U.S. and Britian protecting Al-Qaeda arms dealer!

I've already shown how the Bush Administration has PROTECTED Al-Zarqawi, the man George Bush is certain beheaded Nick Berg on camera.

But now here's further proof that the United States has been protecting another friend of Al-Qaeda!

Help this story grow some legs!

UK snubs France over arms trafficker

By Mark Turner at the United Nations, and Mark Huband and Andrew,Parker in London
Published: May 17 2004 5:00 | Last Updated: May 17 2004 5:00

The UK is backing the US in pressing for a notorious arms trafficker alleged to be involved in supplying goods to coalition forces in Iraq to be omitted from planned United Nations sanctions, in defiance of French demands.

Washington is resisting efforts by France to freeze the assets of Victor Bout, once described by Peter Hain, now leader of the House of Commons, as a "merchant of death" for his role in supplying arms to rebel and government forces in several African conflicts, including Liberia.

The UN is considering a list of individuals whose assets will be frozen due to their involvement with the ousted regime of Charles Taylor, the former Liberian leader overthrown last year.

Western diplomats say London had originally supported moves to freeze Mr Bout's assets, but appeared to have reversed its view under pressure from Washington.

The diplomats say they have been told of reports that an air freight company associated with Mr Bout, who is subject to a UN travel ban due to his activities in Liberia, may be involved in delivering goods to US forces in Iraq, and that the US may be "recycling" his cargo network.

A former UN official familiar with the sanctions process said he had been told by a reliable source about a month ago that "the American defence forces are using Victor's planes for their logistics".

A senior western diplomat close to the UN negotiations, who repeated this allegation, said: "We are disgusted that Bout won't be on the list, even though he is the principal arms dealer. If we want peace in that region [of West Africa], it seems evident that he should be on that list."

Another senior diplomat close to the UN discussions said the UK had originally included Mr Bout's name on its list of individuals to be targeted. The diplomat said US officials then told their British counterparts they did not want Mr Bout included because he was "being used in Iraq".

Mr Bout's name then did not appear on a subsequent UK list, the diplomat said. The Foreign Office yesterday refused to comment.

The US argues that Mr Bout's activities should be dealt with in separate UN measures addressing the role of arms dealers.

US and British officials at the UN deny any knowledge of Mr Bout's alleged activities in Iraq.

A UN Security Council resolution in March said the assets of Mr Taylor, his immediate family, or "other close allies or associates", would be frozen.

In 2000, Mr Hain, then foreign office minister responsible for Africa, described Mr Bout as "the chief sanctions-buster, and ...a merchant of death who owns air companies that ferry in arms" for rebels in Angola and Sierra Leone. Mr Hain yesterday refused to comment.

Notice the incredible bias used in writing this article.  But anyway...

Wait a second, do you even know who Victor Bout is?

Just to be fair, let's let the United States Embassy in Nigeria explain who he is:

The UN reports also indicate that the lack of transparency surrounding Liberian finances may have troubling national security implications for the U.S. government as well. For instance, the UN reports document how certain portions of the flag registry revenue were channeled to the notorious arms dealer, Victor Bout, who has connections to the Taliban, al Qaeda and Abu Sayyeef, the radical Muslim group in the Philippines.

Here are some more fun facts about Mr. Bout:

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mr Bout spent $120,000 on three Antonov cargo aircraft. Based from 1993 at Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, he used the aircraft to transport anything from weapons to the Angolan rebel movement Unita, to South African gladioli that he sold for a profit of 500 per cent in Dubai.

But the furious spat that has erupted between the UK, French and US governments over US and UK demands that Mr Bout's name be left off a list of people whose assets should be frozen because of their association with the former Liberian president Charles Taylor, has revealed that the arms dealer may be edging closer to shedding his past.

The accusations against him are extensively documented in reports compiled by United Nations investigations into sanctions-busting operations in Angola, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia.

