60 Minutes? NYT? WaPO? Anywhere in our media? Ever? And I don't mean showing the palaces and mansions that the Saudi ruling family live in either. We have all seen those. I am more talking about the average citizens like us. Ever seen any news stories about them? And keep in mind that an American mercenary company has kept the Saudi ruling family in power for a long time. See:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Vinnell_CorporationIn Saudi Arabia
At various times both the American press and lawmakers have criticized Vinnell's operations in Saudi Arabia as an effort to protect the country's autocratic rulers from the democratic aspirations of their own people. The National Guard has a chain of command independent of the Saudi Defense ministry. The 75,000 strong force can operate as a mobile complement to the tank-heavy divisions of the Saudi army in wartime, but its primary mission is protecting the ruling Saudi royal family from peacetime internal political unrest. To suit this purpose the Guard still recruits primarily from the tribal desert interior of Saudi Arabia. In this sense the Guard is a direct descendant of the Bedouin warriors who helped the Saud clan take control of their country early in the twentieth century.
Over the past 22 years Vinnell employees have become an integral part of the Guard. One U.S. military officer who monitors Vinnell's Guard activities said in a recent interview that "It's a big mission. We have responsibilities and tasks in every functional area there is to run an organization . . . everything from management training to logistics to medical." But he made it clear that Americans do not "run" the Guard. Despite such statements, some suspect that Vinnell agents have at times gone beyond mere training and consulting. In 1979, for example, Saudi rebels took over the Grand Mosque at Mecca and demanded that the royal family relinquish power. As the Saudi National Guard prepared to storm the mosque, U.S. military personnel and Vinnell employees helped plan the attack. Finally, when the initial attack failed, there were unconfirmed reports that Vinnell "trainers" were brought in to provide "tactical support" for the final successful assault.
Undoubtedly, there are great advantages to licensing a company like Vinnell to perform tasks that would otherwise be undertaken by the U.S. military. First and foremost, the Vinnell operation costs the American government nothing and facilitates a key strategic goal of stabilizing an important ally in an unstable region. It also performs the task with no risk to American service men and women -- a key issue with political constituencies in an increasingly isolationist America. Finally, private corporate "consultants" may be able to keep a lower profile than American military personnel within Saudi Arabia where at least a portion of the population resents a foreign military presence.
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The point is we keep hearing about "closed societies", like North Korea or Iran, and I am concerned about those citizens too, but how are things for the average person living under the control of one of our mercenary companies. The average Saudi person is no different than you and me. They want the same things we do. A place to live, something to eat and be left alone is about it. But how does the average Saudi citizen live? Does anyone know? I sure don't. I hear a lot about "the Saudis", on my TV, but I never actually see the average Saudi citizen so I don't think that term is very representative of an average Saudi citizen. No man on the street type interviews or anything like that. You ever seen one?
Why can't we see what life is like living under the rule of an American mercenary company? I don't want to see the kings and princes(cute names for thugs, eh?) in their palaces. Average Saudis. Like us. Wouldn't you be interested in seeing that? Maybe not? I sure would.
Don
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