George Mapp – The DEA sting operation dubbed ‘Relentless’ ironically may have been both Viktor Bout’s demise as well as sparing him a life behind bars in a U.S. Federal penitentiary. U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin said 25 years was sufficient and appropriate because there was no evidence the 45-year-old Bout would have been charged with seeking to harm Americans if not approached by informants posing as Colombian rebels.

“But for the approach made through this determined sting operation, there is no reason to believe Bout would ever have committed the charged crimes,” Scheindlin said.

Inside The Court Room

On Thursday afternoon 5 April 2012 their was a very large crowd gathering outside room 15C that was comprised mostly of journalists but also included sketch artists, Federal agents and other attorneys. The Federal marshals began to let people in at approximately 4:10pm. After several postponements at the request of Viktor Bout’s defense attorney, his long anticipated sentencing would finally take place. They allowed the journalists to fill the entire jury box, the entire right side of the court room as well as having additional folding chairs added on both sides of the room. In addition room 26A was designated as an overflow room for those that did not make it inside room 15C but would see the sentencing via closed circuit TV.

Inside room 15C the Federal marshals were wearing bullet proof vests underneath their shirts for the 1st time during the proceeding as well as having extra marshals and close protection guards for Viktor Bout. I was in the second row directly behind the DEA agents. To my right was Viktor’s daughter Lisa, then Alla and next to her was the New York Russian Vice-Consul Alexander Otchaynov.

Viktor Bout whom I just saw face-face less than 24 hours earlier at his prison in Brooklyn was wearing tan khaki’s. His hair was freshly cut and cut much closer than he has usually been wearing it over the last several years. He told his wife Alla in Russian that everything is going to be okay and gave her a thumbs up and his classic wink. The judge entered the packed court room at approximately 4:41pm.

A sketch of Viktor Bout and judge Scheindlin.

Andrei Garkusha a member of Bout’s defense team — whom would later translate Bout’s Russian to English — got a front row seat during the proceedings. He sat to Viktor Bout’s left and to Bout’s right was defense attorney’s Albert Dayan and to his right attorney Kenneth Kaplan.

Viktor Bout addressed the judge and the court room and spoke for the first time during the proceedings. He stood up tall and straight directly facing the judge and said  “I am not guilty,” in Russian as Garkusha translated. Bout suddenly spun around to face the three DEA agents in the first row — including agent William S. Brown who testified against Bout — less than 3 feet from his out stretched arm and pointed finger. He looked angrily directly into agent Brown’s eyes and said, “The truth is known to these people.”

Bout still staring and pointing at the DEA agents as he continued to speak,“They will have to live with this truth, they will go to bed with this truth, they will have to get up with this truth, they will raise their children with this truth, and they will love their wives with this truth.”

Bout added, “Let God forgive you, and you will answer to him, not to me.”

Shortly after Bout sat down lead prosecutor Brendan McGuire stood up to try and make a hard sale to the judge why Bout should be sentenced to life. When McGuire said that Bout had agreed to sell weapons to kill Americans, Bout shouted in English, “It’s a lie!”

Finally when Bout was being led out of the court room, he told his wife and daughter that he loved them. He then sang a line from an old Soviet military song called “Varyag,” saying that he would never surrender.

Viktor Bout’s defense attorney Albert Y. Dayan leaving the Federal court house.

Defense attorney Albert Dayan argued on Thursday that the government’s case had “built-in reasonable doubt” because it was based entirely on Bout’s promises, rather than his actions.

Dayan insisted that the case consisted of “nothing but talk,” referring to the hours of secretly recorded conversations in which Bout arranged arms sales with the phony FARC guerrillas.

Dayan claimed that the U.S. Constitution protected such talk. Claiming that the U.S. wanted Bout’s head on a “silver platter,” Dayan compared his client to Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish French officer whose false treason charges came to symbolize the virulence of European anti-Semitism at the end of the 19th century.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon McGuire said that Dayan’s comparison, and Bout’s outrage, were not worthy of comment. “Frankly, they don’t merit any response,” McGuire said.

A sketch of prosecutor Brendan McGuire.

Bout in a recent Voice of Russia radio interview insists he’s innocent. He said charges against him were fabricated. He accused media scoundrels of repeating “sensationalist and irresponsible coverage of his case.”

An article titled, Viktor Bout: Victimized by U.S. Injustice had this to say,

Twice Thai courts exonerated him [Viktor Bout] for lack of evidence. Yet he was held and extradited to America. It was extraordinary rendition Thailand-style.

According to a Ria Novosti article, titled, Moscow Condemns Bout Sentence and Seeks Return:

“I think he (Bout) was railroaded all the way”, said Russell Mace, a criminal defense lawyer who has been defending individuals and companies in federal court throughout the United States for many years.

He also pointed out some drawbacks in the Bout’s defense. “I cannot believe no defense witnesses were called and in my opinion there should have been a rather extensive defense”, he said.

Questions Remained Unanswered

The biggest question to me that still remains unanswered is, where is Misha? Misha Belozerosky accompanied Viktor Bout from Moscow to Bangkok, Thailand in March 2006. Misha was mentioned very briefly in the trial and even appeared on the DEA’s undercover tapes admitted into evidence. However, during the sting operation, Misha was not charged nor arrested and jumped into a taxi to the airport and flew back to Russia. Misha like a magician turned invisible and escaped the biggest and most expensive DEA sting operation and eluded both Thai and U.S. authorities. According to author and investigative journalist Daniel Estulin in an article titled, The Making of a Legend: Viktor Bout, Misha is a Russian colonel. On Estulin’s website he has a vast amount of links and original documents including a passport photo of Misha which clearly has the Thai arrival and departure stamp on the right side.

