Condi, Chertoff defend outsourcing port security to Arab country with troubling ties to terrorism

And these are the people who are going to keep us safe? How people still believe that George Bush is good on terrorism is beyond me. He was the President during the worst attack ever on American soil. Bush apologists pretend there was no way to avoid that attack. But, Bush was warned on August 6, 2001 -- five weeks prior to September 11th -- the Bin Laden was determined to attack in the U.S. -- his response was to stay on vacation.

So, the fact that the Bush administration is turning over the security of American ports to the United Arab Emirates --a country with ties to the 9/11 hijackers --shouldn't be all that shocking. Just give some serious consideration to this thought: Bush is proactively putting foreigners, in this case foreigners with ties to terror, in charge of the security of our homeland. As AP notes:

Critics have cited the UAE's history as an operational and financial base for the hijackers who carried out the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In addition, they contend the UAE was an important transfer point for shipments of smuggled nuclear components sent to Iran, North Korea and Libya by a Pakistani scientist.

Now, imagine a Democrat cutting a deal with the United Arab Emirates. But, instead, Bush's lackies have been out defending this latest outrage. Today, Chertoff, the guy who oversaw the complete failure of Katrina defended the deal:

Chertoff defended the security review of Dubai Ports World of the United Arab Emirates, the company given permission to take over the port operations. Chertoff said the government typically builds in "certain conditions or requirements that the company has to agree to make sure we address the national security concerns." But Chertoff declined to discuss specifics saying that information is classified.

"We make sure there are assurances in place, in general, sufficient to satisfy us that the deal is appropriate from a national security standpoint," Chertoff said on ABC's "This Week."

Condi has also been out spinning this one. Don't forget, she was National Security Director when the U.S. was attacked on our own soil:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Arab journalists in an interview Friday at the State Department, that it was "the considered opinion of the U.S. government that this can go forward." She pledged to work with Congress because "perhaps people will need better explanation and will need to understand some of the process that we have gone through."

Yes, Condi, you just spin us some more on this one.

You know how Karl Rove keeps saying terror and security are going to be the top political issues for the GOP this year? Well, the GOP just gave a big part of that issue to the Democrats. Let's see if they can capitalize on it.