MERCENARIES, INC.
Hartung, William D.
MERCENARIES Inc. How a U.S. company props up the House of Saud BY WILLIAM D. HARTUNG On November 13, 1995, a bomb exploded at the headquarters of the Saudi Arabian National Guard and an adjacent...
...But by the end of World War II, the company was already dabbling in military and intelligence work...
...firms on extremely favorable terms, and adjust their pricing policies within OPEC in ways that support U.S...
...Crown Prince Abdullah ibn Abdulaziz, who also happens to run the National Guard...
...His London-based Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights has been faxing reports about the Riyadh government to contacts within Saudi Arabia...
...military training mission" (including Vinnell contract employees) and were "in frequent telephone contact with U.S...
...The people of Saudi Arabia will eventually demand some say in how their government is run...
...Some of Vinnell's best-known projects are decidedly civilian in character, including work on the Grand Coulee Dam and the construction of L.A.'s Dodger Stadium...
...President Clinton tried to paint the bombing as just another senseless act of terrorism perpetrated by armed Islamic extremists...
...When they do, Saudi Arabia's Vinnell-trained internal security forces will be on hand to quash them...
...If the Saudi regime is overthrown, will Vinnell be put in charge of "cleaning up" all the sensitive U.S.-built military and intelligence facilities in Saudi Arabia as it was during the U.S...
...Vinnell's role as the regime's principal security "prop" was barely discussed in the US...
...taxpK ers have been asked to spend hundreds^ billions of dollars to build a U.S...
...The official indicated that one of Vinnell's jobs was as "rear security forces," assigned to "clean up" US...
...military training mission...
...A number of security analysts are beginning to speak of Saudi Arabia as the "next Iran"—atop-heavy, corrupt regime that is in danger of being overthrown by its own people if it fails to implement major reforms soon...
...including a harsh crackdown on peaceful Islamist organizations...
...freeway system...
...government, even after Ollie North and Iran-contra, still relies on unaccountable private companies to do its dirty work around the world, short-circuiting democracy at home and abroad in the process...
...Supporters of Mas'ari's organization operating within Saudi Arabia do not fare well...
...Or will the American public head off that day by demanding that our government get out of the dictator-protection racket and allow the possibility of genuine democratic development in Saudi Arabia...
...That is well known...
...That someone like Gadd would use Vinnell as his transition from serving m the armed forces to }oining the nether world of pmate companies involved in covert operations on behalf of the U.S...
...But is what's good for the Saudi monarchy and Vinnell good for the people of the United States or Saudi Arabia...
...military operations...
...By 1979...
...The lavish social programs that have been used to buy off dissent are being cut sharply to make room for continuing expenditures on advanced American, French, and British weaponry...
...On August 11, 1995, the Saudi regime beheaded Abdalla al-Hudhaif, who was convicted by a secret tribunal of offenses ranging from firearms possession to distributing leaflets criticizing the government to allegedly throwing acid at a security officer...
...Mas'ari told The New York Times...
...In a March 1975 interview with The Village Voice, a Pentagon official described Vinnell as "our own little mercenary army in Vietnam" and asserted that "we used them to do things we either didn't have the manpower to do ourselves, or because of legal problems...
...Jane's Defence Weekly has speculated that the guard may be built up even faster now as a way of enhancing Crown Prince Abdullah's personal power base, which will no doubt mean bigger contracts for Vinnell as well...
...As one of Vinnell's former presidents says, the company didn't start out as a "spook outfit...
...Is what's good for the Saudi monarchy and a U.S...
...American National Management and Eagle Aviation Services, which were secretly involved in the 1983 U.S...
...But the target was chosen much more carefully than that...
...government has subcontracted the training of the Saudi National Guard to roughly 750 retired U.S...
...company using retired U.S...
...corporations, but these services have little to do with promoting cither democracy or prosperity for the citizens of the United States or Saudi Arabia...
...If anyone believed that the era of covert policymaking by the United States had ended, Vinnell's role in Saudi Arabia proves otherwise...
...It's true that the Saudi regime provides a wide array of economic and political services to the U.S...
...At the peak of its involvement, Vinnell had 5,000 employees in Vietnam, but not all of them were engaged in straightforward military operations...
...The company soon embarked on a booming military construction business in Asia, buildi military airfields in Okinawa, Taiwi Thailand, South Vietnam, and Pakistan...
...The Washington Post reported at the time that in the final stages of storming the Mosque, the Saudi princes who were running the military operation relied on "advice from the large U.S...
...the Saudis recently renewed its contract through 1998...
...media, but the company did figure indirectly in the biggest intelligence scandal of the decade...
...This setup was a bit too blatant even for the more hawkish members of Congress...
...What's in it for the monarchy is obvious: protection from rebels and democrats who might want to change the kingdom's form of government...
...The bomb killed five Americans and wounded thirty more...
...For one thing, the money is running out...
