Arms Merchant Victor Bout Continues to Fly, with Help From his Friends

By Douglas Farah

More than nine months ago the State Department asked the rest of the government to cut off contracts with companies associated with Viktor Bout, the world's largest arms merchant who is alleged to have supplied weapons to the Taliban and al Qaeda. It took five months for Defense Department to begin to respond and cancel some of his contracts to fly ammuniton and contract personnel into Iraq and around the region. Bout was dubbed the "Merchant of Death" by a senior British official because, through his web of airplanes and weapons-buying contacts Bout supplied hundreds of tons of weapons to some of the most unsavory characters on the planet, many connected to terrorism. These include Charles Taylor in Liberia, who sold diamonds to al Qaeda; rebels in the Congo and Angola, the drug-trafficking FARC in Colombia, Abu Sayef in the Philippines, and others. Juan Zarate, the Treasury Department's assistant secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, recently called Bout "arguably the largest private arms dealer in the world today," willing to supply "guns and bullets by the ton, as well as advanced equipment such as attack helicopters, to anyone willing to pay his price."

Yet, astoundingly, the Pentagon remains among those willing to pay his price. Airplanes from Bout-controlled Aerocom company, using the call sign "MCC," continue to fly for private contractors and Pentagon clients there. And he may be getting help from some others in the murky world of Private Military Companies.

While there are responsible and honorable PMCs out there doing dangerous and necessary work, the one that got the biggest contract is a British mercenary and friend of Bout who is not of that character. Last year Aegis Defense Services Ltd, a British firm, signed a three-year contract is worth $293 MILLION, to coordinate security groups in Iraq and provide security to diplomats and others. Aegis is run by Tim Spicer, a familiar name in the world of African mercenaries and illegal gun runners and an acquaintence of Bout. His long and rather checkered past seem to have been ignored by the Pentagon, including his blatant violation of international arms embargos. But the Pentagon says the Brits, to whom Spicer is very well known, raised no objections. Spicer was also a business partner with one of Bout's main business partners, Sanjivan Ruprah. For a look at all these connections that are now having an impact on the war against terrorism in Iraq, see my blog

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