Here are some more Bananas In The Desert (see August 1st entry). Victor Bout is a notorious Tajik arms dealer and supplier of just about anything for which anyone is willing to pay handsomely. As the Cold War waned, Bout saw a massive fleet of Soviet Antonovs and Ilyushins sitting on runways throughout the communist bloc. He also saw a seemingly endless supply of weapons from the ubiquitous AK-47 to tactical nuclear devices and people who wanted them. Thus, he created a match truly made in hell.
In their new book entitled Merchant Of Death: Money, Guns, Planes And The Man Who Makes War Possible, authors Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun tell the story of a man who supplied weapons to various sides in the former Balkans civil war, to warlords in Somalia, and to governments and revolutionaries alike throughout war-torn West Africa. What else can be said about a man friendly with the unspeakably evil Charles Taylor, the former warlord President of Liberia who ordered the butchery of so many of his fellow citizens with weapons supplied by Bout?
Taylor is behind bars, but Bout continues to live free and prosper. And why not? While the U.S. Treasury Department has been enforcing regulations designed to cripple Bout by punishing American individuals and businesses caught doing business with him, our own Defense Department has repeatedly hired him for missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. I guess Treasury somehow missed these missions. Here is proof again that you can grow bananas in the desert.
In their new book entitled Merchant Of Death: Money, Guns, Planes And The Man Who Makes War Possible, authors Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun tell the story of a man who supplied weapons to various sides in the former Balkans civil war, to warlords in Somalia, and to governments and revolutionaries alike throughout war-torn West Africa. What else can be said about a man friendly with the unspeakably evil Charles Taylor, the former warlord President of Liberia who ordered the butchery of so many of his fellow citizens with weapons supplied by Bout?
Taylor is behind bars, but Bout continues to live free and prosper. And why not? While the U.S. Treasury Department has been enforcing regulations designed to cripple Bout by punishing American individuals and businesses caught doing business with him, our own Defense Department has repeatedly hired him for missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. I guess Treasury somehow missed these missions. Here is proof again that you can grow bananas in the desert.