by the authorities, Michelle points out that neither President Bush nor Secretary Rumsfeld was even aware of the deal until it had already been approved by the administration. Further, it's now come to light that the entire "review" took place over a course of about 20 days. The CFIUS failed to perform even the minimum 45-day review required by law. Apparently, no one at CFIUS can explain why this statutorily-mandated review wasn't done:

a 1993 amendment to the law stipulates that such an investigation is mandatory when the acquiring company is controlled by or acting on behalf of a foreign government. Administration officials said they conducted additional inquires because of the ties to the United Arab Emirates, but they could not say why a 45-day investigation did not occur.

As with all too many Bush Administration projects, the more I learn about this, the less reassured I feel.

Over at the Jawa Report, the Dread Pundit Bluto doesn't think it'll really make much of a difference either way, given the current lax state of security at America's ports. Dr. Rusty Shackleford has a different take, advising that we not lose sight of the very important distinction between "allies" and "friends."