March 6, 2006
The Huffington Post

How Money Is Clouding the Ports Deal Debate

by Arianna Huffington

The establishment's full-throated support of the Dubai ports deal is an object lesson in how huge amounts of money can cloud the thinking of people on both sides of the political spectrum.

The latest example of someone whose judgment has been clouded by cash is Jack Kemp. . . .

What Kemp didn't say is that the UAE has invested millions in Free Market Global, an energy-trading company that he chairs.

. . . Gen. Tommy Franks, whom Kemp used as his debating trump card -- quoting both in print and on Meet the Press the General extolling the Emirates -- is on the advisory board of Free Market Global, and stands to profit from maintaining good relations with the oil-rich emirs. . . .

. . . Cheney was the real force behind the administration's rapid approval of the Dubai deal.

. . . Carlucci is the chairman emeritus of the Carlyle Group, the Bushies' favorite private equity firm. Carlyle has received at least $100 million in funding from the ruling families of...yep, the UAE. . . .

And then, as Lloyd Grove reports, there is Clinton's lucrative relationship with Ron Burkle's private investment firm, Yucaipa, which has partnered with Dubai in bidding on some major investment deals. . . .

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Edward Alden, Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Demetri Sevastopulo, "Dubai cedes control in US ports battle," Financial Times, March 9, 2006

[The new public infrastructure investment group is co-headed by Robert Dove, former executive vice president at Bechtel Enterprises, and Barry Gold, former managing director and co-head of the structured finance group at Citigroup/Salomon Smith Barney.--Ben Hammer, "Carlyle Group explores acquisition of port operations," Washington Business Journal, March 10, 2006]