Excel
All-American
I don't know how many of you have been watching this story or if any of you are familiar with it but Russian businessman Viktor Bout was convicted yesterday on an array of charges ranging from supporting known terrorist orgs and conspiring to kill Americans to various types of fraud and money laundering. This man truly has an amazing story, and if you've seen Nick Cage's "Lord of War" you may have some idea of how crazy it is...granted much of it is shrouded in Mystery and confusion we have a general idea of who this guy is and what he did with his life. We have a general idea that...
- He was an officer in the Military of the Soviet Union. Some sources say its Air Force, others say he was an Intel officer in the Army and others say he was with the KGB. All we know for sure is that he did something
Somehow Bout managed to parlay this experience into a booming business venture with the collapse of the USSR and went on to acquire a large aircraft fleet and arms arsenal. He billed himself as a kind of logistics entrepreneur...UPS for Third World, war-stricken countries if you will..."What can Bout do for you" haha...Like I said, accounts describing his actions vary but they are quite colorful....he is accused of supplying arms and war fighting materiel to a plethora of nations, mad men and extremist orgs including..
- Both sides of the Second war of the Congo
- Charles Terror in Sierra Leone's civil war
- Hezbollah in the 2006 war with Israel (Bout denies, evidence seems to support)
- FARC rebels in Columbia (for which he was convicted in NYC)
- The Taliban and the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan (accounts differ)
- Logistical Support to the US Military in the early months of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq (NPR reported this morning and my jaw nearly dropped, haven't found it anywhere else though)
- Terrorists in Kenya that brought down an El Al flight.
These accusations led to Bout being dubbed the "Merchant of Death", an image that he appears to have embrassed often flagarently defying the International Community...
- He dodged an Interpol arrest warrant for nearly a decade
- He is reported to have frequently altered his appearance, that of his planes and their call-signs and registrations
- Bout maintained several residences in at least seven countries across three continents
- Fought extradition from Thailand to the US for nearly two years, reportedly with the help of the Russian Government who feared he would disclose state secrets at trial.
- All of this while maintaining his own website http://www.victorbout.com/
Yea, so obviously I'm fascinated with this man. Much of what's said of him may not be true and he's no hero, in fact very much a villain... but a villain with a damn good story.
Bout's conviction: http://www.msnbc.msn...s/#.TrN7mEMr2so
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