["Former Central Intelligence Agency operative Wilbur Crane Eveland,
author of the autobiographical Ropes of Sand, America's Failure in
the Middle East, died Jan. 2 at the age of 71 in Boston's Dana
Farber Cancer Institute. A major player in CIA covert activities in
the Middle East after 1953, Eveland paid a severe personal price for
publicly expressing over the past 14 years his "respectful dissent"
from the conduct of US foreign policy in the Middle East. . . .
He was in Rome through most of the 1960s where, under cover as vice
president of Vinnell Corporation, he carried Vinnell/Defense
Department ID with GS-18 status, making him the equivalent of a
lieutenant general."--Mary Barrett, "A
Respectful Dissenter: CIA's Wilbur Crane Eveland," Washington
Report on Middle East Affairs, March 1990, Page 28]
["The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the attacks this week in
Saudi Arabia were meant to hit one US company in particular - the
Vinnell Corporation, . . . company has a controversial history with
the Saudis - Vinnell has been the subject of a Congressional inquiry
and there have been questions about a possible tie to the CIA. . . .
For
years it was owned by the Carlyle group, a defense and investment
house close to the Bush family. Several former Republican
cabinet ministers sat on Carlyle's board."--Matthew Clark and Tom
Regan, "Saudi strike directed at US company," Christian Science
Monitor, May 15, 2003]
"CIA
may be behind Saudi bombing: Ka Roger," Sun Star (Philippines), May 16, 2003
"Dogs Of War Inc. -
A $300 Billion Dollar Business," Information Clearing House, May 18, 2003
[The source described Vinnell as "our own little mercenary army
in Vietnam."--William D. Hartung, "Bombings Put
'Executive Mercenaries' In Spotlight," Independent Media
Institute, May 19, 2003]
Gordon Thomas, "CIA
Accused Of Bank Heist," American Free Press
Craig Unger, "House
of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's
Two Most Powerful Dynasties," Scribner, March 16, 2004