A United Nations issued in December 2000 said Mr Bout's company, Air Cess, was frequently seen by the UN's mission in Angola landing in territory held by Unita rebels.

On November 7, 2000, Peter Hain, then British foreign office minister responsible for Africa, said: "Victor Bout is indeed the chief sanctions-buster, and is a merchant of death who owns air companies that ferry in arms and other logistic support for the rebels in Angola and Sierra Leone and take out the diamonds which pay for those arms."

A UN investigation in March 2000 into arms supplies to Unita said Mr Bout had established a base in Rwanda. There, the government "allowed Unita to operate more or less freely in [the capital] Kigali for the purposes of arranging diamond sales and meetings with weapons brokers".

In January 2001, the UN Security Council received a detailed report on sanctions-busters and illicit diamond deals in Sierra Leone. The UK representative, Stewart Eldon, told the council he was alarmed by what he called the "malign role played by individuals, such as Victor Bout, in the illicit arms supply chain".

The travel ban imposed on Mr Bout in 2001 in response to his role as a main supplier of arms to Charles Taylor's regime, has not halted his activities. A UN report in November 2003 alleges that he is in ultimate control of a Texas-registered company called Air Bas, that is flying to Somalia.

He has also been able to operate despite two arrest warrants. One, issued by the Central African Republic, states that Mr Bout was found guilty of forgery and sentenced to two years in prison and a fine in July 2000. A second was issued by Belgium in March 2002 on money laundering charges.

Meanwhile, Mr Bout lives unhindered in Moscow and has been able to travel. According to one European intelligence service, he narrowly missed being caught when troops from two European countries prepared to apprehend him at a small airport in Croatia in October 2001.

But the attempt was abandoned when the forces were inexplicably told to let him go.

Who told those forces to let him go??

Here's some more information:

Victor Anatoliyevich Bout, who holds at least five passports and uses as many as seven aliases, is identified as the businessman responsible for fuelling civil wars across Africa, including conflicts in Sierra Leone, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He is accused of ferrying heavy weapons, automatic rifles and ammunition from eastern Europe to rebel groups that control diamond mines.

Responding to the latest UN study, the Foreign Office minister, Peter Hain, declared: "Bout is the leading merchant of death who is the principal con duit for planes and supply routes that take arms, including heavy military equipment, from east Europe, principally Bulgaria, Moldova, and Ukraine, to Liberia and Angola.

"The UN has exposed Bout as the centre of a spider's web of shady arms dealers, diamond brokers, and other operatives, sustaining the wars. Without someone like him we would be much, much, closer to ending the conflicts."

Mr Bout, 33, was born in Tashkent and trained with the Russian air force. He conducts his illicit deals from the privacy of a walled compound in the Gulf state of Sharjah, which is part of the United Arab Emirates.

Yesterday's UN report, which is unusual in focusing so much on one man, lists Mr Bout's ad dress and telephone number, his date of birth, his wife's name and a breakdown of his gun-running and air freight contacts around the world.

"Victor Bout is often referred to in law enforcement circles as Victor B. There is a good reason for this, as he is thought to have at least five aliases and it is highly likely there are several more that aren't known about."

His aliases include: Boutov, Butt, But, Budd, Bouta, all with Victor or Viktor as the first name. He is also thought to call himself Vadim Aminov and Victor Bulakin. Of Mr Bout's role in the civil war in Angola ,the report says: "It takes an internationally organized network of individuals, well funded, well connected and well versed in brokering and logistics, to move illicit cargo around the world without raising the suspicions of law enforcement." One such organisation is that "headed, or at least to all appearances outwardly controlled, by Victor Bout".

So why is he being supported by the Bush administration?? Why is this man not declared an enemy of peace?

Not convinced? Read this:

Victor Bout, the Russian arms trafficker whose clandestine sales of weapons of war to some of the bloodiest regimes and rebels in Africa were exposed by the United Nations, had another secret client: he sold millions of dollars of arms to the Taliban in Afghanistan.

