http://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2004/09/09_413.html The U.S. government has for years kept in its sights one of the world’s most notorious arms traffickers, Victor Bout. Known on both sides of the Atlantic as the "merchant of death," Bout has been implicated in running guns and missiles to combatants across the world, from the Taliban and Northern Alliance in Afghanistan to the UNITA rebels of Angola and the teen-age army of Liberia’s former tyrant, Charles Taylor. He has been blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury from doing any business in the United States, faces an arrest warrant for money laundering in Belgium, and was aggressively pursued by the Clinton administration. "We were trying to take him out of business," says Witney Schneidman, an Africa expert who worked in the State Department at the time.
But now the Bush administration has hired at least one company tied to Bout's network for the war effort in Iraq. Records obtained by Mother Jones show that as recently as August, Air Bas, a company tied to Bout and his associates, was flying charter missions under contract with the U.S. military in Iraq. Air Bas is overseen by Victor Bout’s brother, Serguei, and his long-time business manager, Richard Chichakli, an accountant living in Texas; in the past, payments for Air Bas have gone to a Kazakh company that the United Nations identifies as "a front for the leasing operations of Victor Bout’s aircraft."
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Rumors of Bout doing work for the Bush Administration have circled through the diplomatic and intelligence communities for a few years. Following the 2002 arrest in Belgium of a Bout associate, Sanjivan Ruprah, the Netherlands-based International Peace and Information Service reported that Ruprah’s seized laptop computer held a letter to a Federal Bureau of Investigation contact detailing plans for Bout to exploit ties to the Northern Alliance to help the U.S. efforts to overthrow the Taliban. "Victor and I have discussed various aspects of coordination with yourselves regarding Afghanistan," Ruprah wrote to the FBI, according to the report. "We have very good relationships
." The FBI did not respond to requests for comment.
In late 2002, an investigator for the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity reported that Chichakli had told him that Bout had been flying U.S. troops into Afghanistan. In an interview with Mother Jones, Chichakli denied saying anything about a Bout role in Afghanistan. Victor Bout is believed to be living in Russia, where he has been isolated since 2000 when international publicity of his activities forced him into seclusion. Born in Tajikistan, he is known to carry at least five passports and use as many aliases. Speaking from his offices in Richardson, Texas, Chichakli said the continued concern over Bout’s activities was unfounded. He declined to put Mother Jones in touch with Bout. "Victor said if anybody calls you, unless it’s Jesus himself, with an ID, don’t bring him to me," Chichakli said.
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criminal birds of a feather flock together
remember when our military flew themselves from place to place without hiring a private company to do it for them?
hhhmmmmmmmm the bloody bushgang can't suck up that money fast enough. Who is their banker?
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