Saturday, May 13, 2006
"Someone high up in the contracting world for Iraq seems to want to use Bout companies"
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
"Someone high up in the contracting world for Iraq seems to want to use Bout companies"
So says Doug Farah in a new post over at his blog (below). Farah states that Kellogg, Brown and Root are still using the Bout system in Iraq despite public protestations that all the contracts were cancelled. Regular TYR readers will recall that this should come as no surprise: back when they first said the contracts had been cut off, a source informed me that Falcon Express were still operating in Iraq and still chartering An12 and Il76 aircraft from the network. On the 13th of January, I blogged that BGIA were operating a nightly Sharjah-Baghdad service, according to Sharjah Airport. Indeed, it certainly looks like somebody powerful is determined to keep using our friend's services. According to Farah this has gone even to the point of rejecting respectable operators who have submitted lower bids.
Now, I can hardly think of any explanation for that other than either corruption in the contracting process or some sort of scheme to reimburse Bout for other, secret, services with contracts in Iraq. The first option is to be preferred as the simplest explanation, of course. The story does not seem to show any signs of clearing up. In an email, Farah informs me that an intelligence source tells him that the Irbis flights to Yemen mentioned downblog were "not significant" because they weren't heavy-lift aircraft. What they are, then, remains unknown.
Update, 03/02/05 1149Z
Apparently they are none other than Irbis's fleet of ex-Air Bas Ilyushin 18s, aircraft that have cropped up in reports into Viktor's activities for years now. I'd have thought Il18s were significant, myself.
Original: http://yorkshire-ranter.blogspot.com/2005/02/someone-high-up-in-contracting-world.html
_________________________________________________Monday, January 31, 2005
Did Viktor Bout's Network Really Stop Supplying U.S. Contactors?
Seems, from new documents I have had recent access to, that KBR continues to use several Viktor Bout-related companies to fly personnel and cargo into Iraq, despite efforts earlier this year to cut off all such contracts. Seems Viktor has simply been able to activate several shelf companies, shift his planes around, and carry on while missing very few beats. One of them is Aerocom, named in U.N. reports and a DEA report on flying drugs into Belize. Aerocom lost its Moldovan Air Operator's Certificate in June 2004, but continues to operate. In Moldova, Aerocom shares and address and phone number with Jet Line International, a publicly identified Bout company. Other companies seem to be operating out of Sudan and elsewhere. it also appears that some do not carry the requisite insurance to allow them to fly for U.S. companies.
What is particularly disturbing is that no one seems to really care. British and French diplomats at the UN still appear to be keen on trying to make Bout's enterprises at least a little less profitable and easy to run. However, the U.S. has consistantly been less than interested in making a sustained effort to put Bout out of business.
It is also simply not true that Bout is a necessary evil because there are no other companies out there who would do the flying. In fact, several large, reputable companies with the requisite aircraft and skill, have lost contracts to Bout and his associates. Seems that some of the contracts that were rejected would have cost the U.S. tax payer considerably less than the Bout companies do, but they can't crack the system. Really a mystery. Or perhaps not. Someone high up in the contracting world for Iraq seems to want to use Bout companies. That is what I find most disturbing. You would have to want to use his folks to still be dealing with him after all that has been written, officially and in in the press to still let things slide. I am all for free markets. But not when it comes to dealing with those whose main market has been death.
posted by Douglas Farah at 10:48 AM
5 Comments:
Mike said...
Why does this revelation not surprise me? Perhaps the DoD likes Bout BECAUSE, not 'in spite of', his lack of scruples.
8:22 AM
Hannah K. O'Luthon said...
Very interesting. Conjectures
as to who "Someone high up in the contracting world for Iraq" might be? And why?
6:24 AM
Leslie said...
Do you have more information? This is very disturbing.
6:24 PM
stevesadlov said...
Let's face it. From WW2 on, the KGB had assets infiltrated into both the government and corporate sectors. The pathetic attempt during the 1950s fell flat on its face. Over time, anyone trying to do so was marginalized (look at the demonization of Angleton). Through the 60s and 70s the three lettered agencies were turned into nothing but liberalized shells. Come the early 90s, we rolled back what little was left on the hopes of "the end of the Cold War." It must have been a field day for the SVR. There are SVR, false flag recruits, and, the terminally duped. "Hey, the Russians are our friends. This Bout fellow, our kind of guy!" NOT!
3:19 PM
Kishalorito said...
Well, Mr. Bout "went private" after the disintegration of th U.S.S.R in the early 90's. He used well in his favour military intel in order to expand his business especially in sub-Saharan Africa.
What I do think is that since the beginning the CIA, the SVR and other intel agencies have been using Bout for political purposes, both for high and low politics; which are in fact intrinsic.
