Bush family connections with United Arab Emirates

Why is President Bush so persistent about allowing a firm controlled by the United Arab Emirates to take complete command of six U.S. ports?  Some believe Bush is simply covering his tracks on an issue that Treasury Secretary John Snow did not fully brief him about.  By appearing defiantly in favor of the deal, Bush would look as if he was in control of the situation from the very beginning.  Others think that there is more to it.

This week on a CNN show hosted by Lou Dobbs, reporter Christine Romans uncovered the deep rooted connection between Bush's family and the United Arab Emirates -- a country that on one occasion held a formal meeting with Osama bin Laden.  Here is the transcript of the CNN report (watch the video here):

DOBBS: President Bush's family and members of the Bush administration have long-standing business connections with the United Arab Emirates, and those connections are raising new concerns and questions tonight in some quarters about why the president is defying his very own party leadership and his party in defending the Dubai port deal.

     Christine Romans reports. 

     (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The oil-rich United Arab Emirates is a major investor in The Carlyle Group, the private equity investment firm where President Bush's father once served as senior adviser and is a who's who of former high-level government officials. Just last year, Dubai International Capital, a government-backed buyout firm, invested in an $8 billion Carlyle fund.

Another family connection, the president's brother, Neil Bush, has reportedly received funding for his educational software company from the UAE investors. A call to his company was not returned.

Then there is the cabinet connection. Treasury Secretary John Snow was chairman of railroad company CSX/. After he left the company for the White House, CSX sold its international port operations to Dubai Ports World for more than a billion dollars.

In Connecticut today, Snow told reporters he had no knowledge of that CSX sale. "I learned of this transaction probably the same way members of the Senate did, by reading about it in the newspapers."

Another administration connection, President Bush chose a Dubai Ports World executive to head the U.S. Maritime Administration. David Sanborn, the former director of Dubai Ports' European and Latin American operations, he was tapped just last month to lead the agency that oversees U.S. port operations.

     (END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Now, some members of Congress, some of whom have already confirmed Sanborn, say they'd like to take a closer look at this nomination. But it's not just administration connections that Dubai has in this deal, Lou. It's now aggressively lining up representation on the Hill, bipartisan representation.

DOBBS: Lobbyists as representation, including Bob Dole. It's a remarkable effort. It's a -- it can be a tremulous feeling to stand between $7 billion and those who want to exchange that money irrespective of the consequences.

     Thank you very much.

I'm not the biggest Michael Moore fan.  But the Bush Administration is making the producer's job easier, especially as Moore prepares to release his next anti-Bush film in 2008.