U.S. May Call Diplomat Families Home

AP/ Yahoo News ^ | May 13, 2003 | BARRY SCHWEID

[prairiebreeze]

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) toured the twisted wreckage left by a terrorist bombing Tuesday, and President Bush (news - web sites) promised those responsible "will be brought to justice." The FBI (news - web sites) dispatched a team to help investigate.

A State Department official said it was "very possible" the administration would order home all nonessential diplomats in light of the attacks.

In Riyadh, the smell of explosives hung in the air and a U.S. flag dangled from the roof of the destroyed building as Powell described the bombing as "criminality, terrorism at its worst."

Half a world away, Bush said those responsible would be tracked down. "It doesn't matter how long it takes, the war on terror goes on," he said after visiting parts of Missouri damaged by tornados in recent days.

Bush also said he "wouldn't be surprised" if al-Qaida, which carried out terrorist attacks in the United states on Sept. 21, 2001, was behind the Saudi attacks. And in Riyadh, Saudi authorities linked the attack to al-Qaida members.

With the investigation scarcely under way, Powell told reporters that "the facility had been cased" before an attack that he called "very well executed."

U.S. officials said Saudi guards posted at the entrance to the complex were shot to death. And one senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters on Powell's plane that it took the bombers "30 seconds to a minute" to get through the gate guarding a housing complex for employees of the Virginia-based Vinnell Co., drive the truck to the building, and detonate their explosives.

"They had to know where the switches were," this official said, suggesting the bombers had inside information.

Vinnell, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corp., has a contract to train Saudi Arabian National Guardsmen. Seventy Americans employed by the company lived in the building, but 50 of them were away on a training exercise at the time of the attack.

In a statement, Northrop Grumman said nine of its employees were killed, including seven Americans. Other employees remained hospitalized after the attack, two in serious condition.

The complex was one of three hit by synchronized suicide bombings Monday night that left at least 20 dead, including the seven Americans. Authorities found nine other bodies believed to be those of the attackers, a Saudi Interior Ministry official said.

The State Department announced May 1 that terrorist groups might be in the final phases of planning attacks against U.S. interests in Saudi Arabia. The bombings occurred at a time when U.S. officials had said al-Qaida — blamed for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 — had been significantly weakened by a 20-month campaign that included U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan (news - web sites) and Iraq (news - web sites).

Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), the head of al-Qaida, is a native of Saudi Arabia. He has long been opposed to the presence of American troops — whom he refers to as "infidels" — in his homeland.

While Bush pledged to find and punish those behind the attacks, one Democratic presidential hopeful renewed his claim that the administration should have focused its energy on al-Qaida over the past year rather than prepare and launch a war against Iraq.

"The war on Iraq was a distraction," Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., told reporters at the Capitol. "It took us off the track of the war on terror which we were on a path to win, but we've now let it slip away from us."

Elsewhere in Washington, counterterrorism officials said they were investigating whether any of the bombers came from a group of suspects who escaped Saudi authorities last week.

Investigators also are trying to determine who oversaw the operation, and inquiring whether senior al-Qaida operatives, believed to be in Iran, played a role, according to Bush administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Several top al-Qaida operatives are believed to be in Iran, with at least the tacit consent of some elements of the Iranian government, U.S. officials have said. Bin Laden's son, Saad, is thought to be among them.

Bush said "I have no idea" whether Iran was involved.

Asked about al-Qaida, he said, "I can't say for certain it was al-Qaida yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was."

Other members of his administration, Powell and FBI Director Robert Mueller among them, as well as several lawmakers, said the signs pointed toward an attack carried out by al-Qaida.

Powell was in Amman, Jordan, at the time of the attack, making the rounds of Middle Eastern countries in hopes of producing momentum toward Middle East peace.

He flew to Saudi Arabia as planned, and altered his schedule to visit the site of the bombing that killed Americans. "This was a well-planned terrorist attack, obviously," he said.

The FBI "assessment team" will include up to a dozen agents, bomb specialists and technicians, bureau spokesman Bill Carter said.

FBI investigators will be depending on cooperation from the Saudis, who restricted agents' access to witnesses and suspects after the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers dormitory that killed 19 U.S. military personnel.

Saudi officials have been eager to blunt U.S. criticism since the Sept. 11 attacks that they have allowed al-Qaida operatives to operate within the country. More than 300 suspected terrorists have been arrested in Saudi Arabia since the attacks, Saudi officials say.

"My expectation is that we will get full cooperation from the Saudis," Mueller said in an appearance in Albany, N.Y.

It was the second time in eight years that the Saudi business interests of Vinnell Corp. have come under terrorist attack.

A November 1995 car bomb destroyed a building in the Saudi capital that was headquarters for a U.S. Army training program in which Vinnell was deeply involved.

The Saudi National Guard protects the ruling monarchy and is the Saudi equivalent to the Republican Guard of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), said John Pike, director of Globalsecurity.org, a defense policy group. The National Guard is distinct from the regular Saudi Army

[prairiebreeze]

"The war on Iraq was a distraction," Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., told reporters at the Capitol. "It took us off the track of the war on terror which we were on a path to win, but we've now let it slip away from us."

So Graham is saying that we should have let the people in Iraq continue to have their tongues cut out, eyes gouged out and fed into tree shredders feet-first while we spent years or even decades on the war on terror. AND he's calling the Iraqi people a distraction!!

How politically incorrect of you Senator. Better go back to journaling about your snacks and your socks. You know, something you are good at.

Prairie

[Dog Gone]

This is fascinating. The Saudis thought they had bought immunity from terrorists by encouraging us to leave. We announced that we would, and the terrorists blew up these compounds as well as the conventional thinking of the royal family.