The second biggest question in my mind concerning the trial is when exactly did the DEA flip Andrew Smullian? Actually, that question has actually been answered by defense attorney Albert Dayan during the trial and Viktor Bout recently in his recent Voice of Russiaradio interview. Therefore my question is, how come this point wasn’t picked up by the jury?

Viktor Bout’s wife, Alla, surrounded by a sea of reporters after his sentence was read.

Perhaps the defense didn’t hammer this point home or focus enough? It is easy to second guess a trial after it is over. The point is that before Bout arrived in Bangkok, Smulian had purchased a one way ticket to New York. This debunks what the DEA said and what Smulian said about when he began to cooperate with the sting operation and help them to capture Bout, his longtime business associate. Smulian shared an apartment with DEA informant Mike Snow — who was contacted by the DEA to capture Bout — and claims to know nothing of Snow’s involvement with the DEA sting. Smulian, a former South African intelligence officer also claims he didn’t know about the wiretaps and used a phone given to him by Snow allegedly without suspicion.

This is extremely significant. Right before the jury deliberated on the verdict, the judge gave her instructions to them. She explicitly said that there can not be a conspiracy charge if Bout was dealing solely with DEA agents and / or informants. Thus, if  Smulian admitted that he was working for the DEA prior to the arrest, the prosecutions case would have be null, void and invalid. Thus the entire prosecutions case relied solely on Smulian and the DEA’s collusion — Smulian admitted to meeting with prosecutors approximately 50 times in preparation for the trial — that they were not working together. Anyone who sat through the entire trial like me could see easily tell Smulian — whom never once made direct eye contact with Bout — would sell his own children for money or his freedom. In other words, his lies were very transparent. But you need not take my word for it, the transcripts of his testimony will back me up. I am also very fortunate to have been to South Africa at least 8 times as well as having traded South Africa equities and Eskom bonds for over a decade. Therefore I am extremely and intimately familiar with both the country and its people.

The curious case of Viktor Bout is not over by any means. There are still court proceedings going on currently in Thailand questioning the validity of his extradition to America. Russian politicians made a lot of noise after Bout’s 25 year sentence was announced vowing to bring him home as well as saying he will be a topic of conversation with President Obama. Albert Dayan also announced his intentions to file an appeal. Rumors of political intervention or a possible prisoner swap for Bout’s return to Russia are rampant. Finally, Viktor Bout said in Russian when he spoke to the court that he is confident that soon he will be back home in Russia. Perhaps he knows something that the rest of  us do not yet know?

This article was first published at Dobroyeutro’s Blog

Dobroyeutro Blog ~ News with intelligence ~ Dobroyeutro wants to share news with intelligence with our readers from around the world…to share our original articles and to encourage our readers to feel free to share their articles and ideas…to have a forum with interesting and intelligent topics in a polite and civil manner…

LONDON—Today, Monday 27 February, WikiLeaks began publishing The Global Intelligence Files – more than five million emails from the Texas-headquartered „global intelligence“ company Stratfor. The emails date from between July 2004 and late December 2011. They reveal the inner workings of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal’s Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defense Intelligence Agency. The emails show Stratfor’s web of informers, pay-off structure, payment-laundering techniques and psychological methods, for example :

„[Y]ou have to take control of him. Control means financial, sexual or psychological control… This is intended to start our conversation on your next phase“ – CEO George Friedman to Stratfor analyst Reva Bhalla on 6 December 2011, on how to exploit an Israeli intelligence informant providing information on the medical condition of the President of Venezuala, Hugo Chavez.

The material contains privileged information about the US government’s attacks against Julian Assange and WikiLeaks and Stratfor’s own attempts to subvert WikiLeaks. There are more than 4,000 emails mentioning WikiLeaks or Julian Assange. The emails also expose the revolving door that operates in private intelligence companies in the United States. Government and diplomatic sources from around the world give Stratfor advance knowledge of global politics and events in exchange for money. The Global Intelligence Files exposes how Stratfor has recruited a global network of informants who are paid via Swiss banks accounts and pre-paid credit cards. Stratfor has a mix of covert and overt informants, which includes government employees, embassy staff and journalists around the world.

The material shows how a private intelligence agency works, and how they target individuals for their corporate and government clients. For example, Stratfor monitored and analysed the online activities of Bhopal activists, including the „Yes Men“, for the US chemical giant Dow Chemical. The activists seek redress for the 1984 Dow Chemical/Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal, India. The disaster led to thousands of deaths, injuries in more than half a million people, and lasting environmental damage.

