Aberration in the Heartland of the Real: The Secret Lives of Timothy McVeigh

by Wendy S. Painting

During Operations Desert Shield and Storm, FMC Corp. , the manufacturer of the Bradley, was one of the largest U.S. defense contractors in the Gulf, contracted to supply defense systems and industrial chemicals to clients around the world, replace and supply damaged oil production equipment in Kuwait, petroleum equipment plants in Saudi Arabia, and oil production facilities in Iran. In 1985, after Col. James Burton, a testing supervisor in the Pentagons office of Research and Engineering filed an internal complaint, Congress leveled heavy criticism against the Bradleys, claiming the Army skewed the results of simulated combat testing of the vehicle, although the Army denied this. Col. Burton, although commended by Congress for speaking out, was subsequently transferred to Alaska, ultimately leading to his decision to retire early. In early 1989, Saudi Arabia agreed to purchase 200 Bradley’s for an estimated $550 million dollars, to be received by early 1991. On February 11, 1991, The Wall Street Journal quoted one FMC executive as saying that while the companies’ profits had taken a turn for the worse, allied bombs and Iraq’s scorched earth policy promised to raise them and informed reporters of FMC’s willingness to provide Kuwait with the equipment they may need if they successfully regained control of their country. In 1992, FMC began building a newer type of Bradley, designed for electronic warfare and outfitted with radio and radar transmission and interception capabil...