[Credo]

Al Qaeda's biggest targets are:

1) US Interests

2) Israeli Interests

3) Saudi Royal Family

Not necessarily in that order. Linking the Saudi Royals with the US would be Al Qaeda's dream. I think this may be a shot at embarrasing the royals.

[Timesink]

Why just the NONessential personnel?

[Dog Gone]

I think this may be a shot at embarrasing the royals.

I agree entirely. But the royals have long played this game of appeasing the extremists in their own country so they could remain in power.

They just appeased them again, and this is their thanks. How the royals react will reflect how confident they are in remaining in power.

That's why it will be very interesting to watch.

[Credo]

I don't think the old King Abdul Aziz would be too fond of his family's current lifestyles. He probably would have more in common with the muslim radicals.

[valkyrieanne]

We need to get out of Saudi Arabia entirely, *and* start buying oil as quickly as possible from the Russians. There is far more oil in Russia and the Icky-stans than in SA.

[Ligeia]

Virginia company's Saudi interests also focus in 1995 attack

PETE YOST
Associated Press Writer
May 13, 2003




WASHINGTON (AP) _ The ties of U.S. defense contractor Vinnell Corp. to a training program for the Saudi Arabian national guard date back more than 25 years and may have made the Fairfax, Va.-based company a natural target for the latest terrorist attacks.

One of Monday night's explosions in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was at a building where 70 Americans employed by Vinnell Corp. lived. By chance, 50 of the Americans were on a training exercise and away from the complex.

Saudi guards were protecting the complex at a time when there was a heightened state of alert for the country. The State Department announced May 1 that terrorist groups might be in the final phases of planning attacks against U.S. interests in Saudi Arabia.

Gunmen killed sentries at the gate to the complex before driving an explosive-laden truck up to the building and detonating it.

It was the second time in eight years that Vinnell's activities in Riyadh have become the focus of terrorist violence. A November 1995 car bomb blast destroyed a building in the Saudi capital that was headquarters for the U.S. Army training program in which Vinnell was deeply involved. Saudi Arabia obtained confessions from four Saudis in the car bombing, which killed five Americans, but beheaded the four before FBI agents were allowed to question them.

The company was awarded its first training contract in Saudi Arabia, for $77 million, in 1975.

The work grew in size and scope over the years to the current multiyear effort worth more than $800 million to Vinnell and involving more than 1,000 employees plus nearly 300 U.S. government personnel training the Royal Saudi Air Force, Saudi land forces and other elements of the Saudi military.

The training program, funded by the Saudi government and run by the U.S. Army Materiel Command, is one of numerous Pentagon efforts to make the Saudi air and land forces more capable of defending the oil-rich kingdom against Iraq and other potential enemies.

The projects were accelerated after the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

A subsidiary of defense giant Northrop Grumman, Vinnell advertises for ex-soldiers able to train the Saudis in battalion operations, the Bradley fighting vehicle, anti-tank weapons and physical security.

On its Web site, the company touts itself as "a recognized leader in facilities operation and maintenance, military training, educational and vocational training, and logistics support in the United States and overseas."

Vinnell also has operated eight Job Corps centers across the United States under contracts with the Department of Labor.

The company took corrective steps when an audit in 2001 found cost overruns of $1.5 million by Vinnell at its Detroit Job Corps centers.

Founded in 1931, the firm began as a construction company that prospered during World War II and during the war in Vietnam in the construction of military bases.

__=

On the Net: http://www.vinnell.com

http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/vaapwire/MGBR1ER9OFD.html

[Ligeia]

Northrop Grumman confirms nine employees killed in Saudi Arabia terrorist attack
Staff
05/14/2003


The following information about the terrorist attack Monday, May 12, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was released by Reston-based Northrop Grumman Corp. Nine employees of its Vinnell Corp. subsidiary were killed.


RESTON--May 13, 2003--Reston-based Northrop Grumman Corp. confirmed today that nine employees of its Vinnell Corp. subsidiary were killed Monday, May 12, in an apparent terrorist attack on a company facility in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Identities of the deceased were not disclosed, and the families of those employees have been notified.

A residential and office facility used by employees of Vinnell Arabia was one of three compounds attacked.

Of the nine Vinnell employees killed, seven were U.S. citizens and two were citizens of the Philippines.

Several Vinnell employees were injured and taken to area hospitals and a number have been treated and released. Fifteen remain hospitalized; two in serious condition. The identities of the injured people have not been disclosed.

A small number of dependent families lived within the Vinnell compound; none were harmed in the attack.

"We are deeply shocked by this senseless attack and mourn the loss of our colleagues," said Donald C. Winter, corporate vice president and president, Northrop Grumman Mission Systems.

"All of us at Northrop Grumman extend our deepest sympathy to those who have lost loved ones. We also want to thank Secretary of State Colin Powell for his visit today to the Vinnell compound and for his support during this difficult time. We continue to work closely with the U.S. government to secure the safety of all company employees and their dependents in Saudi Arabia."

Vinnell Arabia is under contract to the U.S. Army to provide training services to the Saudi Arabian National Guard. The company employs about 800 people in Riyadh, a combination of U.S., Saudi Arabian and citizens of other countries. U.S. citizens number 300.

Vinnell Corp. is part of Northrop Grumman's Mission Systems sector. Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, based in Reston, is a $3.5 billion global integrator of complex, mission-enabling systems and services for defense, intelligence and civil government markets.

The sector's technology leadership and expertise span areas such as strategic systems, including ICBMs; missile defense; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; command and control; and technical services and training.

©Times Community Newspapers 2003

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