by Douglas DeBono, 2006

ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED AT StandingOrders.BlogSpot.Com, March 23, 2006

The Department of Homeland Security is really mislabeled. Once again, they've blown a serious bolt.

The image is of a radiation detector for scanning cargo containers. DHS has issued a no-bid contract to Hutchinson Whampoa Ltd. to run this operation in Freeport, Bahamas.

A little history lesson: Hutchinson Whampoa Ltd. is an extension of the Chinese military and it one the bribery (eh, I mean bidding war) to control the Panama Canal. It won a 25 year lease with an option for another 25 years. Yes boys and girls, Slick Willy sat by while the Chinese Communists took control of a major asset in the western hemisphere.

Freeport, Bahamas is the largest Free Trade Zone in the western hemisphere. That translates into a lot of cargo. What strikes me odd here is that a couple of years ago, the Bush Administration blocked a subsidiary company from taking control of Global Crossing (for national security concerns). In 1999 the Pentagon had a secret report citing Hutchinson Whampoa Ltd. as a potential security risk for smuggling arms and contraband into the country through Freeport.

Suddenly, its just dandy to hand over security for radiation detection to a Chinese Asset. While Hutchinson Whampoa Ltd. is technically distinct from the Beijing Government, there are major connections between senior company executives and senior Politburo members.

Lest we forget these are the same benevolent folks that forced down a Navy Rivet Joint recon plane in April 2001, and they have several nuclear missiles pointed at the western United States.

China has not renounced its claim on Taiwan. It has not retargeted its missiles, and it continues to build a military machine far in excess of its needs. Besides they are communists and how do you know a communist is lying--their lips are moving.