According to Belgian intelligence documents obtained by the Center for Public Integrity, Bout earned $50 million in profit for selling weapons to the Taliban in the late 1990s. Another European intelligence source independently verified the sales, and intelligence documents from an African country in which Bout operates -- obtained by the Center -- claim that Bout ran guns for the Taliban "on behalf of the Pakistan government."

The source of the Taliban and bin Laden's weaponry has been the subject of much interest and speculation since the Sept. 11 attacks. The German news magazine Der Spiegel reported on Jan. 7, 2002, that Vadim Rabinovich, an Israeli citizen of Ukrainian origin, along with the former director of the Ukrainian secret service and his son sold a consignment of 150 to 200 T-55 and T-62 tanks to the Taliban. Spiegel said the deal was conducted through the Pakistani secret service and uncovered by the Russian foreign intelligence service, SVR, in Kabul, the Afghan capital. A Western intelligence source told ICIJ that Rabinovich's weapons had been airlifted by one of Bout's airfreight companies from his base in the United Arab Emirates.

Basically, in case you haven't guess it, this is one major leage bad dude with a LOT of powerful connections.  Including the Bush administration it appears.

This brave guy has spent a lot of time tracking down Bout's airplanes.  It also includes a list of his air freight companies:

African Lines (Central African Republic) probably associated with Centrafrican. Active 2003.
Air Bas (previously Air Cess). Active 2004.
Air Cess Equatorial Guinea - Closed (aircraft transferred to Air Bas / Irbis / Centrafrican)
Air Cess Liberia - Closed. Became Air Bas.
Air Cess Inc. (Miami)
Air Cess Rwanda (based Kigali,Rwanda)
Air Cess Swaziland (based at Manzini) - Swazi Gov't struck off their a/c registrations in 1999.
Air Pass, Swaziland (based Pietersburg, S.Africa)
Air Zory (Bulgaria)
Centrafrica (another name for Central African Airways)
Centrafricain (another name for Central African Airways)
Central African Airways (Central African Republic)
Cess Avia (see Air Cess)
Dolphin Air - see Flying Dolphin
Flying Dolphin (became owner of Air Cess?)
GATS (Gulf Aviation Technical and Services), Russia, but based SSG. IL-76s. Active 2004?
Irbis Air, Almaty (Kazakhstan) - has no aircraft itself, but used as agency to charter other Bout aircraft.
Norse Air Charter (agency in S.Africa)
Phoenix Air (Kyrgyztan) Ilyushin 18s and 76s, based SHJ. Owned by a Russian/Israeli. Still active 2004?
Renan (Moldova)
Santa Cruz (see Santa Cruz Imperial)
Santa Cruz Imperial, Sharjah. An-12, An-26, IL-18 etc. mostly registered in Liberia. Active 2004?
Sitrat Air (Bulgaria)
Southern Cross Airlines
Southern Gateway Corporation
Track Aviation (GSA for Renan)
Transavia Travel Agency, Sharjah
Trans Aviation Network (TAN)

Remember, his Air Bas company is now registered and operating out of TEXAS.  What in the bloody hell is going on here?

Check out this news story from 2002:

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: This Russian, Victor Bout, known to U.S. intelligence for years as the world's most notorious arms trafficker, is now the subject of an international manhunt. CNN has learned that British military intelligence recently found documents and other evidence in Afghanistan that they believe proves Bout supplied arms to the Taliban and al Qaeda right up until September 11.

PHILLIP VAN NIEKERK, CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY: He's an extraordinary person and he's very big and the question has to be asked why, how one individual is able to go as far and to sell as many weapons to as many places as he does.

STARR: Two U.S. intelligence sources tell CNN there is also circumstantial evidence that Bout has shipped weapons technology into Iraq. U.S. intelligence believes he may have supplied Baghdad with a sophisticated missile guidance set. U.S. military officials urgently want Bout in custody to ask him about any possible link between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.

Woah!  So what more proof do we need he's a bad guy?  

