Job Discussion Forums

[moonpie]

Teacher over in Riyadh sent this to me.

http://vinnell.blogspot.com/2008/09/teachers-wanted.html

[johnslat]

Dear moonpie,
Offhand, I'd say that Stubby's not too happy there. I'm puzzled, though. If it was "erased" how come it's still there (as you can tell, I don't really understand the Net too well.)


POSTED BY STUBBY ERASED AT 7:51 AM

Also, I assume Stubby will be leaving soon - unless he's being held there against his will.

Regards,
John

[veiledsentiments]

Interesting blog. I hope the mgmt here doesn't think it is a concealed job ad since it is not. I'd guess it is a pretty accurate picture... with lots of pictures of the situation there for teachers - housing, transport, teaching block.

Useful for those who may want to see if they could tolerate it or not for the pay offered.

VS

[moonpie]

He has long been complaining and needs to leave. Everyone has issues here, but he obviously has been there too long. My opinion when it comes to publicity here in Saudi is: don't complain online.

[veiledsentiments]

There is nothing wrong with complaining online as long as you don't want to stay in the job. I wish we had a blog like this for every employer in the Gulf to see the housing and facilities.

VS

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

Michael, Michael, Michael...and you thought Jeddah was dangerous!

NCTBA

[zeke0606]

I think it is accurate and very correct! I just left Vinnell in August and this sounds correct.

PM me if you would like the juicy details!

Zeke

[Middle East Beast]

[jabberjaw]

Yikes! That part about the bodies of dead kids being thrown into the swimming pool and no one's even bothered to fix the pool up was pretty morbid. It must be an eerie place to live when they don't even fix the place up after it's been bombed. Anyway, I found some more interesting links about Vinnell. According to the wikipedia map, the compound (I'm assuming that's "Camp Vinnell") is right next to a major road which is a security risk. And the blogger said the guards are slacking off. That's a substantial problem when you're on Bin Laden's sh*t list and you've got to figure a lot of the Saudi Al Qaeda will be coming home once the war in Iraq winds down when most of the American troops leave.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/05/14/1052885292950.html
Al-Qaeda hated corporation
May 15 2003
By Marian Wilkinson
Washington

The bloody attacks in Riyadh are telling because of their targets, in particular the Vinnell Corporation. The residential compound and the offices used by Vinnell were hit, killing nine of the company's employees and injuring several others, two critically.

Al-Qaeda has a particular hatred for the US Vinnell Corporation because it trains the Saudi Arabian National Guard, the country's internal security force and an integral part of the Saudi military forces.

Vinnell, under contract to the US Army, employs about 800 people in Saudi Arabia including 300 Americans. Vinnell recently came under the financial control of giant US defence contractor Northrop.

Vinnell's relationship with Saudi Arabia over nearly three decades has been intriguing and controversial. For five years until 1997 it was owned by the Carlyle group, a defence and investment house close to the Bush family. Several former Republican cabinet ministers sat on Carlyle's board.

In 1975 the Pentagon hired Vinnell on a $US77 million ($A118.8 million) contract to train Saudi troops to protect the country's oilfields. About 1000 US Special Forces were recruited, says Dan Briody, author of a new book on the Carlyle group.

In 1992 Vinnell was taken over by the Carlyle group, whose chairman was Ronald Reagan's former defence secretary, Frank Carlucci. George Bush snr would later act on behalf of Carlyle and in 1993 Mr Bush snr's former secretary of state, James Baker, joined the company.

By then, Vinnell had trained the Saudi National Guard, and had worked alongside them during the first Gulf War launched while Mr Bush snr and Mr Baker were in office.

Indeed Vinnell, says Briody, "paved the way for co-operation between the United States and Saudi Arabia during the (first) Gulf War". It was this co-operation that infuriated Osama bin Laden.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinnell
The Vinnell Corporation is an international private military company based in the United States specializing in military training, logistics, and support in the form of weapon systems maintenance and management consultancy, whose most recent claim to fame is their training of portions of the Saudi Arabian National Guard as a joint Saudi/American owned company called Vinnell Arabia. Vinnell Corporation is a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corporation. They are also party to other joint venture companies; i.e., VBR (Vinnell-Brown & Root).

The Vinnell Corporation was mentioned in Fahrenheit 9/11 for its connections to the Carlyle Group, George W. Bush, and the Saudi Royal family.

Vinnell Arabia was bombed on May 12, 2003 by Saudi terrorists. Ten Americans and three Filipinos were killed. Another employee was stalked from the military hospital to his home in Riyadh and assassinated on the street.

"Camp Vinnell" can be viewed at: [1]

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

That's a pretty detailed and in-depth analysis of the reason behind Camp Vinnell's attack by al-Qaida. And, everybody knows, the Saudis (as well as their neighbors) tend to think things out very logically, make detailed plans, and then logically carry them out with great discipline...(IRONY ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Let me give my analysis:

SANG = then Crown Prince Abdullah's boys. Message, anybody?

al Hamra Compound = the Saudi business elite. Capping the guards, driving the explosives truck onto the compound and then running away before exploding it...and then, going from villa to villa kicking in doors to kill innocent women and children before being hunted down to a "man" is bad for business.

(Kinda reminds me of the gallantry and braveness of using box openers to dispatch the flight attendents on 9/11.)

Jadawal Compound = attack on the centralized military-contractor (who, ironically were brought together for mutual protection) compound, the denizens of which trained the folk who helped keep the Saudi monarchy in business. King Fahad, anyone?

Oh, and don't forget the al Muhaiyah compound that was attacked 6 months later and which killed a lot of Lebanese. The connection with the first three? It's one klik as the crow flies, in Wadi Hanafa, from al Yamama Palace, the Riyadh residence of the late King Fahad . If he didn't get the message six-months earlier, he got it loud and clear that night. The other three were miles and miles on the other side of town and well outta earshot. Now, many people have said that they still thought Americans were on that compound but made a mistake. That's bull! We repeatedly had to alert the Saudi security forces as we did our daily trek to Riyadh AB because Saudi miscreants would regularly throw rocks at our vehicles as we left the compound, then known as the B-1, from the narrow wadi walls.

I agree the article is good reading, but anyone intimately knowledgable about those bombings and the real reasons knows that it sounds right...but, it ain't. It makes too much sense for such a senseless act.

It's Saudi's own "De Vinci Code". The lunatics involved in the attacks didn't think that deeply.

And, lastly, the attackers weren't "Muslim". Muslims would NEVER perform their dastardly acts. Nope, no virgins were waiting for them when they got to where they were going.

NCTBA