Blackwater founder sets up 800-member mercenary army in United Arab Emirates to defend against revolts and protect the oil

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The crown prince of Abu Dhabi has hired the founder of private security firm Blackwater Worldwide to set up an 800-member battalion of foreign troops for the United Arab Emirates, the New York Times said Sunday.

The Times said it obtained documents that showed the unit being formed by Erik Prince's new company Reflex Responses with $529 million from the UAE would be used to thwart internal revolt, conduct special operations and defend oil pipelines and skyscrapers from attack.

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Steroid-injected, drug-induced, mercenaries gone wild, Blackwater, hires John Ashcroft to get lucrative government contracts

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Blackwater, the controversial private mercenary contractor that first drew major attention after killing 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square in 2007, has hired former Attorney General John Ashcroft to help pursue lucrative government contracts.

In an attempt to shed its image as a company of steroid-injected, drug-induced frat boys gone wild, Blackwater, now called Xe, has hired the former George W. Bush subordinate to “reassure government officials” of its “newfound rectitude”.

Blackwater changed its name to Xe in 2009 in a move to alter its negative image, enhanced in the 2007 Nissor Square Massacre.

That shooting spree compounded the company’s damaging persona, preceded by an incident in Fallujah during 2004 in which four of its employees were killed, dragged through the streets and then hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River.

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