Stratfor has realised that its routine use of secret cash bribes to get information from insiders is risky. In August 2011, Stratfor CEO George Friedman confidentially told his employees : „We are retaining a law firm to create a policy for Stratfor on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. I don’t plan to do the perp walk and I don’t want anyone here doing it either.“

Stratfor’s use of insiders for intelligence soon turned into a money-making scheme of questionable legality. The emails show that in 2009 then-Goldman Sachs Managing Director Shea Morenz and Stratfor CEO George Friedman hatched an idea to „utilise the intelligence“ it was pulling in from its insider network to start up a captive strategic investment fund. CEO George Friedman explained in a confidential August 2011 document, marked DO NOT SHARE OR DISCUSS : „What StratCap will do is use our Stratfor’s intelligence and analysis to trade in a range of geopolitical instruments, particularly government bonds, currencies and the like“. The emails show that in 2011 Goldman Sach’s Morenz invested „substantially“ more than $4million and joined Stratfor’s board of directors. Throughout 2011, a complex offshore share structure extending as far as South Africa was erected, designed to make StratCap appear to be legally independent. But, confidentially, Friedman told StratFor staff : „Do not think of StratCap as an outside organisation. It will be integral… It will be useful to you if, for the sake of convenience, you think of it as another aspect of Stratfor and Shea as another executive in Stratfor… we are already working on mock portfolios and trades“. StratCap is due to launch in 2012.

The Stratfor emails reveal a company that cultivates close ties with US government agencies and employs former US government staff. It is preparing the 3-year Forecast for the Commandant of the US Marine Corps, and it trains US marines and „other government intelligence agencies“ in „becoming government Stratfors“. Stratfor’s Vice-President for Intelligence, Fred Burton, was formerly a special agent with the US State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service and was their Deputy Chief of the counterterrorism division. Despite the governmental ties, Stratfor and similar companies operate in complete secrecy with no political oversight or accountability. Stratfor claims that it operates „without ideology, agenda or national bias“, yet the emails reveal private intelligence staff who align themselves closely with US government policies and channel tips to the Mossad – including through an information mule in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Yossi Melman, who conspired with Guardian journalist David Leigh to secretly, and in violation of WikiLeaks’ contract with the Guardian, move WikiLeaks US diplomatic cables to Israel.

Ironically, considering the present circumstances, Stratfor was trying to get into what it called the leak-focused „gravy train“ that sprung up after WikiLeaks’ Afghanistan disclosures :

„[Is it] possible for us to get some of that ’leak-focused’ gravy train ? This is an obvious fear sale, so that’s a good thing. And we have something to offer that the IT security companies don’t, mainly our focus on counter-intelligence and surveillance that Fred and Stick know better than anyone on the planet… Could we develop some ideas and procedures on the idea of ´leak-focused’ network security that focuses on preventing one’s own employees from leaking sensitive information… In fact, I’m not so sure this is an IT problem that requires an IT solution.“

Like WikiLeaks’ diplomatic cables, much of the significance of the emails will be revealed over the coming weeks, as our coalition and the public search through them and discover connections. Readers will find that whereas large numbers of Stratfor’s subscribers and clients work in the US military and intelligence agencies, Stratfor gave a complimentary membership to the controversial Pakistan general Hamid Gul, former head of Pakistan’s ISI intelligence service, who, according to US diplomatic cables, planned an IED attack on international forces in Afghanistan in 2006. Readers will discover Stratfor’s internal email classification system that codes correspondence according to categories such as ’alpha’, ’tactical’ and ’secure’. The correspondence also contains code names for people of particular interest such as ’Hizzies’ (members of Hezbollah), or ’Adogg’ (Mahmoud Ahmedinejad).

Stratfor did secret deals with dozens of media organisations and journalists – from Reuters to the Kiev Post. The list of Stratfor’s „Confederation Partners“, whom Stratfor internally referred to as its „Confed Fuck House“ are included in the release. While it is acceptable for journalists to swap information or be paid by other media organisations, because Stratfor is a private intelligence organisation that services governments and private clients these relationships are corrupt or corrupting.

WikiLeaks has also obtained Stratfor’s list of informants and, in many cases, records of its payoffs, including $1,200 a month paid to the informant „Geronimo“ , handled by Stratfor’s Former State Department agent Fred Burton.

Read all at WikiLeaks The Global Intelligence Files

Penn Bullock and Brandon K. Thorp – You’ve probably never heard of Marty Martin. He spent most of his life as an anonymous CIA operative. But he very recently came out of the closet as the man Bush put in charge of finding Osama bin Laden in the aftermath of 9/11, and guess what? It turns out the man Bush put in charge of finding bin Laden is an extremely shady and allegedly corrupt war profiteer. Who would have thought?

Martin, of course, never succeeded in catching bin Laden. He ran the CIA’s bin Laden unit from 2002 to 2004, a fact that we now know only because he emerged to grab some credit for bin Laden’s death and celebrate the agency’s discontinued torture program: „We got beat up for it, but those efforts led to this great day,“ he told the Associated Press three weeks ago. Prior to that, he was just a nondescript former agency official who went into the security consulting business after retiring. The closest hint to just how key an official he was came from references to a „Marty M.“—described as a sort of Jack Bauer of the bayou—in former CIA director George Tenet’s memoir.

Now that we know who Martin really is, we can get a sense of what kind of guy Bush turned to for arguably the most crucial job in the war on terror.

1. The Kind of Guy Who Bilks Taxpayers for His Own Enrichment

In 2007, after leaving the CIA, Martin joined International Oil Trading Company, a Florida company that delivered fuel to U.S. forces in the Middle East. In 2008, congressional investigators accused it of ripping off the Pentagon to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. This year, the Pentagon’s own audit found that the company overcharged the government by as much as $204 million on a series of massive Iraq war fuel contracts.