So what on Earth is he doing supplying weapons to American and British forces in Iraq?

Mr. Bush, where are your morals???  This demands a Congressional investigation!

Peace.  It's the answer.

-Soj

•  Hmm

  The only link I could find was this one to whether or not Air Bas is registered in Texas.  Might be worth an open records request.

  Still checking on this...

  by Soj on Mon May 17, 2004 at 02:46:06 AM PDT

  •  sketchy!

    You know, it seems all sorts of nasty stuff is being made quasi-legal in the War on Terra.. Interview with Landesman (NYT magazine writer who did a long piece on Bout) from NPR, August 17, 2003:

    HANSEN: What about after September 11th? Haven't men like Bout become a priority for the Bush administration?

    Mr. LANDESMAN: Actually, the answer is exactly the opposite. The Patriot Act leaves open the possibility of doing more black ops business with men we will never hear about. We're now in the business of tracking terrorists. We're now in the business of tracking people we haven't been able to find before. And in order to do that, we need to cultivate relationships and sources more in the world in which these men operate.
    

    by daria g on Mon May 17, 2004 at 03:58:56 AM PDT

  •  Iran-Contra, arms for hostages

    And now it's Iraq-Africa arms for diamonds, isn't it, or maybe in Afghanistan, arms for narcotics.  I'm only half kidding.

    Western intelligence officials say there is some evidence Bout shipped arms to fighters in Africa and was paid in so-called blood diamonds.

    by daria g on Mon May 17, 2004 at 04:09:00 AM PDT

•  Strange Connections

  I just found out that Richard C. Clarke, the man who said "America, your government has failed you" was apparently hot on the trail of this guy!

  It was not until the summer of 2000 that the N.S.C. realized it had stumbled on not only the most prolific arms trafficking operation in Africa, the Middle East and Afghanistan but probably the best connected (and protected) private-weapons transport and brokering network in the world. Smith and others took their information to Richard C. Clarke, then the chief of counterterrorism for the N.S.C. ''Get me a warrant,'' Clarke responded.

  More info as it comes in!

  by Soj on Mon May 17, 2004 at 03:03:53 AM PDT

•  Nice

  Is this guy related to the mercenaries caught in Zimbabwe and that were headed for mischief in Equatorial Guinea?

  UK lack of reaction isn't surprising. I mean, we speak of the same country and government who still harbours and protects the main banker and funder of the islamist terrorist attacks in France in the mid-1990s, a guy who's guilty as charged but that London (read: Tony Bliar) still refuses to ship to Paris on some bogus claims. We're speaking of London, who's probably the 2nd biggest base for islamic terrorists after Pakistan.
  

  by Clueless Joe on Mon May 17, 2004 at 03:04:27 AM PDT

•  this reminds me

  of the story of the missing 727 jet that disappeared in Angola a year ago and may have crashed near Senegal...

  Anyway, if you have access there seem to be many articles on Victor Bout at allafrica.com, but it's subscription-only for this content.  (I have LexisNexis access, will check later if I have time to see if I can get them that way.)

  There's a blog I read, African Oil Politics (africanoilpolitics.blogspot.com) with a good resource list as well.

  Check this out- The Merchant of Death
  

  Supplying the Taliban
  According to a Belgian intelligence document first reported by ICIJ in January 2002, Bout earned $50 million selling weapons to the Taliban in the late 1990s. Another European intelligence source independently verified the sales, and an intelligence document from an African country in which Bout operated claim that Bout ran guns for the Taliban "on behalf of the Pakistan government."

  Bout, in a statement, denied any association with the Taliban or al Qaeda and with "arms traffickers and/or trafficking or the sale of arms of kind [sic] anywhere in the world." A Pakistani official denied that Pakistan served as a conduit for weapons shipped to the Taliban, saying that Pakistan abided by the Dec. 19, 2000, U.N. arms embargo imposed on Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and actively promoted interdiction. The weapons allegedly supplied by Bout were delivered before the sanctions were in place.

