Daily Record: N.J. will sue to stop Arab company's port takeover

[PhilipShore]

Daily Record
N.J. will sue to stop Arab company's port takeover
02/22/06

http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060222/NEWS01/602220325/1005

TRENTON -- New Jersey, with ports at both ends of the state, announced on Tuesday that it would sue the federal government to reveal what data the Bush administration used to welcome management of six U.S. seaports by a company owned by a tiny Arabian Peninsula nation, the United Arab Emirates.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will sue in Superior Court to attempt to terminate its lease at Port Newark. The state will sue in federal court based on the 10th Amendment, which grants independent sovereignty to the states.

"I think there is deep, deep feeling that this is the wrong direction," said Gov. Jon S. Corzine, calling the idea a "grave risk"because he said the UAE has been too close to anti-American, Islamic fundamentalism.

The news came as an avalanche of criticism, from politicians in both major parties, rained down on the decision that looked too much, to many lawmakers, like a weakening of counter-terror vigilance. Former Gov. Richard J. Codey called it "like playing Russian roulette with homeland security."