From AP
"WASHINGTON - President Bush was unaware of the pending sale of shipping operations at six major U.S. seaports to a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates until the deal already had been approved by his administration, the White House said Wednesday." More on the flip.
I can't entirely decide what to make of this. I'm inclined to disbelieve it. After all, this is the guy who "didn't anticipate the levees would break" when the white house knew about them earler than that statement. So on one hand, it seems like this is a cover-one's-ass operation by Bush as he sees the political trouble this port is causing with both parties. On the other, possibly more frightening, hand, lies the possibilty that he genuinely didn't know about the deal until after it was approved. In that case, who the hell is making these deals? It seems like the type of thing that, call me crazy, a president should know about. This story lends itself more and more to the theory of secretive insiders doing the real policy business in this country. Of course, after what we've been seeing for the past years of this administration, why should anyone be surprised?