2. The Kind of Guy Who Bribes Foreign Officials

According to a Florida lawsuit against International Oil’s owner Harry Sargeant III, Martin paid a $9 million bribe to the head of the Jordanian intelligence service back in 2007 to secure his company’s exclusive rights to ship fuel across Jordan to U.S bases in Iraq. (That allegation comes from the Jordanian king’s brother-in-law, Mohammad al-Saleh, who is suing Sargeant for purportedly screwing him out of a $100 million stake in the company.)

3. The Kind of Guy Who Helps Launder Illegal Political Contributions

In 2008, the Washington Post reported that Sargeant, a billionaire, raised funds for John McCain’s presidential campaign with help from an unnamed „former head of the bin Laden unit“ who worked for him. The men reportedly skirted campaign finance laws by funneling the money through Arab-American „straw donors.“ McCain quickly returned $50,000 of Sargeant’s lucre. The Post never named the ex-chief of the CIA bin Laden unit involved in the fundraising, but unless two former heads of the bin Laden unit were working for Sargeant at the time, that man was Marty Martin.

4. The Kind of Guy Who Gets Totally Psyched When People Die In a War He Profits From

In a court filing last week, attorneys for al-Saleh quoted from an e-mail that Martin wrote to Sargeant in 2008 in which he appeared to gloat over the escalation of violence in Iraq:

Fyi, word of a ‚re-surge‘ is floating around amidst shit hitting the fan in Iraq today. ☺

The „shit hitting the fan“ was the Battle of Basra, the Iraqi Army’s attempt in March 2008 to finally roll up militias loyal to Moqtada al Sadr. It was widely seen as a debacle and victory for al-Sadr, and many feared the conflict threatened to reignite the civil war. That month, 40 Americans died in Iraq. ☺!

In other words, he’s a former CIA agent. Anyway, that’s Marty Martin, the guy Bush put in charge of the bin Laden hunt. Glad it worked out for him.

Harry Sargeant’s lawyers couldn’t be reached for comment on this story. The CIA declined to comment. And Marty Martin’s bin Laden-hunting predecessor, Michael Scheuer –- who served for two years as a special adviser to Martin’s unit –- claims to have never heard of Marty Martin (which we can only presume is a CIA first-rule-of-Fight-Club omerta thing). Reached on his phone, Martin said: „No no, man. I don’t want to talk to you, man,“ and hung up before we had a chance to ask a question.

George Mapp – On Wednesday November 2, 2011 I was on the 8th floor cafeteria of the Federal court house in New York located at 500 Pearl street. At approximately 1:35pm,  I stood up from the lunch table as Albert Dayan was walking towards me. Viktor Bout’s defense lawyer whispered to me, “the jury reached a verdict.” Alla Bout was at still at home and she had told me during an earlier phone conversation, “that it was too difficult for her and her daughter to sit around and wait at the court house.”

Alla Bout outside MCC prison before she visit’s her husband Viktor.

I immediately grabbed my bag and started to rush to the pay phones to call Alla so that she might have a chance to make it to the verdict reading in time. A tense and nervous looking Albert Dayan said, “don’t run walk, they told me not to tell anyone, just his family.”

Walking swiftly to the pay phones on the 8th floor and while passing Dayan, I asked him, “did you call Alla?” He replied, “I don’t know where she is.”

At approximately 1:58pm the jury entered the packed court room to read the verdict. There were extra security guards, many journalists, the DEA agents occupied the entire first bench directly in front of mine. The seconds before the verdict were very tense and time seemed to sit still. Then Heather H. Hobson, the jury’s appointed forewoman stood up and read the jury’s verdict to the court room focusing mostly on the judge until after the third count was read, she starred directly at Viktor Bout before reading out loud the the fourth and final guilty.

I called Alla Bout three times since I heard the jury had reached a verdict. The last time was shortly after the verdict was read to warn her of the media frenzy awaiting her so that she had the option of whether or not to come to the court house. Needless to say she did not come to the Federal court house on that unforgettable day.

The jury in only  approximately 2 hours of deliberations on Tuesday and approximately 3 hours on Wednesday, unanimously found Viktor Bout guilty on all 4 counts of the indictment [entire indictment PDF 37 pgs]. You can see a summary of the indictment from the actual charge sheet on the jury verdict form. The previous day the judge ruled, only after agreement from both attorneys, that the jury was able to take the chargesheets home with them on Tuesday night. The Honorable judge Shira A. Scheindlin told the jury explicitly that the were not to show it anyone including their family and spouses.

Jury forewoman in the Viktor Bout trial Heather H. Hobson.

A New York Times piece titled, Arms Dealer’s Own Words Convicted Him, Juror Says ran the day after the verdict. According to the article, jury forewaoman, Ms. Heather H. Hobson was very proud of what she did and said that “she felt a sense of pride and accomplishment.”

Here is a short excerpt from the article:

When it came time to deliver the verdict, Ms. Hobson paused after reading the first three counts. She turned her gaze away from the judge, and purposefully stared at Mr. Bout. Then she resumed, announcing the final finding of guilt. It was a simple gesture, she said, one that was motivated by respect, not scorn.

Ms. Hobson seemed to put a lot of weight into the DEA informants testimony according to her own words.

She said, “the informants, working with the Drug Enforcement Administration, had been “very convincing” FARC representatives who had made it clear to Mr. Bout that their whole purpose was to take down U.S. helicopters with U.S. pilots.”

