US President George W. Bush still faces bipartisan rancour in Congress over terrorism vulnerabilities at US ports even though an election-year veto battle over a Dubai-owned company's US port plans has been defused.

The announcement on Thursday by DP World that it would transfer six US port operations to a US entity avoided a potential showdown with the Republican-controlled Congress. Yet the larger issue highlighted by the DP world controversy US port security shows no signs of going away.

"The problem of the political moment has passed, but the problem of adequate port security still looms large," Senator Lindsey Graham said.

Republicans and Democrats alike welcomed DP World's decision to give up its aspirations to manage significant operations at the six ports, but they warned that the move does not negate the urgent need for broad legislation aimed at protecting America's ports.

Legislation on the issue has piled up in both the House and the Senate in the weeks since the row over DP World erupted and divided Bush from the GOP-led Congress.

Before the United Arab Emirates-based company's announcement, the House and Senate appeared all but certain to block DP World's US plan despite Bush's veto threats a message that GOP congressional leaders delivered personally to the White House.

Facing a disapproving public in an election year, a House committee overwhelmingly voted against the plan on Wednesday. And House Speaker Dennis Hastert, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, warned the president in a private meeting on Thursday that the Senate inevitably would follow suit.

Within hours, Senator John Warner, one of the few members of Congress to back the administration's position on the issue, went to the Senate floor to read a statement from the company.

"DP World will transfer fully the US operations ... to a United States entity," H. Edward Bilkey, the company's top executive, said in the statement. It was unclear which American business might get the port operations.

The White House expressed satisfaction with the company's decision.

"It does provide a way forward and resolve the matter," said Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary "We have a strong relationship with the UAE and a good partnership in the global war on terrorism, and I think their decision reflects the importance of our broader relationship."

The company's decision gives the president a way out. He now does not have to back down from his staunch support of the company or further divide his party on a terrorism-related issue with a veto.

Even critics of the deal expressed cautious optimism that DP World's move would quell the controversy surrounding that company's plan to take over some US terminal leases held by the London-based company it was purchasing.

Source: China Daily