By Mary Fanning and Alan Jones | April 11, 2018
On Friday, April 6, 2018, the Board of Directors of Delaware’s Diamond State Port Corporation voted unanimously to transfer control of the Port of Wilmington, Delaware, a major strategic U.S. port, to UAE-based GULFTAINER through a $580 million 50-year lease.
Twelve years ago the UAE’s Dubai Ports World pulled out of a deal to take over operations at six U.S. ports amid congressional investigations and intense public scrutiny. Continue reading
FORMER DHS NYC CHIEF: GULFTAINER PORT CANAVERAL SECRET “PROJECT PELICAN” DEAL WORSE THAN IRAN-CONTRA AND WHITEWATER COMBINED; GULFTAINER CONNECTS TO JONATHAN WINER; GULFTAINER TAKING SECOND U.S. PORT
By Mary Fanning and Alan Jones
March 23, 2018
The Obama administration placed a declared enemy of the United States (who was on U.S. Central Command’s Operation Iraqi Freedom “Blacklist”) inside the wire at Port Canaveral, Florida with a 35-year cargo container terminal lease. That lease bypassed the congressionally-mandated national security review by 16 intelligence agencies.
In 2014 Obama and Clinton operatives positioned Gulftainer, a Middle Eastern ports company, only a few thousand feet from U.S. Navy Trident submarines at Port Canaveral and within sight of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Gulftainer is now embedded amidst America’s most sensitive space, naval submarine, and air force defense installations. Continue reading
By Mary Fanning and Alan Jones | February 5, 2018
Gulftainer is connected to the Uranium One deal.
Gulftainer is the Iraqi Jafar family’s UAE-based ports company that is tightly connected to Russia and Saddam Hussein’s nuclear weapons programs.
In 2014 the Obama administration awarded Gulftainer with a 35-year lease to Florida’s Port Canaveral cargo container terminal in a secret deal code-named “Project Pelican.”
Left image: Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Board of Rosatom’s Inter RAO UES Igor Sechin (left) with Crescent Group Chairman Hamid Jafar (right) Right Image: Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) with Gulftainer Executive Board Chair Badr Jafar (right)
In 2011, Gulftainer affiliate Crescent Investments partnered via a Strategic Cooperation Agreement with Russia’s state-owned power station operator and electricity import-export monopoly Inter RAO UES.
At that time, Inter RAO UES was a subsidiary of Russia’s Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation. Rosatom is the Russian company that purchased Uranium One. Continue reading
IMAGE: CLUB-K Container Cruise Missile System on display at the International Aviation and Space Show (MAKS) 2011, Moscow, Russia, August 16, 2011 (Photographer: Vitaly V. Kuzmin, used under Wikimedia Commons)
By Alan Jones and Mary Fanning
Gulftainer, the UAE-based ports company operating Florida’s Port Canaveral cargo container terminal despite the company’s ties to Saddam Hussein’s nuclear WMD program, is in a joint venture with Russian Technologies (Rostec). Rostec exports Russia’s Trojan Horse Club-K container cruise missile weapons system.
The joint venture is called Gulftainer Russian Technologies.
Rostec exports the ‘doomsday box’ Club-K container cruise missile launcher through its Rosoboronexport arms export division.
Rostec and Rosoboronexport are Russian state-owned companies controlled by former KGB officials.
Club-K is a modular advanced weapons system.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbUU_9bOcnM
Club-K ‘universal launching modules’ are “housed in standard marine containers,” indistinguishable from standard shipping containers according to Rosoboronexport. Continue reading
By Mary Fanning and Alan Jones | October 26, 2017
The Obama administration placed Aimen Nabi Mir, former two-time president of the youth wing of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), into the top advisory position to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a national security post at the Treasury Department.
Aimen Mir was the CFIUS Staff Chairperson from 2009 until 2014. During that time, Aimen Mir played a key role in the CFIUS panel’s decision to approve the sale of Uranium One to Russia’s Rosatom. Mir also played a key role in the Treasury Department’s refusal to investigate the UAE’s Gulftainer 35-year cargo container terminal lease at Port Canaveral, a critical military infrastructure facility for U.S. naval and space operations. Both decisions severely damaged United States national security. Continue reading
By Mary Fanning and Alan Jones | May 29, 2015
Gulftainer, the UAE container terminal operator that was recently awarded a 35-year lease at strategically-important Port Canaveral, FL, adjacent to a U.S. Navy nuclear submarine base and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, has allegedly been shipping weapons through the Port of Umm Qasr to two Iranian-backed terrorist militia groups in Iraq, the Badr Brigades and Asaeib Ahl al-Haq (AAH), according to a leak from Iraq General Port Company officials in Basra to Iraqi media.