Ironically, as a person who sat though the entire trial from the opening statements to the reading of the verdict, I personally thought that was the prosecutors weakest argument. During Carlos’ cross examination by Albert Dayan, he got Carlos to say on record that it was DEA informant Ricardo that spoke about about killing Americans and not Viktor Bout. In fact, the honorable judge Shira A. Scheindlin was explicit and crystal clear in her directions to the jury in her explanation of the law. There is no conspiracy charge if Viktor Bout was solely found conspiring with DEA agents and / or operatives. It was demonstrated many times by the defense throughout the trial that the DEA informants in operation ‘Relentless’ were highly paid to pretend, or play a “role” as prosecutor Brendan McGuire repeatedly said. Or as DEA agent William S. Brown said repeatedly while on the stand, it was all part of the “scenario” that they had to create.

An article titled, The $9 MILLION supergrass: How man who helped snare ‘Merchant of Death’ arms dealer was highest paid informant in history, appeared on 7 November 2011 in the UK’s Daily Mail just several days after Ms. Hobson’s piece in the NY Times. According to the article in the Daily Mail, Thomas Pasquarello, a former DEA special agent who headed the Bout probe in Thailand, said Mr Sagastume was among the DEA’s best informants.

Former DEA Special Operations agent Thomas Pasquarello.

‘If you’re looking at big fish, you need big bait,’ he said. ‘That’s what guys like Carlos are good at. They’re pros at what they do and they have deep connections.’

‘Look at Viktor Bout. He wasn’t going to fall for a rookie informant. Guys like that could see through a rookie undercover in five minutes,’ said Mr Pasquarello, now chief of police in Somerset, Mass.

While I am on the topic of character assassination, another interesting article about Viktor Bout caught my eye over the weekend. An Associated Press articled titled, Files Show Convicted Arms Dealer’s Libyan Ties written on 5 November 2011 by Stephen Braun. I actually laughed out loud when I read the authors name. In case you are not familiar with the name, Stephen Braun along with co-author Douglas Farah wrote the book titled the “Merchant of Death” which is about Viktor Bout. Before I continue, it is extremely important to understand that neither Braun or Farah have ever met, spoken to nor met Viktor Bout, not even once. Their book is filled with lies, manufactured flow charts and disinformation. It is filled with opinions and hearsay that are completely unsubstantiated and based almost entirely on one persons imagination and invention. According to author and investigative journalist Daniel Estulin, the Lord of War or Merchant of Death was invented in Belgium by Johan Peleman in 1996. For much more about Johan Peleman, read The Making of a Legend: Viktor Bout.

Johan Peleman.

It is entirely possibly that Braun and Farah believed what Johan Peleman said as truth and did not intentionally spread disinformation and lies. However, it is extremely odd to me that they wrote an entire book about a person without a single conversation or interview by them whether by phone, email or in person. Many of my doubts re-emerged when I read the above mentioned article written by Stephen Braun tying Viktor Bout to Gadhafi and Libya just days after Bout’s verdict was read. Here are a few excerpts from Braun’s article:

“Records found in Moammar Gadhafi’s former intelligence headquarters in Tripoli show that British officials apparently warned the Libyan regime in 2003 about its dealings with Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was convicted in New York on federal conspiracy charges.”

“The documents indicate that Bout had been trying to expand his operations in Libya.”

“American officials and allied governments have sent teams of weapons specialists into Libya in recent weeks to scour for loose, Russian-made, anti-aircraft missiles and other dangerous munitions.”

“We know there are a lot of conventional weapons floating around Libya now and an important question to pursue is how they got there,” said Lee S. Wolosky a former Clinton administration national security deputy who headed U.S. scrutiny of contacts between Bout’s network and the Gadhafi regime in 2000. “Viktor Bout’s operation in Tripoli would be a good place to start.”

If you understand that some of Viktor Bout’s charges were conspiring to sell SAM’s [Surface-to-air-missiles] specifically Igla’s [A Soviet man-portable SAM], anti-aircraft weapons and RPG’s [Rocket Propelled Grenades], then it becomes clear that the allegations of  a direct connection to Gadhafi and Libya can have extremely serious and grave ramifications for Viktor Bout.

If you are not starting to see a connection, perhaps this will help. In a February 16, 2002 LA Times article titled, Al Qaeda Linked to Russian Arms Broker, written by Stephen Braun as well as Sebastian Rotella and Judy Pasternak. Once again the name Stephen Braun appears as well as his many references to Johan Peleman in this article. Let us examine a few excerpts. First please note that you will also see the familiar name of  Lee S. Wolosky who Stephen Braun quoted in his 5 November 2012 article tying Bout to the deceased Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Russian S-300 surface to air missile sysytem.

Lee S. Wolosky, a former National Security Council official who headed a U.S. effort to stem Bout’s trading, said Ruprah’s arrest “is a very significant development in dismantling the Victor Bout organization.” Wolosky described it as the “largest arms-trafficking organization in the world.”

Belgian investigators have spent the last three years focusing “on money flows associated with Victor Bout through Belgium,” Peleman said. Belgian authorities, Peleman said, have examined “thousands of money transfers” flowing from several Bulgarian-based firms and through several African governments through “aviation and handling companies in Belgium that are run by Bout.”

“Although U.S. and Belgian interest in Bout’s activities predated the Sept. 11 attacks in America, evidence that his far-reaching arms trading empire might have aided Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network and Afghanistan’s now-deposed Taliban government appears to have heightened both nations’ investigative efforts.”