  Bout's relationship with the Taliban began in August 1995, when the radical Islamist movement was trying to overthrow President Burhanuddin Rabbani's government in Kabul. One of Bout's planes flying from Albania via Sharjah and transporting small arms and military equipment on behalf of Israeli company Long Range Avionics to Rabbani was intercepted by a MiG-21. The plane was forced to land in Taliban-controlled territory, according to the ICIJ investigation.

  Bout, together with Russian diplomats, met Mullah Omar and other Taliban leaders to negotiate the release of the detained crew in Kandahar, but they were not successful. A year later, on Aug. 16, 1996, the seven Russian crewmembers disarmed their guards and took off in the Il-76 for Sharjah, according to press reports. The Washington Monthly later quoted an unnamed source, who said he believed Bout turned the situation to his advantage by establishing contacts with the Taliban.
  After being a blip on the radar screen of the international community since the mid-1990s and operating with impunity for years in Africa's conflict zones, Bout's profile rose markedly after he was linked to supplying the Taliban, which gave military support to al Qaeda. The United Arab Emirates, the main base for his operation, told the United Nations in early 2002 that his companies were prohibited from operating there and banned him from entering. In February 2002, Belgian authorities issued an international arrest warrant through Interpol for him on "money laundering practices and criminal conspiracy." The case is still pending.

  Chichakli, who lives in Texas and was named by the United Nations as being Bout's chief financial manager, said U.S. authorities had not contacted him about Bout, even though Bout listed the Texas corporate address for San Air General Trading, a United Arab Emirates-based company owned by former Bout employee Serguei Denissenko, as his destination when he applied for a visa to come to the United States in summer 2000. Chichakli "clearly has connections to Bout," Lee S. Wolosky, a former National Security Council official told ICIJ. Wolosky, who closely followed the international arms trade, said the connection "concerned me and others at the National Security Council," but that there was a limit to what the White House could do, aside from referring the case to law enforcement. "U.S. authorities know everything about Bout," Chichakli said.

  On Feb. 28, 2002, Bout surfaced in Moscow to defend himself. Just a few blocks from the Kremlin, he walked into the studios of radio station Ekho Moskvy to protest his innocence in a live interview. "What should I be afraid of?" Bout said. "I haven't done anything in my life to worry aboutI deal exclusively with air transportation. And I have never been involved in arms trade. I have never taken part in it."

  Here's your Texas base, watch out, this link opens a PDF file:

  UN Security Council letter [PDF}

  The Panel however had access to documents showing that Air Bas was established in Texas in May 2002. The records of incorporation were filed on 26 June 2002 (filing number 800098068). Richard A. Chichakli, a known associate of Viktor Bout, is the President.

  by daria g on Mon May 17, 2004 at 03:10:53 AM PDT

  •  Wow

    That link to the missing airplane also mentions Richard Clarke.  This country really lost a good man when he resigned.

    I still want to know why the U.S. government is paying this man.  Why???

    by Soj on Mon May 17, 2004 at 03:50:48 AM PDT

    •  Actually

      Check it out, Fox News interview, March 22, 2004:

      VAN SUSTEREN: Tonight, the FBI is seeking your help in finding a missing Miami pilot who disappeared with a 727 jet in Angola almost a year ago.

      Joe and Benita Padilla are the brother and sister of missing pilot Ben Padilla. They're joining us from Pensacola, Florida.

      Joe, any information at all? I know that a plane did crash in Africa on Christmas Day. It was a 727. Have you spoken to the FBI about that plane?

      JOE PADILLA, BROTHER IS MISSING: Yes, the FBI called me last Tuesday to -- and told me that they had gotten confirmation that it was not the same plane that my brother was hijacked on.

      VAN SUSTEREN: Benita, do you have -- go ahead, Joe. I'm sorry.

