Portgate: Terrorism, what terrorism?

Oops. As if the news couldn't get any worse for the White House on the Dubai deal story, it has been revealed by a prominent Republican Congressman that there was in fact no investigation into whether Dubai Ports World, the U.A.E.-owned company at the center of Portgate, has or has had connections to terrorists. From CNN:

A review of a United Arab Emirates-owned company's plan to take over a portion of operations at key U.S. ports never looked into whether the company had ties to al Qaeda or other terrorists, a key Republican lawmaker told CNN on Wednesday.

Rep. Peter King of New York, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said officials from the Homeland Security and Treasury departments told him weeks ago that their 30-day review of the deal did not look into the question of links between DP World and al Qaeda...

"There was no real investigation conducted during the 30-day period," King, who has been a vocal critic of the deal, told CNN. "I can't emphasize this enough."

King's comments appear to contradict testimony by administration officials before Congress this week that a through review of any terrorism ties had occurred during the initial review of the deal.

Indeed they do. And, as Joe Gandelman puts it succinctly: "Every day the administration is looking worse and worse." He has more here.

But let me ask you this: How safe do you feel with George W. Bush, self-proclaimed "war president," in the Oval Office? Do you sleep snugly at night thinking that he's doing what's right for America? Or are you not a little concerned that maybe, just maybe, he doesn't really know what he's doing?