Ex-Blackwater chief's new army causes alarm in Persian Gulf

Source: Deutsche Welle

27.05.2011
Ex-Blackwater chief's new army causes alarm in Persian Gulf

As the Arab Spring turns tentatively to summer, pressure continues to build in those countries across North Africa and the Middle East which have already been rocked by revolution, those currently embroiled in uprisings and those which are bracing themselves for potential upheaval.

At such an uncertain time in an area of such heightened instability, the creation and deployment of a large mercenary force in the Persian Gulf is akin to dropping a burning match into a puddle of petroleum. But that is exactly what Sheik Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi has done by hiring the man behind Blackwater to create a private army for him.

According to a report in the New York Times, Erik Prince, the controversial former Navy SEAL who founded, then sold, the notorious private security company which now operates under the name Xe Services, has been paid $529 million (372 million euros) by the Crown Prince to form a paramilitary force of foreign mercenaries, including former members of the US Special Forces, British SAS and the French Foreign Legion.

The mercenaries, some attracted to the United Arab Emirates from deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan by salaries of more than $200,000 a year, will train an army largely made up of Colombians and South Africans to assist the UAE government with intelligence gathering, security, counterterrorism and suppression of any revolts.



Read more: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15111275,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-world-4025-rdf

"Those phoney faux Christian, profit-grubbing, gun-packing, death-freak Republicon poltroon CrudeSaders can just slither their way back to the RepubiCon Homeland Hell they crawled out of, and leave us a-freaking-lone."

- AaaRabs

I've been saying that for years.

and maliciously.

:kick:

:sarcasm:

How long before they're used in government-sponsored terrorist attacks against Americans?

.

By MARK MAZZETTI and EMILY B. HAGER
Published: May 14, 2011

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Late one night last November, a plane carrying dozens of Colombian men touched down in this glittering seaside capital. Whisked through customs by an Emirati intelligence officer, the group boarded an unmarked bus and drove roughly 20 miles to a windswept military complex in the desert sand.

The Colombians had entered the United Arab Emirates posing as construction workers. In fact, they were soldiers for a secret American-led mercenary army being built by Erik Prince, the billionaire founder of Blackwater Worldwide, with $529 million from the oil-soaked sheikdom.

Mr. Prince, who resettled here last year after his security business faced mounting legal problems in the United States, was hired by the crown prince of Abu Dhabi to put together an 800-member battalion of foreign troops for the U.A.E., according to former employees on the project, American officials and corporate documents obtained by The New York Times.

The force is intended to conduct special operations missions inside and outside the country, defend oil pipelines and skyscrapers from terrorist attacks and put down internal revolts, the documents show. Such troops could be deployed if the Emirates faced unrest in their crowded labor camps or were challenged by pro-democracy protests like those sweeping the Arab world this year.

Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/world/middleeast/15prince.html?_r=1


Sheik Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi hired Erik Prince to build a fighting force.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/CONTRACT.pdf?ref=middleeast">Copy of Mercenary Contract (PDF)

The majority of the inhabitants of Abu Dhabi are expatriate workers from India, Pakistan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Philippines, the United Kingdom and various countries from across the Arab world. Consequently, English, Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Somali, Tigrinya, Amharic and Bengali are widely spoken. Apart from Urdu and Hindi spoken by Indians and Pakistanis, many South Asian expatriates also contribute other South Asian languages to the cultural milieu, including Malayalam, the main language spoken in the state of Kerala.

The native-born population are Arabic-speaking Gulf Arabs who are part of a clan-based society. The Al Nahyan family, part of the al-Falah branch of the Bani Yas clan, rules the emirate and has a central place in society.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Dhabi#Demographics

then becomes a King! Who is going to stop him with unfettered military aid from the West?

Are they mercenaries or terrorists? A matter of semantics or values?