...military force that can get to the Middle East on short notice to defend regimes such as the Saudi monarchy from threats from without or within...
...company good for the people of the United States or Saudi Arabia...
...According to The Washington Post, the most recent joint secret initiative was to provide more than $300 million for covert weapons supplies to the Bosnian government during the period of the U.N...
...The story of this obscure American company shows how the U.S...
...was hired by Vinnell for his first job out of the Air Force...
...when a rebellion rocked the Saudi regime and opposition forces occupied the Grand Mosque at Mecca...
...Whether that change comes about through a revolution led by Islamic fundamentalists or an evolution toward democracy will depend in significant part on whether U.S...
...Founded in 1931 as a small Los Angeles-area construction company, the firm profited from contracts for the L.A...
...The short answer is no...
...Vinnell posted losses every year from 1970 through 1974...
...The hearings were held, but the contract to train the Saudi National Guard was allowed to stand...
...Vinnell's Asian adventures marked i emergence as a global company more the willing to do a little intelligence work on the side...
...which bought the firm in 1993 to expand its market niche in military training services, already has a contract to provide 500 translators for NATO peacekeeping forces in Bosnia...
...An official familiar with the work of another U.S...
...In the realm of secret wheeling and dealing, the Saudis have not shied front putting up money for joint covert operations with the United States, from arming the Afghan rebels to providing funds to Oliver North's Iran-contra "enterprise...
...On February 9. 1975...
...Vinnell's parent company...
...During the 1980s, things returned lo "normal" in Saudi Arabia, with strict controls on freedom of expression of the rights of women, public beheadings of common criminals, and the maintenance of a fiercely anti-communist, pro-U.S...
...and in January 1975 the company filed a reorganization plan with the California Department of Corporations in which it proposed to sell voting control in the company to a Lebanese investor for the modest sum of $500,000...
...officials...
...Iran-contra...
...The author would like to thank his colleague Jennifer Washburn for providing research assistance in the preparation of this article...
...These same practices continue to this day...
...If you wanted to make a political statement about the Saudi regime, you'd William D. Harlung is a Senior Fellow at the World Policy Institute at the New School for Social Research in New York City and the author of "And Weapons for All" (HarperCollins, 1995...
...Vinnell nearly demolished its own financial viability in Vietnam...
...If we figured an area was certain to be overrun by the VC [Viet Cong] . . . they were to demolish everything and anything...
...invasion of Grenada and other U.S...
...Saudi Arabia will be approached about providing funds to train Bosnian Muslim forces as part of the current NATO intervention in Bosnia...
...According to Steven Emerson's 19ScS book...
...company serving as a hired protection service for an undemocratic regime...
...When Arnett asked one of Vinnell's men in Riyadh whether he viewed himself as a mercenary, the question drew a classic bureaucratic response: "We are not mercenaries because we are not pulling the triggers...
...Counterspy magazine further reported that when the initial National Guard assault failed, Vinnell personnel were brought to Mecca to "provide the tactical support needed to capture the Mosque...
...Meanwhile, a reform-minded young Congressman from Wisconsin named Les Aspin aired charges that the $77 million Saudi contract may have been greased with a $4.5 million payment to a middleman...
...which was to be dedicated solely to secret U.S...
...Human Rights Watch reported that in 1994, "Saudi Arabia witnessed the largest roundup in recent history of opposition activists and a new low in the dismal human-rights record of the Kingdom...
...government bonds, heljB to ease the burden of the growing 9 budget deficit...
...who went on to become the chief operations officer for Ol-lie North and Richard Secord's private weapons air-drop service for the Contras...
...A retired Marine officer who did five years with Vinnell in Saudi Arabia reports that he was able to save up several hundred thousand dollars to buy a retirement home in cash...
...The Saudi regime is a mafia that has enormous wealth under its control and doesn't want to give it up...
...Human Rights Watch notes that this last allegation against Hudhaif is the only violent act alleged against the peaceful Islamist opposition in Saudi Arabia during the government's continuing crackdown on their activities...
...Eveland returned the favor by negotiating contracts for Vinnell to do construction services on oil fields in Iran and Libya, bribing the appropriate officials along the way...
...He also used his stopover at Vinnell to get started on two other "special services" companies...
...Political parties and demonstrations are outlawed, there is no independent free press, and there has been a systematic crackdown on peaceful Islamic dissenters...
...government has exerted considerable energy trying to persuade us that we're all in this mess together and that Americans have no choice but to support the Saudi monarchy...
...withdrawal from Vietnam...
...We train people to pull the triggers...
...But the myth of Saudi Arabia as a bottomless source of cash has worn thin lately...
...The Saudi National Guard uses arms from the United States...
...Vinnell's fortunes may improve in the short term, now that King Fahd has stepped aside for health reasons, leaving the reins of government in the hands of his brother...
...Gadd left Vinnell alter a few months, taking Sumairco with him...