The usage of Mr. Bout by the US and Russia (at least) has now produced in a certain way a path-dependency, not only because of his well established network of heavy airborne transportation (with its focal point strategically based in the UAE) but also because Mr. Bout is aware and in a way possesses important intel that can pose national security dilemmas to the same states that employ him. What he knows, if used in certain ways, could cost hiring states obscene quantities of resources (human, material and monetary).
One of the questions is if Mr. Bout is functional for USA's and Russia's purposes? Hell yeah! It has been their choice during at least the last 10 years to maintain the "Lonely Wolf" free. Isn't it? Or else he would be already being sodomised in a belge prison cell-making those international arrest warrants something more that just wet paper- or rotting in a South African cemetery.
Now the funny part is that we've got the Europol and the whole of the Interpol running after Mr. Bout as if it were clumsy inspector Clouseau. Ha ha!
Mr. Bout is a useful tool. He is a mercenary and will keep on offering his services to the highest bidder. Its the old marshallian story of supply and demand.
9:34 PM
Original: http://www.douglasfarah.com/2005/01/did-viktor-bouts-network-really-stop.html#comments
_________________________________________________________________________________
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Look What Happened Last Time
Well, with almost uncanny relevance to the logistics issue I mentioned in the last Viktor Bout post, the New York Times' Eric Schmitt reports that the US forces in Iraq have increased their demand for airlift by some 29% in the last month as security on the roads slips away.
"Responding to the threat of roadside bombings and ambushes of American ground convoys in Iraq, the Air Force is sharply expanding its airlift of equipment and supplies to bases inside the country to reduce the amount of military cargo hauled over land routes, Air Force officials said Tuesday.
Dozens of Air Force C-130 and C-17 transport planes, and contracted commercial aircraft, are ferrying about 450 tons of cargo a day, including spare parts, food, water, medical supplies and other matériel that normally moves by truck or trailer, a 29 percent increase in the past month.
Even trucks are sometimes shipped in by air.
In just the past month, the increased air operations have kept more than 400 trucks and about 1,050 drivers with military escorts off the most dangerous roads in Iraq, said an Air Force spokesman, Lt. Col. Mike Caldwell. American military convoys have been suffering about 100 deaths and injuries a month."
No wonder an Irbis Air plane is said to have been in Iraq during November, or that despite the announced cut-off of contracts to Falcon Express a source tells me that they are still flying to Iraq, including both the An-12 and Il-76. The LA Times also reports the story above but doesn't seem to tie it up with their (outstanding) Bout report yesterday.
Original: http://yorkshire-ranter.blogspot.com/2004_12_01_yorkshire-ranter_archive.html#110310879436398849
"Someone high up in the contracting world for Iraq seems to want to use Bout companies"
So says Doug Farah in a new post over at his blog (below). Farah states that Kellogg, Brown and Root are still using the Bout system in Iraq despite public protestations that all the contracts were cancelled. Regular TYR readers will recall that this should come as no surprise: back when they first said the contracts had been cut off, a source informed me that Falcon Express were still operating in Iraq and still chartering An12 and Il76 aircraft from the network. On the 13th of January, I blogged that BGIA were operating a nightly Sharjah-Baghdad service, according to Sharjah Airport. Indeed, it certainly looks like somebody powerful is determined to keep using our friend's services. According to Farah this has gone even to the point of rejecting respectable operators who have submitted lower bids.
Now, I can hardly think of any explanation for that other than either corruption in the contracting process or some sort of scheme to reimburse Bout for other, secret, services with contracts in Iraq. The first option is to be preferred as the simplest explanation, of course. The story does not seem to show any signs of clearing up. In an email, Farah informs me that an intelligence source tells him that the Irbis flights to Yemen mentioned downblog were "not significant" because they weren't heavy-lift aircraft. What they are, then, remains unknown.
Update, 03/02/05 1149Z
Apparently they are none other than Irbis's fleet of ex-Air Bas Ilyushin 18s, aircraft that have cropped up in reports into Viktor's activities for years now. I'd have thought Il18s were significant, myself.
Original: http://yorkshire-ranter.blogspot.com/2005/02/someone-high-up-in-contracting-world.html
_________________________________________________Monday, January 31, 2005
Did Viktor Bout's Network Really Stop Supplying U.S. Contactors?
Seems, from new documents I have had recent access to, that KBR continues to use several Viktor Bout-related companies to fly personnel and cargo into Iraq, despite efforts earlier this year to cut off all such contracts. Seems Viktor has simply been able to activate several shelf companies, shift his planes around, and carry on while missing very few beats. One of them is Aerocom, named in U.N. reports and a DEA report on flying drugs into Belize. Aerocom lost its Moldovan Air Operator's Certificate in June 2004, but continues to operate. In Moldova, Aerocom shares and address and phone number with Jet Line International, a publicly identified Bout company. Other companies seem to be operating out of Sudan and elsewhere. it also appears that some do not carry the requisite insurance to allow them to fly for U.S. companies.
