The LA Times has more on Victor Bout's Iraq contracts with the US government:

Four firms linked to the network by the CIA and international investigators have flown into Iraq nearly 200 times on U.S. business, government flight and fuel documents show. One such flight landed in Baghdad last week.

The list of the Bout network's suspected clients over the years includes the Taliban, which allegedly bought airplanes for a secret airlift of arms to Afghanistan. The Taliban is known to have shared weapons with Al Qaeda.

CIA officials expressed concern more than a year ago that air cargo firms linked to Bout were cashing in on U.S.-funded reconstruction efforts, but the warning did not reach the Coalition Provisional Authority until May.

But what really catches the eye here? The LA Times got Bout on the phone, in Moscow:

Reached by phone in Moscow, Bout responded angrily.

"You are not dealing with facts. You are dealing with allegations," he snapped before hanging up. His Moscow lawyer refused to answer questions.

If I remember correctly there are international arrest warrants out for Bout, originating from Belgium, and Moscow had in the past denied knowing anything about Bout's whereabouts.

Wednesday night update: Phil Carter sends along this interesting excerpt from today's DoD press conference on this issue:

Q: There are reports that air cargo companies affiliated with a Russian arms dealer by the name of Viktor -- I'm probably mispronouncing it -- Bout, B-o-u-t -- have received a fair amount of business in Iraq despite the fact that he's on a Treasury Department blacklist. Do you know anything about it, first of all?

And do you have any mechanisms in place to ensure that that kind of
thing doesn't happen?

MR. HESS: Well, in terms of our contracts -- and that certainly does not sound like one, is is not one that I am familiar with at all -- but our contracts, our contracting officers will certainly look at the debarred contract list and at the embargoed contractor list to make sure that we're not dealing with firms that are, in fact, precluded from working with the U.S. government.

Q: But you don't have any information about --

MR. HESS: I have no information on this one whatsoever. I mean, if you could give me some more information about what they're doing. Is this a service contract of some sort, I take it?

Q:All I know is air cargo.

MR. HESS: I have not heard anything about that. But if you had some details, we can certainly check into it.

Here are some of the details Mr. Hess might want to check into. There's more here and here, including plane registry numbers, US and British government contract information on contracting with Bout airlines to fly ammunition into Iraq.

Posted by Laura at December 14, 2004 11:41 AM