Usama Bin Laden.

One of the things that struck me as peculiar was that in searching for the above mentioned LA Times article, I did not come by it immediately or easily, in fact it took some time. What I did find quite easily was the exact same article but in a PDF file. It seems that this particular article was intended to be found easily and to be able to be used as a reference. I also came across a time line titled A Complete 911 Timeline, that quite conveniently intertwines the name Viktor Bout, Al-Qaeda and 9/11 quite seamlessly.

Smoke and Mirrors

Investigative journalist Wayne Madsen, among many others, has stated numerous times in an array of different mediums that Osama Bin Laden has been dead since 2001. How does he explain Operation Geronimo? Basically to paraphrase him, “it was staged.”

Author Chuck Pfarrer who is writing a book about how Operation Geronimo went down has been met with some skepticism. Here is a comment on Time’s Battleland blog which catch phrase is: Where military intelligence is not a contradiction in terms. Here is the link: Squawking SEAL as well as the comment below.

“CNN chum Barbara Starr has the inside skinny on the new book purporting to detail the inside skinny of how the Osama bin Laden raid went down – as told by a former SEAL. Author Chuck Pfarrer claims to have spoken to some Navy SEALs who conducted the raid. It seems his story has more holes in it than the post-raid bin Laden.“

Here is just one more article of many on the topic titled Osama Bin Laden Has Been Dead Since December 2001. Here is a couple of excerpts from the referenced article:

During the period 4-14th of July, 2001 (only two months prior to the 9/11-WTC terror attacks), Bin Laden was in the American Hospital in Dubai. According to the United Press International (Oct 31, 2001), Bin Laden underwent kidney surgery and treatment under Dr. Terry Callaway. According to both the French “Le Figaro” & the “Radio France International”, Bin Laden was visited by a top US-CIA agent. This report and the one below are further substantiated by CBS anchor Dan Rather, Peter Bergen, investigative journalist Barry Petersen and Prof. Michel Chussodovsky.

More astonishing is the fact that just a day prior to the September 11 attacks, Bin Laden was undergoing treatment in the Military Hospital in Rawalpindi itself (Le Figaro – Jan 28, 2002). So both the Pakistani Military establishment and the ISI as well as the CIA were more than aware of Bin Laden’s whereabouts.

Apache attack helicopter.

A bit off the topic but another example of the secrets as well as the lack of intelligence sharing between U.S. agencies and in some cases the outright withholding of info or in worse cases intentional misinforming can be seen clearly in this article titled the CIA’s Account of 9/11 Under Attack. The article is date 16 October 2011 and I highly recommend everyone to read it. For now I will just share one excerpt:

A growing number of former government insiders — all responsible officials who served in a number of federal posts — are now on record as doubting ex-CIA director George Tenet’s account of events leading up to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Among them are several special agents of the FBI, the former counterterrorism head in the Clinton and Bush administrations, and the chairman of the 9/11 Commission, who told us the CIA chief had been “obviously not forthcoming” in his testimony and had misled the commissioners.

The biggest contradiction that I find in Operation Geronimo, besides that fact I believe that Osama’s bin dead, is the completely unbelievable claim that the U.S. military wanted to give him a proper burial at sea. We live in a society where the FBI, NYPD, CIA, DHS, TSA as well as the entire U.S. population is fed anti-Muslim propaganda and taught to stereotype. Suddenly we care about giving him a proper Muslim burial? It would be much more plausible, giving the hideous allegations against the former CIA asset Osama Bin Laden, if his dead body were on public display on the White House lawn as opposed to a secret and swift Muslim burial at sea. It is the modus operandi of the CIA / U.S. government to display such victims to the general public whenever possible, i.e. Malcolm X, J.F.K., Che Guevara, Saddam Hussein, Moammar Gadhafi as well as former FARC commanders Raul Reyes and most recently Alfonso Cano. If you want to see for yourself, just enter any of the previous names then add dead after their names and then search under Google images. They do now have a few photos of Osama Bin Laden, whether they are real or fakes created by a Hollywood special effects team is for you to decide.

Video Of Osama Bin Laden’s Burial At Sea Leaked [Satire]

The DEA’s New Mandate

Investigative journalist Wayne Madsen did a taped RT television interview last January titled Viktor Bout: Lord of War blame game. Madsen raises some very interesting points and topics, he mentions how “the Bush administration probably left him [Bout] alone because he was doing business with that administration.”

Madsen also mentions the broader range of the DEA as well as having a new mandate. He states in the RT interview, “The DEA is not only involved in drugs anymore but they have a new mandate. The DEA is now in the intelligence gathering business which is perhaps out of their league. According to Madsen, the new DEA is “operating far beyond it capabilities and its knowledge.”

Wayne Madsen also states that “Viktor Bout was entrapped in Thailand by the DEA.” Madsen goes on to say that “Bout was not really extradited he was renditioned.”

Investigative journalist Wayne Madsen.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has become a vast international spy network as shown by U.S. Embassy cables revealed by Wikileaks. The DEA now has 87 offices in 63 countries and close partnerships with governments that distrust the CIA, such as Nicaragua and Venezuela. Many nations are eager to take advantage of the agency’s drug detection and wiretapping technologies as stated by a Public Intelligence December 27, 2010 article.