“AAH is an Iranian-backed Shiite militant group that split from Moqtada al-Sadr’s Jaish al-Mahdi (JAM) in 2006. Since that time, AAH has conducted thousands of lethal explosively formed penetrator (EFP) attacks against U.S. and Iraqi forces, targeted kidnappings of Westerners, rocket and mortar attacks on the U.S. Embassy, the murder of American soldiers, and the assassination of Iraqi officials”. – Institute of the Study of War
The Iraq General Port Company, part of the Iraq Ministry of Transport, is the embattled nation’s port authority.
UMM QASR PORT, IRAQ, Iraq General Port Company administrative offices.
A former senior official with a coalition embassy in Iraq has confirmed to 1776 Channel that the report, which was published in Arabic by electronic newspaper Al-aalem Al-jadeed on February 10, 2015, charges that Gulftainer is moving weapons to terrorist groups the Badr Brigades and Asaeib Ahl al-Haq (AAH).
Al-aalem Al-jadeed describes itself as an “electronic newspaper free from influence of partisan and sectarian and owners.”
Gulftainer’s 35-year lease with Port Canaveral was negotiated in secret and then approved by the Obama Administration, without a national security review, despite Port Canaveral’s strategic location and it’s extreme proximity to some of the U.S. government’s most sensitive space and defense installations.
Gulftainer operates the Iraq Container Terminal inside Iraq’s deep-water Umm Qasr Port, located on the Persian Gulf near Kuwait.
Port Umm Qasr, Iraq
The Badr Brigades and Asaeib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) are backed by Iran’s extremist Islamic regime.
Both Shiite militant groups are listed as terrorist organizations by the UAE government, according to the report.
Privately-owned Gulftainer and its corporate parent the Crescent Group are based in the UAE.
Hadi Al-Ameri leads the Badr Organization, a Shiite political faction in Iraq associated with the Badr Brigades. Al-Ameri is the former Iraq Transport Minister, and likely has deep connections with port officials and shipping companies.
Gulftainer’s shadowy deal with Port Canaveral
As reported earlier by 1776 Channel, Gulftainer’s new GT USA division plans to begin operations next month in Port Canaveral, FL near sensitive U.S. national security installations including a U.S. Navy submarine base and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
Map showing the proximity of Port Canaveral, Florida to the US Navy Trident submarine base, USAF Canaveral Air Force Station and NASA Kennedy Space Center (Image credit: NASA)
Map of Port Canaveral, Florida showing Gulftainer’s area of operations, US Navy Trident submarine base and Canaveral Air Force Station.
Gulftainer’s 35-year lease at Port Canaveral, secretly negotiated by Canaveral officials under code name ‘Project Pelican’, was approved without a national security review by Treasury Secretary Jacob ‘Jack’ Lew, a long-time associate of former President Bill Clinton.
It is unclear if Treasury Secretary Lew, the Department of Commerce or other officials within the Obama administration accessed any intelligence reports indicating that Gulftainer was possibly involved in trafficking weapons to Iranian-backed terrorist militias in Iraq. U.S. officials decided that Gulftainer should not be subjected to a national security review before commencing operations at Port Canaveral.
Gulftainer previously attempted to secure a lease at the Port of Jacksonville (JAXPORT), close to Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay and Naval Air Station Jacksonville, but was abruptly rebuffed by Port of Jacksonville officials.
Bill Clinton met last summer with Malik Jafar, a member of the family that owns Gulftainer and who is also a top executive at Crescent, the parent company of Gulftainer.
Although the official business of the meeting between former President Clinton and Jafar concerned the Business Backs Education Foundation, the two men met during the same time period in which Gulftainer and Port Canaveral officials were secretly negotiating Project Pelican. 1776 Channel reported on that meeting and the possibility that Clinton engaged Gulftainer in a pay-to-play arrangement to secure Department of Treasury approval for the deal.
Screenshot of story about Iraq’s Port Umm Qasr published by Iraqi media outlet Al-aalem Al-jadeed.