      JOE PADILLA: Well, I was going to say it's just like your producer called me today, that you all have a call into the FBI, and you haven't heard back from them. You're not going to. They won't confirm or deny any story, just like the plane that was spotted in Guinea months ago. That wasn't the same plane. That was confirmed to me by the State Department, but they will not put a press release out stating that it was the same plane.

      VAN SUSTEREN: Benita, what do you think is going on here? Where's your brother, and why don't you know?

      BENITA PADILLA, BROTHER IS MISSING: My brother has been missing for 44 weeks now. In eight more weeks, it will be a full year that we have not heard anything about him.

      And what has happened is my brother has been hijacked, and he is either dead or he's being held captive, and we know that, based on the different information that we've received from private citizens within the airline industry, private investigators, and a lot of different people that -- outside the government are telling us what type of situations happen over there.

      We -- you know, we don't feel very positive about his outcome. He's absolutely not an accomplice to any type of wrongdoing. He is definitely a victim.

      VAN SUSTEREN: Joe, what's your theory on -- where is your brother? What's happened to him?

      JOE PADILLA: Well, I'll tell you something. Bin Laden is way up the ladder on terrorists.  There is another name that I haven't heard mentioned on any news media programs, Victor Bout. Now this guy is right up above bin Laden on terrorist links, and there has been reports that they believe that Victor Bout is behind the disappearance of this plane. There's several different scenarios.

      VAN SUSTEREN: And with that -- and with that, I'm sorry, Joe and Benita. That's all the time we have. I appreciate you joining us. Maybe we'll get some good news sometime. Thank you for being with us tonight.
      

      by daria g on Mon May 17, 2004 at 03:56:37 AM PDT

      •  Padilla?

        That's got to be just a coincidence right? Not related to "dirty bomber" Jose Padilla??

        by Soj on Mon May 17, 2004 at 04:01:50 AM PDT

        •  Don't think so

          I Googled, I think it's just coincidence, it is a common name.

          by daria g on Mon May 17, 2004 at 04:22:46 AM PDT

•  more

  Long LA Times article on Bout: On the Trail of a Man Behind Taliban's Air Fleet

  by daria g on Mon May 17, 2004 at 03:14:45 AM PDT

•  d'oh

  Chichakli, Syrian-born naturalized US citizen, former US Army intelligence -

  The secret empire
  Top gunrunner's reach extends across continents, authorities say
  The Seattle Times
  February 28, 2002

  [...]

  "If we want real peace in Africa, Victor is the one person who could make it happen," said Richard Chichakli, one of Bout's far-flung associates in Richardson, Texas. "Victor is a genius we're talking an IQ of 170. He knows the African people. He knows the languages French, Portuguese, Xhosa, Zulu."

  Chichakli, an accountant for Bout and a former U.S. Army intelligence officer, works in a glassy bank building in the strip-mall suburbs of Dallas.

  "If Victor's such a monster, why don't they haul him in?" Chichakli demanded.
  

  
  There's a huge NY Times magazine article on Bout from August 17, 2003.  Later on it talks about where the weapons are run, including Trans-Dniester.. any info to be found in Russian or Romanian language sources?  
  

  
  Arms and the Man

  [...]

  "Look, here is the biggest arms dealer in the world," Chichakli said, half mocking me and half mocking Bout. Bout opened his blazer. "I don't see any guns," he said with a shrug. Then Sergei raised his arms. "None here either." (Both spoke excellent English.) "Maybe I should start an arms-trafficking university and teach a course on U.N. sanctions busting," Victor Bout said. The brothers looked at each other and laughed.

  No one in the lounge seemed to be paying attention to Bout. Behind us sat four Israeli men who may or may not have been listening. Chichakli, who says he speaks Hebrew, said they were waiting for a phone call to confirm a deal for diamonds.

  Bout leaned forward. "I woke up after Sept. 11 and found I was second only to Osama." He put his hand on the papers. The truth, he said, was much bigger than his personal story. "My clients, the governments," he began. Then, "I keep my mouth shut."

  [...]

