Vinell Corporation

http://daily-journal.com/archives/dj/display.php?id=400012

Lessons from Iraq

<snip>Creating part of the force they would fight, American officials disbanded Saddam's army. This essentially left thousands of unemployed officers with weapons in their hands.

To oppose them, the Vinell Corporation (not the U.S. Army) was paid $48 million to train 22 battalions. Six took the field in 2003. Most of those fell apart.

http://www.prouty.org/vinnell.html

"The VINNELL Corporation"

Research by Gregory Burnham Nov-08-99

Technically Vinnell is contracted by the US government on behalf of the Saudi government, thus its personnel are not considered to be in the direct employ of the Saudis for most legal purposes. "Vinnell Selected for Award of $163.3 Million Contract for Saudi Arabian National Guard Modernization Program," news release, BDM International, Inc., McLean, Va., 3 May 1995.

BDM, Inc is the parent company of Vinnell. The author has visited one of the five Vinnell sites in Saudi Arabia. See also William D. Hartung, "Mercenaries Inc.: How a U.S. Company Props Up the House of Saud," The Progressive, April 1996, pp. 26-28. Philip A. Odeen is the CEO of BDM International, which owns Vinnell. Philip Odeen is also the Chairman of the NATIONAL DEFENSE PANEL -
(bet you never even heard of that, eh?)-- snip

Among its activities there were covert military operations. A Pentagon source described Vinnell as 'our own little mercenary army in Vietnam ... we used them to do things we either didn't have the manpower to do ourselves, or because of legal problems'.

In February 1975 Vinnell secured a US$77 million contract with King Fahd to train the Saudi Arabian National Guard (SANG), the military arm of the House of at-Saud. Today, Vinnell's advertising depicts the firm as 'providing a broad spectrum of professional and technical services to government clients in multiple areas of management and training. Client requirements have led Vinnell to a vast array of challenges, from Malaysia to Mexico to the Middle East, often to the very heart of international conflict areas'. Vinnell has subsidiary operations in Egypt, Oman, and Turkey, but the key area of responsibility remains with SANG. The contract for its one thousand-plus-strong team of advisors was extended in January 1994 to the year 2000 at a cost of US$819 million.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Vinnell_Corporation

Vinnell Corporation

From SourceWatch

Vinnell Corporation, a Northrop Grumman Company, founded in 1931, performs services for governments, international agencies, US military and private clients, including Oman, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. On May 12, 2003, it was targeted for attack by terrorists in Saudi Arabia.

Vinnell's corporate headquarters, in Fairfax, Virginia, provides the operational base for marketing and for financial, personnel, data, and project management. Logistics, procurement and transportation support for Vinnell's overseas operations is provided by Logistics and Transportation Services, Inc. (LTSI), a Vinnell subsidiary in Baltimore, Maryland.

Vinnell has undertaken projects in over fifty countries on five continents, includi operational and logistics support, facilities and grounds maintenance, training, freight forwarding, and subcontract management. It provides technical services and training programs for multi-national military organizations, power production, and industrial facilities. Important Department of Defense contracts include the operation, maintenance, and caretaker services for the US Air Force at three air bases in Oman and the Saudi Arabian National Guard (SANG) Modernization Program which has been entrusted to Vinnell for over 12 years. A multi-million dollar company, Vinnell also carries out the Turkey Base Maintenance Contract (TBMC). snip

History

The Vinnell Corporation began as a southern California construction firm in 1931 and built a reputation on civilian projects including portions of the Los Angeles freeway system, the Grand Coulee Dam, and Dodger Stadium.25 The company's involvement with military and intelligence work began at the end of World War II, when it contracted with the U.S. government to ship supplies to Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist army in China, and continued with contracts to build military airfields in Pakistan, Okinawa, Taiwan, Thailand, Pakistan, and South Vietnam throughout the 1950s and 1960s.26

During this period Vinnell also established a close relationship with operatives of the Central Intelligence Agency. Company founder Albert Vinnell offered his staff's services to the agency and several CIA agents used employment with Vinnell as cover for operations in Africa and the Middle East. In return, the CIA helped Vinnell win construction contracts on oil fields in Libya and Iran.

The company became most directly involved in military and intelligence operations during the American war in Southeast Asia. At the height of the war Vinnell had over 5000 employees in Vietnam. They were officially working on such projects as repairing U.S. military equipment and constructing military bases and airfields, but U.S. military officers who oversaw Vinnell's work at the time have revealed that Vinnell also ran several secret intelligence programs. In 1975, one Pentagon official described Vinnell as "our own little mercenary army in Vietnam."

Lining our pockets at taxpayer expense in the name of democracy, for 75 years.

I wonder if the owners' names appear on the list of people involved in the Businessmens' Plot against FDR - oh, that's right, congress erased that list.

I just read that.

noted, and Thanks!