It isn't difficult to anticipate the ugly ways that this could play out among the abused guest workers of Dubai, one of the seven emirates of the UAE. Reading details of the story, that appears to be just the beginning of why this is a bad idea:

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.

What awful news to read as the United States tries to position itself on the right side of the Arab Spring. To be clear, this isn't an official project of the Obama Administration (the State Department won't confirm whether the US government granted a license permitting the Americans involved to work on this project, or if they are in violation of the law). It is nevertheless being run by an American businessman and managed in part by former U.S. military personnel.

The distinctions between Americans in uniform and private security contractors like the ones that did some of our fighting in Iraq have already been blurred. At best, our use of Blackwater appears to have afforded its owner the know-how and resources to field a private army for an Arab autocracy. At worst we're complicit in his project. Can anyone doubt that American involvement in enterprises like this are one reason for our low-standing in the world, and a potential source of violent backlash, too? If you're unconvinced, delve a bit deeper into the strategic thinking involved in the project: "The former employees said that in recruiting the Colombians and others from halfway around the world, Mr. Prince's subordinates were following his strict rule: hire no Muslims. Muslim soldiers, Mr. Prince warned, could not be counted on to kill fellow Muslims."

Image credit: Reuters

