Bush approves Dubai defense purchase

By Caren Bohan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President George W. Bush approved
Dubai’s $1.24 billion takeover of Doncasters, a British
engineering company with U.S. plants that supply the Pentagon,
the White House said on Friday.

The decision, announced by White House spokesman Scott
McClellan, followed a congressional uproar over security fears
that scuttled another Dubai state-owned company’s plan to
acquire operations at major U.S. ports.

The interagency Committee on Foreign Investments in the
United States sent its confidential recommendation on the Dubai
takeover of Doncasters to Bush on April 13.

“The president this morning accepted the committee’s
recommendation,” McClellan said. “The committee recommended
approval of the transaction after closely scrutinizing it and
concluding that it would not compromise our national security.”