  (Chichakli says he is a nephew of the former president of Syria and the son of a former Syrian under secretary of defense; he also did a stint in the U.S. Army and "trained in aviation and intelligence," he told me. He agreed that he seemed overqualified for his work as a Dallas C.P.A.)

  Later he said, "If I told you everything I'd get the red hole right here." He pointed to the middle of his forehead.

  by daria g on Mon May 17, 2004 at 03:31:12 AM PDT

  •  Yep

    Here and here.

    Will translate later today (I'm off to work now).

    by Soj on Mon May 17, 2004 at 03:57:58 AM PDT

    •  Bout in Georgia

      And Soj, if I'm not mistaken, the interview for that NYT article was held in Georgia. It had a lot of detail about how Georgia is one of Bout's refuges.

      by emptywheel on Mon May 17, 2004 at 06:32:07 AM PDT

•  From

  Romanian newspaper Evenimentul Zilei:

  "Evenimentul zilei" daily's reporters following journalistic investigations into the case found that Adrian Tarau was involved in a multinational oil smuggling ring through which huge sums of dirty money from suspect operations, drug trafficking included, were laundered, as also shows the report drawn up by prosecutor Alexandru Lele when in charge of the case. Our reporters also found that American company Intersis Corporation, the supplier of all oil importers in northeastern Romania, Adrian Tarau included, as well as of firms in Hungary, Ukraine or Slovakia, was not found in the records of the US Internal Revenue Service. The son of former Bihor county prefect was on the payroll of Intersis Corporation, with the gas import from Slovakia, which was illegally declared as kerosen import in order to benefit of VAT and road tax exemption, being carried out through Intersis Corporation's southeastern European branch in Budapest. Sources with the secret services said Intersis Corporation was allegedly controlled by Russian trafficker Victor Bout, who is suspected of having supplied terrorist organisation Al-Quaeda with weapons.

  Holy toledo!

  by Soj on Mon May 17, 2004 at 04:07:05 AM PDT

•  Richard Chichakli

  
  Richard Chichakli

  His biography .

  Richard is a decorated and honorably discharged war veteran of the US Army, with training in several military occupation specialties in the Aviation, intelligence, and medical fields.

  Check out his "summary of qualifications", in particular the schools he attended.

  by Soj on Mon May 17, 2004 at 04:13:26 AM PDT

  •  Oh my

    Richard A. Chichakli, P.C. Certified Public Accountants & Information System Auditors
    811 S. Central Exressway, Suite 210, Richardson, TX 75080
    Tel: [phone]
    FAX: [phone]
    Internet: [e-mail]

    Remember, this is the registered owner of Al Bas cargo airlines, owned and operated by Victor B, the guy we now know is running weapons to American and British forces in Iraq.

    by Soj on Mon May 17, 2004 at 04:16:08 AM PDT

    •  You mean

      Black-box voting, Diebold certifications and stuff?
      Does he has any share of Enron, Halliburton, Bechtel or Carlyle, by chance?

      by Clueless Joe on Mon May 17, 2004 at 06:01:31 AM PDT

  •  MBA in what??

    Who gets an MBA from Embry-Riddle?

    by emptywheel on Mon May 17, 2004 at 06:34:56 AM PDT

•  Israeli connection

  Sniff.

  by paper tigress on Mon May 17, 2004 at 06:34:21 AM PDT

  •  Israeli connection is right

    The real shocker however is the Bush connection.  Why is this notorious arms trafficker doing business with the Bush administration?

    I've done a lot of searching this morning and cannot find anything older than today's article concerning this link.  Clearly the Bush administration didn't think it would get out!

    by Soj on Mon May 17, 2004 at 08:18:32 AM PDT

    •  Why

      And why are we getting arms off the black market? That, to me, stinks to high heaven. Does someone in Iraq have reason to carry non-standard US weapons? For what reason? To hide the fact they're American or American-backed?

      by emptywheel on Mon May 17, 2004 at 09:20:07 AM PDT