Is is Abu Dhabi not Dubai that is heart of the United Arab Emirates. It is the wealthiest of all the seven emirates and the capital city. Dubai sits on $50 billion of debt while Abu Dhabi is so wealthy is recently loaned Dubai $10 billion.

And unlike Dubai, which is building one tacky building and island after another turning the city into a giant theme park with no culture, Abu Dhabi is engaging in thoughtful planning. There are no outlandish projects. Abu Dhabi is developing along proper lines as opposed to a radical boom. And the city is cultivating a cultural scene. It will host a new Louvre museum, the first outside of France, and a Guggenheim museum [the Guggenheim already has many foreign sites].

And now the Kingdom is planning on going nuclear. . . and America is ready to help.

“Dozens of American engineers, lawyers and businessmen have converged on Abu Dhabi in recent months to help the United Arab Emirates get the Arab world’s first nuclear-power program running by 2017,” the Wall Street Journal reported.

Apparently the date of 2017 is be quite a record between nuclear planning an actual operation. “I don’t know anyone else who has rolled out a nuclear program of this magnitude this fast,” stated Jeffrey Benjamin to the Wall Street Journal. Mr. Benjamin is the American engineer who has been named project manager for the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation.

The project is getting a lot of help from the America executive. . . and for only one reason.

The treaty, signed by former President George W. Bush during his last week in office, would allow American firms to engage in nuclear trade with the U.A.E. To build support, the U.A.E. is agreeing to buy approved nuclear fuel on the international market, rather than enriching uranium or reprocessing plutonium, both of which can be made into weapons-grade material. It will also open its facilities to random international inspections.

The Obama administration is also supportive. “President Barack Obama sees the U.A.E. program as a “model for the world,” the WSJ reports.

You see, for American presidents Arabs must always be subdued. They can only have nuclear power - forget about weapons, but just the nuclear power - if the submit to all sorts of restrictions and inspections. While at the same time Israel gets to continue to run a nuclear weapons program with the United States and the rest of the world turning a blind eye. But Arabs governments have to be derided for accepting such standards.

Even the restrictions imposed on Abu Dhabi are not enough for the hawkish pro-Israel Congress.

Some U.S. lawmakers have threatened to block the U.A.E. deal, saying the risks of letting that country split the atom are too large. They cite the U.A.E.’s history as a transit point for sensitive military technologies to Iran, Iraq and Libya. They also make the slippery-slope argument: If one Arab country has nuclear power, others may pile in, and perhaps down the road, seek nuclear weapons as well. Both Saudi Arabia and Egypt have recently announced their desire to develop nuclear-power programs with U.S. assistance.

Yes, for Congress only Israel is entitled to nuclear know-how. But the Congress many not know that the Arab world can gain nuclear power without the United States.

Emirati officials say their nuclear program won’t be derailed by international pressure. The country has already signed a nuclear-cooperation agreement with France, and has tentative deals with Japan and Britain. Companies such as France’s Areva SA and Korea Electric Power Co. are preparing to make bids for contracts that could ultimately top $40 billion.

So members of Congress would deny American firms billions of dollars of contracts all because they think Israel is so special that only it deserves nuclear know-how. They need to wake up from their hubris.