[Verjee:] Welcome back to YOUR WORLD TODAY here on CNN International. A delegation of Dubai's port authority is making the rounds in Washington, trying to win over U.S. lawmakers. Some in Congress are trying to block a deal which essentially allows a Dubai-based company to manage six major U.S. seaports. Do lawmakers have a real reason to be concerned, or is Capitol Hill just making the takeover a bigger deal than it actually should be? Jim Boulden reports.
[Jim Boulden, Cnn Correspondent:] The list of U.S. lawmakers who want to block Dubai's takeover of Britain's P&O; continues to grow. But there have been no such concerns in 18 other countries where P&O; has port operations. Dubai Ports World's $6.8 billion friendly takeover of P&O; is to be completed in a few weeks. And the British government, for one, has had little to say other than it's one company taking over another. That lack of concern is no surprise to some security experts who say the Dubai port has one of the best safety records.
[Robert Springborg, Middle East Export:] This is an efficient port, well run. Security has been 100 percent. They've had no incidents there. They trade with everyone. They traded with the Islamic republic in Iran since the very since 1979, since it was created. They've traded with the Saudis, of course. So they trade with everybody and do it extremely efficiently.
[Boulden:] The U.S. ports in question are owned by state or local authorities. P&O; and others rent space from them. It's different in the U.K. British ports were privatized years ago. While P&O; owns none of them, it is a joint operator of South Hampton Port. Still, only 4 percent of its business is in Britain. And just 6 percent in the United States. Most of its business is now in fast- growing Asia. That's why P&O; was a takeover target for Dubai. And for the most part, P&O; handles the logistics imports.
[Robert Wright, Financial Times:] P&O; operates container terminals. When you listen to the way that some of the lawmakers have talked about it, they've been talking about it as if this company is going control the whole port of New York, New Jersey. That's very far from the case.
[Boulden:] Each country has its own port security systems in place, but most of the containers which go in and out are unchecked. Security has more to do with theft. Analysts are puzzled by the outcry in the U.S. because port security there is run by federal agencies, along with the states. [on camera]: As they watch the dogfight in the U.S. over the Dubai takeover, observers here detect a political point-scoring as much as genuine security concerns. Jim Boulden, CNN, London.
[Clancy:] Well, joining us now to discuss some of the concerns by U.S. lawmakers over this U.S. ports row, we have Democratic congressman from Massachusetts Ed Markey. He's joining us from Washington. He's also a member of the Homeland Security Committee. Congressman, thank you very much for being with us.
[Rep. Ed Markey , Homeland Security Committee:] Thank you.
[Clancy:] And let me just begin right here. Arabs says this is racist. If it was anybody else who was taking it over, other than a Muslim, an Islamic country, an Arab country, there wouldn't be this outcry.
[Markey:] Absolutely not the case. What we have here on our hands is a Bush administration which has nickeled and dimed the program to secure nuclear materials around the globe. We know that al Qaeda wants to obtain nuclear materials. And so it makes it easier to do that. We also know that the Bush administration has a program which is an EZ Pass program, whereby in the ports around the world you can get an EZ Pass. No inspection of your of your containers to put those containers on ships heading to the United States. Here in the United States, there's a program that only inspects 2 to 4 percent of cargo as it hits our ports. Now, on top of that, the Bush administration is now going to allow a foreign government to play the role in the unloading of all of this cargo as it is now in the American ports. And we know that al Qaeda wants to get nuclear materials on to a flatbed truck. And explode a nuclear device in an American city. So the continuum all the way through is a program of the Bush administration spending a little money in order to secure what we believe to a very vulnerable aperture that al Qaeda will seek to exploit in order to have a nuclear explosion in an American city.
[Clancy:] All right. What we seem to have here is a mixture of fiction and a mixture of fact. Yes, it's true P&O; is going to be owned with this takeover, going to be owned by the United Arab Emirates. Yes, it is true that al Qaeda wants to get a dirty bomb or some kind of nuclear material into the United States for a terrorist attack. At least that's what they've said. But is it true that this company actually oversees the security? They don't.
[Markey:] Well, this company would be one that unloads the cargo. So, in other words...
[Clancy:] But they don't do the security on the cargo. All they do is unload it. The ships come in and they unload it. No matter who's running the port, whether it's an American company, a British company, a company owned by the United Arab Emirates, somebody is going to unload the cargo, right?
[Markey:] Right. That's correct.
[Clancy:] So OK, they're going to be doing it. But who's going to be doing the security? Is it them?
[Markey:] Well, again, there's very little security. Only 2 to 4 percent of the cargo is inspected. And so, if you then have a foreign country, United Arab Emirates, responsible for the hiring of the people who unload the cargo, because the Bush administration has this EZ Pass program overseas, where it's not inspected there, because it is nickel and diming nuclear security overseas, you now have this as the last point where you're checking, and you have a foreign government, the United Arab Emirates, hiring the people who are unloading this cargo, knowing that only 2 to 4 percent of it is going to be inspected at this last juncture before. If they exploit it, al Qaeda is able to move nuclear material into America.
[Clancy:] Congressman...
[Markey:] What I know is that in Boston, Mohammed Atta and nine other terrorists found a way of bringing box cutters on to planes. And they determined to find the easiest way to get them on to the planes. And it was all legal. Here, al Qaeda will be looking for the easiest way through. And what the Bush administration has set up is a roadmap to bring that nuclear material in with the least amount of likelihood that there will be a successful inspection. We can't have commerce...
[Clancy:] All right. Congressman...
[Markey:] We can't have commerce compromise national security.
[Clancy:] All right.
[Markey:] And that's what's happening.
[Clancy:] Congressman, is this a bit of a silver lining for you? Now, you and it's only fair to say to everyone in our world audience here, Congressman Markey has been talking about port security a long time, before we ever heard about a UAE takeover of P&O; lines. So, this has been your issue. You're getting it out to the floor now. The security wasn't there before the UAE was going to buy this company.
[Markey:] Thank you. That's exactly the point. In a way, this is a silver lining. We finally are having the discussion about port security that has been lacking. The Republicans in the House and the Senate have consistently voted down any program that would have real security overseas, in the ports overseas before any of this cargo is ever placed on a ship. They have nickel and dimed the Nunn-Lugar program to find the nuclear material, to secure it before it hits the ports overseas that then hits the ports in the United States. So all of this is now part of a puzzle which is coming together, I think, in the minds of the American people. And the fact that they are now allowing a foreign government, the United Arab Emirates, which has a spotty record, by the way, on security, to have responsibility at that last point, I think, is really going to help us to ratchet up the funding in the budget this year, over the objection, by the way, of the Republican House and Senate which has blocked it for the last four and a half years.
[Clancy:] Democratic congressman from Massachusetts Ed Markey. I want to thank you for being with us on
[Your World Today. Markey:] Thank you
[Verjee:] We're going to bring you a roundup of our business news. That's next here on
[Your World Today. Clancy:] Yes. And our question of the day relates to the bird flu story. This is the question for you: Would you stop eating poultry if bird flu was confirmed in your country?
[Verjee:] E-mail us your thoughts at YWT@CNN.com. And we're going to read some of them here later on YOUR WORLD TODAY.