By Mary Fanning and Alan Jones | May 24, 2015
NOTE: This article originally appeared at 1776channel.com
Beginning next month, ocean shipping container operations at Florida’s deep-water Port Canaveral, teeming with U.S. Navy nuclear submarines, NATO-ally nuclear submarines, and record numbers of cruise ships, and situated close to Kennedy Space Center, will be controlled by Gulftainer, a foreign company from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with close ties to former President Bill Clinton.
Port Canaveral is home to critical national security operations and infrastructure. A plethora of space and defense installations and programs, many of them highly classified, are situated either inside the port or within the immediate vicinity:
• NASA Kennedy Space Center and Visitor Complex
• Patrick Air Force Base
• Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
• U.S. Navy Trident submarine base (Trident Turning Basin)
• Top secret Air Force space plane
• National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) spy satellites
• Department of Defense/Boeing GPS satellites
• SpaceX resupply missions to the International Space Station
• SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket
• NASA Orion deep space capsule project and test launches
• United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy Rocket
• United Launch Alliance Atlas V Rocket
• Nuclear submarines resupply operations
• Lockheed Martin Fleet Ballistic Missile Eastern Ranger Operations
• Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC) – Seismic, hydroacoustic and satellite monitoring of nuclear treaty signatory nations
• Air Force Space Command/45th Space Wing
• Air Force 920th Rescue Wing (Combat Search and Rescue)
• Craig Technologies Aerospace and Defense Manufacturing Center
• Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS)
• U.S. Coast Guard Station Port Canaveral
• Department of Homeland Security – Customs and Border Protection
• Numerous defense contractors (too many too list)
The Gultainer deal, which has alarmed the military, was approved by Treasury Secretary Jacob ‘Jack’ Lew, a former senior adviser to President Clinton.
An unnamed source tells 1776 Channel that “the defense establishment is unhappy” about the deal between Gulftainer and Port Canaveral.
Gulftainer’s exclusive arrangement with Port Canaveral was negotiated in secret under the code name ‘Project Pelican.’
The 35-year lease grants Gulftainer exclusive rights to operate an intermodal container terminal inside Port Canaveral, near sensitive Department of Defense and NASA installations.
Recently-installed Port Canaveral CEO John Walsh concealed the Pelican Project and the identity of Gulftainer from the public until June 24, 2014, by which time Gulftainer officials from the UAE had already arrived in Florida for a signing ceremony.
The abruptly-announced deal between Gulftainer and the port immediately became a lightning rod for criticism due to multiple security concerns.
To deflect those objections, Port Canaveral CEO Walsh employed the Obama administration’s standard talking point: “We can’t be racist.”
Joe Kasper, Chief of Staff to Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), when asked today by 1776 Channel to comment on the “We can’t be racist” argument made by CEO Wash last summer, objected strongly:
“That claim is b***s**t — only an irrelevant and ignorant person would say that.” – Joe Kasper – Chief of Staff to Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA)
Rep. Hunter sits on the House Armed Services Committee and is also chairman of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee.
Last summer Port Canaveral CEO John Walsh and other port authority officials appeared to dodge questions about the deal from the conservative Washington Times.
The connections between the wealthy UAE family that owns Gulftainer and former President Bill Clinton and his associate Jack Lew appear to have remained undetected last summer, despite the availability of information from open-source documents and websites.
Treasury Secretary Lew eventually rubber-stamped the controversial Gulftainer deal with no national security oversight or review.
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) of the House Armed Services Committee opposed the Gulftainer lease on national security grounds. Rep. Hunter expressed his concerns about Gulftainer in a letter to Secretary Lew, to no avail.
Hunter’s Chief of Staff Joe Kasper also commented today to 1776 Channel about the absence of a Gulftainer – Port Canaveral deal national security review:
“There were no assurances whatsoever that this … arrangement was thoroughly reviewed and considered for national security risks. The request was made but I don’t think the administration gave it any real attention” – Joe Kasper, Chief of Staff to Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA)
PORT CANAVERAL, FL April 22, 1994 A port quarter view of the British nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine HMS Vanguard (SSBN-50) arriving in port. NASA’s giant Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the Kennedy Space Center and various space launch pads can be seen in the distance. UAE’s Gulftainer is building an intermodal container terminal on the same side of the port as the U.S. Navy submarine base. (Image credit: U.S. Navy/OS2 John Bourvia/Wikimedia Commons)
Gulfainer USA (GT USA) is a unit of UAE’s privately-held intermodal container terminal operator Gulftainer, which in turn is a unit of Crescent Enterprises, part of the Crescent Group conglomerate.
