Viktor But
Merchant of Death or the Flying Dutchman of U.S. national security? Part 3
Published 26 September, 2008, 14:24
The book by Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun, ‘Merchant of Death’ claims reliability of a scientific report but in fact it only busts a few minor legends and creates a new legend of its own – the one that may send Viktor But to prison for the rest of his life.
One thing I can tell you about that book is it was not written for a reader with an inquisitive mind. It reads like a crime novel of the best sort, and it has an index of sources and a footnote for nearly every fact mentioned, like a work of science. But if you dig just a little bit deeper you find the following: every Russian businessman who confirms Bout’s arms dealing is a competitor in the field of air cargo transportation or an ex-partner who wronged But or thinks he was wronged by But. A Western journalist who ‘clandestinely’ shot pictures of But with Jean-Pierre Bemba of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire, ‘on an arms dealing trip’ turns out to have been invited on a press-tour by Mr. Bemba’s press service when Mr. Bemba and Viktor But were planning together to set up a new national park. By the way, that national park was created, and a lot of Viktor But’s money went into it.
The alternative versions of the events come from Viktor But himself. While reading ‘Merchant of Death’ I went every day to see him at the Bangkok Remand Prison and we discussed the book, sometimes page by page. He also has a copy, so it was easy. It may evolve into something more explicit in the future, but so far, I at least can be sure of what in the book I can rely on and what should be checked again.
From the very beginning the book starts to romanticize the real man Viktor But with his considerably big air cargo operation which flew everything (including arms, all – on government contracts as Viktor insists) as a Bad Guy of huge power and unlimited means, i.e. a resourceful and talented man and a worthy adversary for any Western intelligence service. Consider this passage. The book speaks of Witney Shneidman, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Clinton administration, as the initiator of the Hunt for Victor Bout.
Shneidman was receiving intelligence reports from the CIA, NSA and other sources: in 1999: "Over months he noticed a recurring reference in the SIGINT material – the satellite and electronic intercepts . provided by the NSA. The African summaries kept citing a ‘Russian national’ who appeared to be delivering tons of weapons by plane through Central and West Africa, where most of the latest violence raged. The Russian’s last name was unclear – he used too many aliases. The intelligence briefs simply described him as ‘Viktor B’.
‘After two or three months of reading this stuff a light went on in my head,’ Shneideman recalled seven years later. ‘We needed to go after this guy.’
It surely sounds to me like Sir Conan Doyle’s first description of Professor Moriarty. A shady genius who rules the London underworld while he is rumoured to exist but not sighted by anyone…
The interesting thing about this passage is that the book doesn’t offer any proof that what Mr. Shneideman was monitoring was actually one and the same man, not a dozen different people. That would have explained multiple ‘aliases’: not one man but several, each with his own name. Or did the State Department in 1999 think that there was only one Russian national active in the transportation business in Africa?
What I see here is a mindset. A Russian? Moving a lot of stuff around? With all that Russian Mafia unleashed upon the World by Perestroyka in early 1990s? Yeah! Eureka!
And thus we’ve got a new brand of enemy and anti-hero: a post-Soviet-ex-KGB-operative-turned-arms-dealer who cares not to whom he sells, and does it on the Global scale. Here he is – this man Bout. The first of the breed. Get him! Guys, good hunting!
Well, they kept going after But for nine years, over seven of which he lived openly in Moscow in full view of Russian authorities, the Interpol and others, operating no air cargo business (he sold all his shares in them as early as in 2000) or anything even resembling his former occupation.
The book dismisses the KGB legend (but if you go online you will see most publications still maintain it) and creates its own: the multi-billion size of the former ‘Bout Empire’, its world-wide reach.
To be continued…
Evgeny Belenkiy, RT
Bangkok – Moscow
