Even as the Republicans in the House scramble to catch up to Democrats and block the Dubai Port deal under tremendous pressure from constituents, and even as the fight continues in the Senate, the White House hasn't backed down from it's position that it will veto any bill blocking the sale.

So here's a question: why?  It's certainly not the charges of racism the administration has tossed around.  It's not a concern that American policy might not seem "fair."

According to an analyst at an energy trading firm, the reason the Bush administration is so adamant about the ports deal comes down to a single word: Iran.

Try the United States Coast Guard

How many times have we been told that this deal would not affect security at the ports, that the security would still be under the control of the Coast Guard?  Yeah, well, it turns out that the Coast Guard is worried about the deal.

The Coast Guard warned that "intelligence gaps" prevented a broad assessment of any security risks posed by the takeover of some U.S. shipping terminals by a United Arab Emirates company, a Senate hearing revealed Monday.

While Republicans try to launch the "anybody agin' the deal is a racist" attack, the Coast Guard has more serious concerns.

"There are many intelligence gaps concerning the potential for DPW or P&O assets to support terrorist operations that precludes an overall threat assessment of the potential merger," a Coast Guard report on the potential deal stated.

"The breadth of the intelligence gaps also infer potential unknown threats against a large number of potential vulnerabilities."

So now the very people who are charged with security, are also noting that the DP World deal was not adequately evaluated and may represent a real risk.  That should put a dent in a few talking points.