According to a Wikileaks cable that was reprinted in the New York Times, “The Drug enforcement Administration has been transformed into a global intelligence organization with a reach that extends far beyond narcotics, and an eavesdropping operation so expansive it has to fend off foreign politicians who want to use it against their political enemies, according to secret diplomatic cables.”

The Birth of DEA Operation Relentless

I first learned about the DEA’s covert Special Operations Division or SOD from investigative journalist and author Jeremy Scahill in his article titled Blackwater’s Black Ops that first appeared on September 15, 2010 in The Nation. Scahill in his article quite clearly shows how the DEA’s Special Operations Division came into existence and perhaps their new mandate that Wayne Madsen refers to as the DEA’s New Madate. As well as perhaps the inception of DEA’s Operation ‘Relentless’ which was to pursue and catch Viktor Bout ‘by any means necessary’. Here are some excerpts from Jeremy Scahill’s article:

While the network was originally established for use in CIA operations, documents show that Prado [former CIA paramilitary officer Enrique „Ric“ Prado] viewed it as potentially valuable to other government agencies. In an e-mail in October 2007 with the subject line “Possible Opportunity in DEA—Read and Delete,” Prado wrote to a Total Intelligence executive with a pitch for the Drug Enforcement Administration. That executive was an eighteen-year DEA veteran with extensive government connections who had recently joined the firm. Prado explained that Blackwater had developed “a rapidly growing, worldwide network of folks that can do everything from surveillance to ground truth to disruption operations.” He added, “These are all foreign nationals (except for a few cases where US persons are the conduit but no longer ‘play’ on the street), so deniability is built in and should be a big plus.”

The executive wrote back and suggested there “may be an interest” in those services. The executive suggested that “one of the best places to start may be the Special Operations Division, (SOD) which is located in Chantilly, VA,” telling Prado the name of the special agent in charge. The SOD is a secretive joint command within the Justice Department, run by the DEA. It serves as the command-and-control center for some of the most sensitive counternarcotics and law enforcement operations conducted by federal forces. The executive also told Prado that US attachés in Mexico; Bogotá, Colombia; and Bangkok, Thailand, would potentially be interested in Prado’s network. Whether this network was activated, and for what customers, cannot be confirmed. A former Blackwater employee who worked on the company’s CIA program declined to comment on Prado’s work for the company, citing its classified status.

Time ran a very interesting and informative article titled, The DEA’s Terrorist Hunters in August of this year. The article backs up what Jeremy Scahill first wrote about last year as well as emphasis the astronomical sums being paid to DEA informants. Here are some excerpts from the Time article:

While few think of the DEA as a counterterrorism organization, since 2007 it has leveraged a little-known federal statute passed in 2006 to conduct sting operations across the globe, netting major figures including arms dealer Monzer al-Kassar and the “Lord of War” Viktor Bout by connecting the suspects to terrorism plots.

DEA agents escorting Bout off the plane after his extradition to the U.S.

That statute effectively created the team within the DEA’s multiagency SOD to take on investigations in which drugs and terrorism crossed over, what policy types call a nexus.

Interesting terminology, it said by connecting suspects to terrorism plots perhaps like a sting operation. Oddly, Viktor Bout has never been arrested until March 6th 2008 in Thailand and has never been associated or accused of terrorism until the DEA’s Operation ‘Relentless’ sting or plot was developed. As it is well documented by airplane registrations, company records, cargo receipts that Viktor Bout had no dealings in Columbia. Africa and parts of Europe is where he did the majority of his air cargo business. In fact, the two witness’s that the prosecutors put on the stand that had met or worked for Bout in the late 1990′s were both from Africa and both testified that they had met Viktor Bout in Africa.

DEA Terrorist Hunters

The DEA’s Special Operation Division has poured millions of dollars into its covert activities that span across the globe. Besides the huge sums being paid, I am surprised that the question and legality of jurisdiction have not been raised by watch dog and consumer interest groups. Here are a few more excerpts from the Time article mentioned above:

The arrests and prosecutions do not come cheap. Among the expenses the government has incurred in these investigations is compensation for informants. One DEA informant, Patrick “Paddy” McKay, a former pilot with the South African mercenary company Executive Outcomes said he has received $450,000from the government since 2005. “When I first saw these cases, I found it hard to believe that all these resources were being expended,” Merer says.

DEA drug money and weapons.

Similarly, cooperation can be rewarding for nations partnering with DEA investigations. Liberia’s narcotics- and law-enforcement-assistance package from the State Department has jumped from $800,000 in 2007 to a requested $17 million for 2011, a more than 2,000% increase.

Jamal Yousef is a dual Swedish and Lebanese citizen that was renditioned by masked member’s of the DEA’s SOD squad  from the streets of Honduras then ferried by helicopter to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba where a learjet then escorted him to Westchester County Airport in White Plains, N.Y., the exact same airport where Viktor Bout first arrived onto U.S. soil. The significance of landing in White Plains is that it by default then creates a legal venue for any court proceedings to take place in The Southern District of New York. One journalist told me the Federal court in Manhattan is nicknamed the DEA’s playground and that the prosecutors have never ever lost a terrorism case in The Southern District of New York.

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba prison camp Delta 1.

In Bout’s case, he went to a Bangkok hotel to meet with DEA informants who represented themselves as FARC operatives wishing to purchase weapons to be used against Americans. Judge Shira A. Scheindlin accused the government of “bravado” in making its case to prosecute the Russian citizen in the U.S. “There’s a long line of cases where we look at the facts of each case,” she said. “This one is weak.”

