Report highlights German role in building UAE mercenary army
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Berlin, July 11, IRNA -- German military specialists are training the 800-member private army of foreign mercenaries for the United Arab Emirates, the Hamburg-based news magazine Der Spiegel said on Monday.
Retired German soldiers and special operations experts are reportedly playing a key role in forming a new battalion of foreign fighters in the Persian Gulf sheikdom, comprised of mostly Latin American mercenaries, to carry out special operations, crush internal revolts and defend urban areas and oil fields from terrorist attacks.
The former German troopers, among them ex-members of Germany's elite counter-terror force GSG 9, joined the UAE mercenary army because of its lucrative pay.
The German military personnel are even wearing T-shirts, saying 'mercenary' when they walk through the shopping malls of Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Some of them have also openly voiced sympathy for Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
German government officials have yet to comment on the Spiegel report.
The crown prince of Abu Dhabi has enlisted the infamous founder of Blackwater security services to build the private army.
According to documents obtained by the New York Times Erik Prince’s new company, Reflex Responses, was hired and paid 529 million US dollars by the prince to form a mercenary battalion.
Troops are believed to have been brought to the UAE from Columbia, South Africa and other nations and are being trained by retired US military personnel and Germany and British special operations experts and member of the French Foreign Legion.
Blackwater made international headlines for its contracts with the US military in Iraq where Blackwater guards opened fire in Baghdad on heavy civilian traffic killing at least 17 people, including women and children, and wounding at least 27 others in what quickly became known as the Nisoor Square massacre.
Blackwater has also been fined numerous times for illegally training foreign fighters and faced other allegations of criminal activity.
They were kicked out of Iraq and had been forced out of other Middle East countries as well.
The company has since changed ownership and been renamed Xe Services. But, it continues to deny any wrongdoing.
The UAE is a strong regional ally of the United States and it is likely American officials were aware of the Prince’s plans.
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