During the fall of the Soviet Union Victor Bout had decided there must have been a way for the chaos to benefit him. He was a former pilot in the Soviet military and he realized that he had valuable skill. He began to buy transport aircraft from the Soviet military, he registered all the aircraft in many different nations, like Liberia and the Central African Republic, who had few rules governing their aircraft. Bout then shipped arms and other weapons around the world, his primary customers were the Hutu rebels in Rwanda, the UNITA movement in Angola, Al Qaeda, and many repressive regimes. One of his most important clients was the Taliban, his weapons were responsible for killing civilians, French solders in the Congo, and Americans in Afghanistan. In return he got conflict diamonds and many other good from groups and nations that were sanctioned.
The Taliban placed Bout in charge of maintaining their air fleet and ran weekly runs into the country to supply them with weapons and ammunition.
After 9/11 in February the Belgian government with Interpol issued a warrant for his arrest. Bout was in Moscow and was declaring his innocence on the radio while the government was denying that he was in Russia. He even does interviews.
Here is where it becomes interesting. The United States government was outsourcing most of the Iraq War and one area that was in desperate need for help was transportation and logistics. Who does President Bush hire, well Victor Bout. In return for providing transportation needs Bout is allowed to refuel his planes on American military bases in Iraq for free. Currently his operation supplies the American troops, and supplies anyone who wants to pay him for weapons (including Iraqi insurgents) and all this is partly financed by the American Government.
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