What is particularly disturbing is that no one seems to really care. British and French diplomats at the UN still appear to be keen on trying to make Bout's enterprises at least a little less profitable and easy to run. However, the U.S. has consistantly been less than interested in making a sustained effort to put Bout out of business.
It is also simply not true that Bout is a necessary evil because there are no other companies out there who would do the flying. In fact, several large, reputable companies with the requisite aircraft and skill, have lost contracts to Bout and his associates. Seems that some of the contracts that were rejected would have cost the U.S. tax payer considerably less than the Bout companies do, but they can't crack the system. Really a mystery. Or perhaps not. Someone high up in the contracting world for Iraq seems to want to use Bout companies. That is what I find most disturbing. You would have to want to use his folks to still be dealing with him after all that has been written, officially and in in the press to still let things slide. I am all for free markets. But not when it comes to dealing with those whose main market has been death.
posted by Douglas Farah at 10:48 AM
5 Comments:
Mike said...
Why does this revelation not surprise me? Perhaps the DoD likes Bout BECAUSE, not 'in spite of', his lack of scruples.
8:22 AM
Hannah K. O'Luthon said...
Very interesting. Conjectures
as to who "Someone high up in the contracting world for Iraq" might be? And why?
6:24 AM
Leslie said...
Do you have more information? This is very disturbing.
6:24 PM
stevesadlov said...
Let's face it. From WW2 on, the KGB had assets infiltrated into both the government and corporate sectors. The pathetic attempt during the 1950s fell flat on its face. Over time, anyone trying to do so was marginalized (look at the demonization of Angleton). Through the 60s and 70s the three lettered agencies were turned into nothing but liberalized shells. Come the early 90s, we rolled back what little was left on the hopes of "the end of the Cold War." It must have been a field day for the SVR. There are SVR, false flag recruits, and, the terminally duped. "Hey, the Russians are our friends. This Bout fellow, our kind of guy!" NOT!
3:19 PM
Kishalorito said...
Well, Mr. Bout "went private" after the disintegration of th U.S.S.R in the early 90's. He used well in his favour military intel in order to expand his business especially in sub-Saharan Africa.
What I do think is that since the beginning the CIA, the SVR and other intel agencies have been using Bout for political purposes, both for high and low politics; which are in fact intrinsic.
The usage of Mr. Bout by the US and Russia (at least) has now produced in a certain way a path-dependency, not only because of his well established network of heavy airborne transportation (with its focal point strategically based in the UAE) but also because Mr. Bout is aware and in a way possesses important intel that can pose national security dilemmas to the same states that employ him. What he knows, if used in certain ways, could cost hiring states obscene quantities of resources (human, material and monetary).
One of the questions is if Mr. Bout is functional for USA's and Russia's purposes? Hell yeah! It has been their choice during at least the last 10 years to maintain the "Lonely Wolf" free. Isn't it? Or else he would be already being sodomised in a belge prison cell-making those international arrest warrants something more that just wet paper- or rotting in a South African cemetery.
Now the funny part is that we've got the Europol and the whole of the Interpol running after Mr. Bout as if it were clumsy inspector Clouseau. Ha ha!
Mr. Bout is a useful tool. He is a mercenary and will keep on offering his services to the highest bidder. Its the old marshallian story of supply and demand.
9:34 PM
Original: http://www.douglasfarah.com/2005/01/did-viktor-bouts-network-really-stop.html#comments
_________________________________________________________________________________
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Look What Happened Last Time
Well, with almost uncanny relevance to the logistics issue I mentioned in the last Viktor Bout post, the New York Times' Eric Schmitt reports that the US forces in Iraq have increased their demand for airlift by some 29% in the last month as security on the roads slips away.
"Responding to the threat of roadside bombings and ambushes of American ground convoys in Iraq, the Air Force is sharply expanding its airlift of equipment and supplies to bases inside the country to reduce the amount of military cargo hauled over land routes, Air Force officials said Tuesday.
Dozens of Air Force C-130 and C-17 transport planes, and contracted commercial aircraft, are ferrying about 450 tons of cargo a day, including spare parts, food, water, medical supplies and other matériel that normally moves by truck or trailer, a 29 percent increase in the past month.
Even trucks are sometimes shipped in by air.
In just the past month, the increased air operations have kept more than 400 trucks and about 1,050 drivers with military escorts off the most dangerous roads in Iraq, said an Air Force spokesman, Lt. Col. Mike Caldwell. American military convoys have been suffering about 100 deaths and injuries a month."
No wonder an Irbis Air plane is said to have been in Iraq during November, or that despite the announced cut-off of contracts to Falcon Express a source tells me that they are still flying to Iraq, including both the An-12 and Il-76. The LA Times also reports the story above but doesn't seem to tie it up with their (outstanding) Bout report yesterday.
Original: http://yorkshire-ranter.blogspot.com/2004_12_01_yorkshire-ranter_archive.html#110310879436398849
# posted by Always @ 6:24 AM 