The UAE’s Jafar family, which owns and controls both the Crescent Group and Gulftainer, has both direct and indirect connections to former President Clinton, a 1776 Channel investigation has discovered.
Two brothers, Majid Jafar and Badr Jafar, stand at the helm of the Jafar family business empire.
Majid Jafar, 38, is CEO of UAE-based Crescent Petroleum, the petroleum unit of the Crescent Group.
Badr Jafar, 35, is Managing Director of the Crescent Group, President of Crescent Petroleum and CEO of Crescent Enterprises, the parent of Gulftainer.
Majid co-Chairs, alongside former President Clinton, Business Backs Education, a United Nations UNESCO-run global educational campaign. The campaign is funded by the Varkey GEMS foundation, a contributor to the Clinton Global Initiative.
“THE VARKEY GEMS FOUNDATION HAS HELPED TO FACILITATE MORE THAN 2,300 COMMITMENTS THROUGH THE CLINTON GLOBAL INITIATIVE TO DATE. UPON FUNDING AND IMPLEMENTATION, THESE COMMITMENTS WILL HAVE A TOTAL VALUE OF OVER $70 BILLION.” – VARKEY FOUNDATION WEBSITE
Majid Jafar met with former President Bill Clinton and other global leaders, including the Director-General of UNESCO , at the Global Education and Skills Forum, held in Dubai from March 15-17, 2014.
A group photograph taken during the forum provides key evidence that Crescent executive Majid Jafar not only served as co-Chair of the Business Backs Education campaign alongside former President Bill Clinton, but also physically stood next to former President Clinton at a time when Gulftainer was secretly seeking to establish operations at Port Canaveral. That deal would soon require approval from Clinton’s long-time friend, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.
“It has been my honor to know Jack, his wife and his family for a long time now” Bill Clinton told an audience at the Clinton Global Initiative’s CGI America 2013 conference in Chicago. Clinton interviewed Secretary Lew on stage during that event.
Treasury Secretary Lew granted approval to the Port Canaveral Gulftainer deal, without a national security review, on September 26, 2014, almost exactly six months after Bill Clinton and Crescent Petroleum CEO Majid Jafar stood on stage together at the Global Education & Skills Forum 2014 in Dubai.
American Shipper announced that “in an e-mail to American Shipper, Canaveral Port Director John Walsh said he has been notified by the Treasury Department that the concession agreement with Gulftainer is considered a simple lease, not an asset sale, and does not warrant further review on national security grounds.”
The question is, did Bill Clinton engage the Jafars/Crescent in quid pro quo skid-greasing to ram the Gulftainer deal through the U.S. Treasury Department in exchange for the Clinton’s favorite commodity: cash?
The Clintons have a history of accepting money in the UAE.
“Bill and Hillary Clinton have carefully cloaked the foreign money they’ve accepted in the garb of charitable fundraising. But alongside the hundreds of millions donated to the Clinton Foundation were tens of millions in personal income from foreign sources, devoid of disguise, a naked example of using political power for personal enrichment. Nowhere has this transaction been as apparent as in the Clintons’ relationship with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In return for millions in speaking and consulting fees, which went right into their personal bank accounts, the former president and former secretary of State — and possible future president — showered favors on the rulers that run this repressive and anti-Semitic government.” – Quote from opinion piece by Dick Morris, former adviser to President Bill Clinton, published on March 17, 2015 at TheHill.com
It is an established fact that Bill and Hillary Clinton have demonstrated little to no interest in protecting U.S. national security. The reality is quite the opposite, in fact.
Case in point: Bill Clinton’s “transfer of sensitive missile technology to China.”
Helping Arab companies trying to get an initial toehold on a U.S. port is not a new phenomenon for Bill Clinton either. “Bill Clinton helped Dubai on ports deal” headlined the Financial Times in 2006.
Badr Jafar reportedly dated supermodel Naomi Campbell from 2005 until 2006 according to the New York Daily News.
Campbell was romantically linked to Bill Clinton in 2002 by the London Evening Standard, citing a report from the New York Post, although Campbell’s representatives denied the allegations.
Campbell reportedly flew aboard now-convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s aircraft with President Clinton in 2002, according to flight logs.
Handing over a critically sensitive, strategically important port that plays an integral role in America’s national security infrastructure, that is laden with military and government installations, to a foreign entity, is an invitation to terrorism.
COPYRIGHT 2015 MARY FANNING AND ALAN JONES