Transcript for February 26

MR. TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: This man tries to mount apolitical comeback after his ballot initiatives were soundly rejected by the voters. With us, in an exclusive interview: the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

But first, uproar over the Bush administration’s approval of a deal to hand over operations at six major American ports to a government-owned company from the United Arab Emirates.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D-N.Y.): This process is a failure of judgment.

MR. RUSSERT: The president stands firm.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: This wouldn’t be going forward if we weren’t certain that our ports would be secure.

MR. RUSSERT: And is Iraq on the verge of civil war?  What would that mean for U.S. troops?

With us: the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Republican Peter King of New York, and the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Republican John Warner of Virginia.

Gentlemen, welcome, both.

Let’s go right to it. Congressman King, there are reports that the White House and the company from Dubai are going to enter into a deal which would say that there’ll be a 45-day investigation to look again at this arrangement where the company from the United Arab Emirates would take over six American ports. What can you tell us?

REP. PETER KING (R-N.Y.): I’ve heard the same reports you have. Some people close to the negotiations have been talking to me, and it appears as if it’s almost wrapped up, but I don’t want to, you know, prejudge it. But they seem fairly confident that it is going to be announced relatively soon. If so, I think it’s a good step. We have to see all the details. And it has to be a real investigation. It’s the type of investigation that should have been conducted, quite frankly, when this process was under way. It shouldn’t be an add-on. But now that it is, I think it will be very positive step. It has to be a full and thorough investigation, because no investigation has been conducted up till now.

MR. RUSSERT: If there is a full and thorough investigation, and it comes back and says, “We can allow this deal to go forward. I, President Bush recommend it,” will that satisfy you?

REP. KING: I think Congress has to see the findings, Congress has to be made aware of it as it goes along, because they’re also saying that—Michael Chertoff, on your show last week, said there was an investigation which cleared this company, and there was no investigation. So we’ll have to see exactly what the report is, what the findings are, what the facts are, have that shared with Congress, and at that time we can decide.

MR. RUSSERT: Congressman, on Wednesday you were saying things like this:

“For a port manager to run the ports, they have to interface with our security forces. They have to work with the Coast Guard, they have to work with all the local authorities, which means they are within our defense perimeter. They know exactly what is being done as far as security, so they can easily infiltrate, they can easily take advantage of that. You know the old expression of bringing the fox into the chicken coop. You would be having a company right in there in the heart of our security operation. Whether or not they’re doing the security isn’t the main issue, the fact is they would be brought into the security nexus, into the security operations.” Is there anything that anyone can say that would make you feel comfortable with a company owned by the United Arab Emirates operating ports in America and involved in that security nexus?

REP. KING: First of all, I stand by everything I said, and I would have to be shown, to the extent that my opinion counts, I would have to be shown that there’s nobody in the government today, in UAE, which had ties to the Taliban or to al-Qaeda, no one within this company has any ties to al-Qaeda or to the Taliban. Because remember, this was only four and a half, five years ago that they were very close to bin Laden, they were supporting the Taliban. And unless there’s been a complete transformation, I have real concerns. And I think people who sort of glibly say, “Well, you know, they’re not going to handle security, UAE is a great ally,” four and a half years ago, they were not an ally, they were working with the enemy, and if those same people are still there today that were there then, these are real serious issues.

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