Not too many people heard of that one. They are the company that keeps the Saudi ruling family from being hanged by the Saudi people.
Torture is their business.
Don
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Vinnell_CorporationHistory
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."
Continuing U.S. military defeats in Vietnam from 1970 to 1974 brought near economic ruin on Vinnell, and the company filed a reorganization plan under California law in January, 1975. The company was saved from bankruptcy later that year when it landed a $77 million contract to train the National Guard of Saudi Arabia. The contract has been repeatedly renewed and expanded over the last 22 years and remains Vinnell's most profitable venture. The most recent incarnation of the Vinnell operation involves maintaining over 1000 employees in Saudi Arabia doing contract work for the Saudi National Guard and Royal Air Force. Although the Saudi royal family will pay the $819 million price tag for this project, it is clearly part of an ongoing effort by the U.S. government to shore up a politically moderate regime and strategic ally in the Middle East.