WASHINGTON — A state-owned Arab company seeking to take over operations at port facilities in six U.S. cities asked the U.S. government Sunday to conduct a new security review of the transaction, sparing President Bush -- at least for the time being -- a politically uncomfortable showdown with members of his own party.
Dubai Ports World, owned by one of the sheikdoms that make up the United Arab Emirates, announced it was requesting the 45-day review as lawmakers prepared to introduce legislation to block the sale until its potential effect on national security could be more thoroughly studied.
The Treasury Department said Sunday that the review would begin as soon as the request was formally received. Key lawmakers said they expected that the review would be more rigorous than the initial examination of the deal.
"There has to be a real investigation," said Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, who is among a large bipartisan contingent in Congress skeptical of the administration's contention that there is no security risk in a private British firm's sale of its U.S. operations to a company owned by an Arab government.
The Bush administration has said the proposed sale was thoroughly vetted and that no further examination was needed.
But administration officials Sunday expressed support for the new review in the hopes that it would calm the political storm and allow the transaction to proceed smoothly.
"Anything that permits there to be additional time so that more people can learn the facts as we learned them is to the better," White House domestic security advisor Frances Townsend told "Fox News Sunday." "Once people understand ... that this is really a commercial deal where the security concerns have been addressed, that's a good thing."
In requesting the new review, Edward Bilkey, the Dubai company's chief operating officer, said in a written statement that the company wanted to "assure people that the security of the U.S. will not be harmed" by the takeover.
"We hope that voluntarily agreeing to further scrutiny demonstrates our commitment to our long-standing relationship with the United States," the statement said.
The Dubai company's purchase of London-based Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which operates 29 container terminals worldwide, is scheduled to close Thursday. Dubai Ports World announced last week that it would delay taking control of the U.S. facilities included in the $6.85-billion deal until security concerns were addressed.
