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Dubai company will oversee some U.S. defense contractors

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published April 29, 2006

WASHINGTON - President Bush has approved the takeover by a Dubai-owned company of American plants that make parts for jets and tanks after a review that seems to have satisfied lawmakers who helped block an earlier Dubai deal.

Bush said Friday the proposed sale of a U.S. subsidiary of a British precision engineering firm to the Dubai company "has been looked at very carefully." He said he had signed off on the transaction after receiving recommendations from the Pentagon and a committee that reviews security-related sales to foreign entities.

Initial reaction from Capitol Hill was favorable. "This investigation was a significant improvement over what happened before," said House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y. "It's been much more thorough, much more detailed."

King was referring to the controversy over the proposed takeover of operations at several major U.S. ports by another Dubai-owned company, DP World. The company announced last month it was selling its interests in the ports to an American buyer after lawmakers protested that DP World's running of the ports posed an unacceptable security risk.

Dubai, now a strong U.S. ally, in the past has been a base for terrorist activities.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., an opponent of the port deal, also said he did not plan to oppose the transaction.

"There are two differences between this deal and the Dubai ports deal," he said in a statement. "First, this went through the process in a careful, thoughtful way; and, second, this is a product, not a service, and the opportunity to infiltrate and sabotage is both more difficult and more detectable."

This time, the transaction involves the sale of Ross Catherall U.S. Holdings Inc., which is owned by the British Doncasters Group Ltd., to Dubai International Capital LLC. Dubai International, the investment arm of Dubai Holding, announced in December that it had signed an agreement to acquire Doncasters for 700-million pounds ($1.25-billion) from Royal Bank of Scotland Equity Finance.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Friday that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the 12-agency panel that reviews transactions involving national security, went through an unusually lengthy review of the proposed deal.

WASHINGTON - The Army on Friday charged the former head of the interrogation center at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq with cruelty and maltreatment, dereliction of duty and other criminal offenses for his alleged involvement in the abuse of detainees at the notorious prison in 2003 and for interfering with the abuse investigation.

Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan was charged with 12 counts of violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for seven separate offenses.

He is the highest-ranking officer at Abu Ghraib to face criminal charges.

A preliminary hearing, often referred to as the military equivalent of a grand jury investigation, will be held when Jordan's defense counsel is ready but no date has been set, according to an announcement of the charges by the Military District of Washington.

Officers above Jordan's rank have been reprimanded and relieved of command, including Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who was in charge of the U.S.-run prison system that included the Abu Ghraib compound. But none of those have faced criminal charges.

The much-investigated abuses at Abu Ghraib included sexual humiliation and physical abuse of Iraqi detainees, and their disclosure two years ago triggered a firestorm of international protests.

[Last modified April 29, 2006, 01:18:13]