...Vinnell's first overseas contract involved shipping supplies to Chinese Nationalist Chiang Kai-shek as part of his futile attempt to beat back the revolutionary forces of Mao Tse-tung...
...government is not surprising...
...Although Vinnell is one of hundreds of companies that do work for the CIA and military intelligence agencies, its strong ties to Saudi Arabia and its experience in military training and logistics make it a central player in this still burgeoning field...
...Billions of dollars in weapons purchases from the United States plus the cost of the 1991 Persian Gulf War have driven the Saudi budget into deficit for the first time ever...
...In this context, the November bombing was certainly brutal, but it was far from senseless...
...Peter Arnett filed a piece for the Associated Press that raised questions about the propriety of a private U.S...
...firm that recently got a contract to train the Saudi Navy says that employees at the firm "feel like they've died and gone to heaven, because the Saudis will never run out of money...
...Vinnell's big break in the military/intelligence field came during the U.S...
...We want to have an elected, accountable government with a real rule of law and an independent judiciary...
...government and U.S...
...With this dismal financial picture looming in the background, the firm's February 1975 contract for $77 million to train the Saudi National Guard brought Vinnell back from the brink of bankruptcy and kept it from being sold...
...If anything...
...A source with contacts within the Vinnell Corporation has indicated that the State Department encouraged Vinnell to bid on the contract to train the Bosnian forces...
...But that hasn't affected Vinell yet...
...interests, BH years, a significant portion of Sail "petrodollar" revenues have beenH vested in U.S...
...The organization's report for 1995 cited "further deterioration in human-rights observance...
...The policy of using Vinnell trainers and U.S...
...In his memoir, Ropes of Sand, former CIA operative Wilbur Crane Eve-land describes how he used his Vinnell connection as a cover during his tours of duty in Africa and the Middle East in the early 1960s, noting that company founder Albert Vinnell expressed his willingness to help the agency any way he could (for a fee, of course...
...single out the National Guard, and if you wanted to make a statement about American involvement, you'd pick the only American contractor involved in training the guard: Vinnell...
...arms suppliers to keep the Saudi monarchy in power can't go on forever...
...Several retired Army and Marine officers familiar with Vinnell's work in Vietnam have indicated that the company ran several "black" (secret) programs...
...Army operations...
...On this front, Vinnell must be busier than ever...
...Gadd's work at Vinnell involved setting up a private, "black" air-transport service called Sumairco...
...military and intelligence personnel employed by the Vinnell Corporation of Fairfax, Virginia...
...company props up the House of Saud BY WILLIAM D. HARTUNG On November 13, 1995, a bomb exploded at the headquarters of the Saudi Arabian National Guard and an adjacent building that housed a U.S...
...But few Americans are aware that the U.S...
...The Vinnell-Saudi training deal drew considerable fire, both in the press and on Capitol Hill...
...Today, the biggest question regarding Vinnell's ongoing operations is the same one that was posed twenty years ago: Why is a U.S...
...policy continues to back the monarchy to the hilt...
...As one retired American military officer familiar with Vinnell's operations put it, "I don't think it was an accident that it was that office that got bombed...
...foreign policy...
...military and intelligence personnel to defend a corrupt monarchy in Saudi Arabia...
...In exchange, US...
...This January, Saudi officials tried to get Britain to deport Mohammed al-Mas'ari...
...The Saudi National Guard is a 55,000-man military force whose main job is to protect the Saudi monarchy from its own people...
...Secret Warriors...
...Senator Henry Jackson of Washington and Armed Services committee chairman John Stennis of Mississippi demanded hearings on the contract, which Jackson purported to find "completely baffling...
...The Saudis provide access to their oil resources to U.S...
...Lieutenant Colonel Richard Gadd...
...withdrawal: "How they 'cleaned up' was pretty much up to them...
...Since peaceful means of expressing disagreement with the current Saudi ruling circle are systematically blocked, violent outbursts like the bombing of the Saudi National Guard headquarters are more likely to occur...
...invasion of Vietnam, when the company won hundreds of millions of dollars worth of business doing everything from building military bases to repairing armored personnel carriers to running military warehouses...
...Britain's future arms sales and other commercial contracts with Saudi Arabia might suffer...
...Maybe that makes us executive mercenaries...
...The short answer is no, but the U.S...
...military bases in Vietnam during the US...
...As for Vinnell and its employees, their main interest in Saudi Arabia is undoubtedly the money...
...Vinnell's "executive mercenaries" were called out from behind the scenes...
...The none-too-subtle message conveyed to Conservative Prime Minister John Major's government was that if Mas'ari was allowed to continue operating...
...A January 1996 article in Jane's Defence Weekly describes the Saudi Arabian National Guard as "a kind of Praetorian Guard for the House of Saud, the royal family's defense of last resort against internal opposition...
...embargo on that nation...
Vol. 60 • April 1996 • No. 4
