"A secret US-led mercenary army being built by Erik Prince, the billionaire founder of Blackwater Worldwide.... The force is intended to conduct special operations missions inside and outside the country.... US officials indicated that the battalion program had some support in Washington.... might be breaking federal laws.... Some security consultants say Prince’s efforts to bolster the Emirates’ defenses against threats, in particular from Iran, could yield some benefits for the US government."
"Secret desert force set up in United Arab Emirates by Blackwater founder" by Mark Mazzetti and Emily B. Hager, New York Times / May 15, 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 US-led mercenary army being built by Erik Prince, the billionaire founder of Blackwater Worldwide, with $529 million from the oil-soaked sheikdom.
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 United Arab Emirates, according to former project employees, US officials, and 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 crowded labor camps or democracy protests like those sweeping the Arab world this year.
So the western-allied oil emirates of the Middle East have CONCENTRATION CAMPS?!!
In outsourcing critical parts of their defense to mercenaries — soldiers of choice for medieval kings, Italian Renaissance dukes, and African dictators — the Emiratis have begun a new era in the boom in wartime contracting since the Sept. 11 attacks. And by relying on a force largely created by Americans, they have introduced a volatile new element in an already combustible region where the United States is widely viewed with suspicion.
The United Arab Emirates is closely allied with the United States, and US officials indicated that the battalion program had some support in Washington....
Still, it is not clear whether the project has the United States’ official blessing. Legal specialists and government officials said some of those involved with the battalion might be breaking federal laws that prohibit US citizens from training foreign troops if they did not secure a license from the State Department.
Let's just give it a wink a nod then (proving that "official" stories are all bullshit).
Spokesman Mark C. Toner said the department was investigating to see if the training effort was in violation of US laws. Toner pointed out that Blackwater (now renamed Xe Services) paid $42 million in fines last year for training troops in Jordan and other countries over the years.
For Prince, the foreign battalion is a bold attempt at reinvention. He is hoping to build a new empire in the desert far from the trial lawyers, congressional investigators, and Justice Department officials he is convinced worked in league to taint Blackwater as reckless. He sold the company last year, but in April, a federal appeals court reopened the case against four Blackwater guards accused of killing 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007.
Related: Appeals court revives Blackwater shooting case
Also see: Operation Iraq: Blessed Blackwater
Occupation Iraq: Blackwater Contractor Gets Away With Murder
Oh, the government f***ed up the investigation, huh?
To help fulfill his ambitions, Prince’s new company, Reflex Responses, obtained another multimillion-dollar contract to protect a string of nuclear power plants now under construction and to provide cybersecurity.
To protect against Stuxnet, no doubt.
He hopes to earn billions more, the former employees said, by assembling additional battalions of Latin American troops for the Emiratis, and opening a giant complex where his company can train troops for other governments.
Knowing that his ventures are magnets for controversy, Prince has masked his involvement with the mercenary battalion. His name is not included on contracts and other corporate documents, and company insiders have tried to hide his identity.
Some security consultants say Prince’s efforts to bolster the Emirates’ defenses against threats, in particular from Iran, could yield some benefits for the US government, which shares the United Arab Emirates’ concern about creeping Iranian influence in the region.
Oh, yeah? Whom have they invaded lately?
“As much as Erik Prince is a pariah in the United States, he may be just what the doctor ordered in the UAE,’’ said a US security consultant with knowledge of the work.
Only a pariah in certain quarters.
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Did you also know that Blackwater has its own Navy and Air Force?
Related:
"Iran delays trial of two US hikers accused of espionage" by Steve Karnowski and Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press / May 12, 2011
MINNEAPOLIS — Two Americans who have been held in Iran for nearly two years on espionage charges were denied their day in court yesterday when Iranian authorities delayed their trial without explanation, prolonging the agonizing uncertainty for families who have been lobbying for their release.
Imagine how the families of innocent Muslims detained forever by the US feel.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Philo Dibble, the Obama administration’s top diplomat on Iranian issues, expressed concern yesterday at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee subcommittee hearing on human rights in Iran....
This from a country that tortures people and spies on its citizens?
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Also see: Iran Releases CIA Spy
They kept the other two.
