Notorious arms smuggler Viktor Bout, known as the "Merchant of Death," has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for conspiracy to commit terrorism. Our guest, former United Nations arms trafficking investigator Kathi Lynn Austin, says the case allowed American companies to avoid exposure of their collusion with with the U.S. government and private companies linked to Dick Cheney during the Iraq war, even after United Nations sanctions against him in 2004. Authorities say Viktor Bout was involved in trafficking arms to dictators and stoking conflicts in Africa, South America and the Middle East. He has also been accused of furnishing weapons to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, and achieved particular notoriety for selling arms in Rwanda in 1998, just four years after the Rwandan genocide. [includes rush transcript]
The real "free market".
4 comments:
Viktor Bout could get out of jail really quickly if he started to write his memoirs. They would even give him his own pine box for transportation.
Excellent thought! He could die of "respiratory problems" in the deepest solitary confinement they could find for him and never mind the ligature marks on his neck.
Probably more secretive than that. Poison in his food. I'm sure a jail cook could be found that would like to augment his pay.
Who's the world's biggest arms dealer? The good old US of A.
Yes we are.
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