Dubai World Ports, a United Arab Emirates-owned company, has agreed to end the brouhaha over its plans to operate certain facilities at U.S. ports by turning all its U.S. port operations over to an American "entity," according to U.S. Sen. John Warner. Reading a statement from the port firm on the Senate Floor on Thursday, Warner (R-VA) said the ports group would take the action to preserve the strong relationship between the UAE and United States. The announcement came just a short time after Congressional leaders reportedly told President Bush that the deal for the UAE firm to take over operations at six U.S. ports appeared to be dead on Capitol Hill. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers had fought the deal on national security grounds, although the administration said there was no security risk.