Viktor Bout with translations headphones and the honorable judge judge Shira A. Scheindlin on the bench.

Connect the Dots

I have mentioned Osama Bin Laden, Moammar Gadhafi, former FARC commanders Raul Reyes and Alfonso Cano as well as SAM’s, RPG’s and Igla missiles. What could this possibly have to do with with Viktor Bout. It is actual not very complicated but rather simple. A predated and carefully designed media smear campaign as well as a premeditated witch hunt against Viktor Bout that spanned over a decade was then followed by the DEA terrorist’s hunters mandate to go after Viktor Bout in Operation ‘Relentless’ via their Special Operations Division. It becomes quite evident when you consider the astronomical sums paid to the informants in DEA Operation ‘Relentless’ in conjunction with the decade plus smear campaign and the intentional and blatant character assassination of Viktor Bout.

Moammar Gadhafi and his female bodyguards before he was killed.

Put in more simple terms, Osama Bin Laden, Moammar Gadhafi and Alfonso Cano were all killed while Viktor Bout was in prison. Raul Reyes was killed just 5 days before Bout was arrested in Thailand but after he had already agreed to meet in Bangkok. Even if you believe Wayne Madsen that Osama Bin Laden was already dead before Operation Geronimo, that means that the U.S. intelligence agencies had a specific reason to stage his death. Now with U.S. enemy number 1 ‘officially’ dead and gone that apparently left Viktor Bout as the new enemy of the state. Conveniently for the U.S. authorities, hired journalists made baseless claims and allegations to Osama Bin Laden and Viktor Bout. As luck would it approximately 6 months later Moammar Gadhafi was killed and was kind enough to leave valuable intelligence in an easy to find location which linked himself and his rogue missiles directly to Viktor Bout.

A NY Times article appeared on March 2, 2008 titled Colombian Forces Kill Senior Guerrilla Commander, Official Says. I have quoted two excerpts from the article:

The death of Raúl Reyes, one of the rebels’ highest-ranking commanders, was a severe blow for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which has been waging an insurgency against the government for the last four decades.

The United States, which provides Colombia with more than $600 milliona year in military aid, was offering a $5 million reward for the capture of Mr. Reyes, 59, part of the FARC’s seven-member secretariat and believed to be a contender to succeed the group’s top commander, 77-year-old Manuel Marulanda.

FARC’s Alfonso Cano answering journalist’s questions in San Vicente, Columbia on February 2, 2001.

Authorities released a photograph of Cano’s head in which his face did not appear disfigured.

Shadow Wars

Investigative journalist Wayne Madsen asserts in this RT television interview titled Viktor Bout: Lord of War Blame Game on Jan 21, 2011 that the U.S. wanted Viktor Bout very badly because he knows who was behind 9/11. Wayne Madsen is almost right. The U.S. didn’t want Bout so bad because he “knew” who did 9/11 but instead wanted to pin 9/11 on him!

In addition to all the allegations and alleged connections between Viktor Bout and Osama Bin Laden, Moammar Gadhafi and his alleged rogue Russian missiles, it is by no mistake that Johan Peleman’s UN report that eventually put Viktor Bout out of business and ruined him financially appeared in 2001. It was the same year that 9/11 occurred as well as former CIA asset Osam Bin Laden officially became America’s number one enemy of the state, at least in the mainstream media. I have taken the following excerpt below from Richard Chichakli’s website from a page titled What connects Richard Chichakli to Victor Bout.

Richard has always called Victor a “brother and friend” and he is that to Richard, nothing more and nothing less. What was unique in the friendship of these two men is that after the UN [written by Johan Peleman] published its report about Victor Bout in 2001 and which led to the financial collapse of Victor Bout, almost all of Victor’s friends abandoned him except for Richard Chichakli.

The Twin Towers burning on September 11, 2001.

Let’s talk more about Osama Bin Laden and 9/11. As many people know especially those who follow alternative and independent news sources as well as those with ties to the the intelligence community know for a fact that Osama Bin Laden was never formally charged with 9/11. Just more smoke and mirrors and diversions to the average American citizen. The article titled Osama Bin Laden never charged for 911 — Inside Job likely is just of many that discusses this very topic. Here are a couple of excerpts from the previously mentioned article:

Osama Bin Laden was never formally charged, because the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation didn’t deliver the necessary evidence to the Department of Justice, which would be the required path in this matter.

“The FBI gathers evidence. Once evidence is gathered, it is turned over to the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice then decides whether it has enough evidence to present to a federal grand jury. In the case of the 1998 United States Embassies being bombed, bin Laden has been formally indicted and charged by a grand jury. He has not been formally indicted and charged in connection with 9/11 because the FBI has no hard evidence connecting bin Laden to 9/11.”

Anyone who has followed the The Curious Case of Viktor Bout either in Thailand or New York for that matter must be asking themselves a question; what happened to Michael Belozerosky aka Misha and why was he not arrested? According to the prosecutors portrayal of DEA Operation ‘Relenteless’, the DEA agents and informants were obviously not arrested but Viktor Bout and Andrew Smulian were immediately arrested. However, Misha walked out of the DEA sting operation unscathed, hopped in a taxi proceeded to the airport and then flew home to Russia. Unfortunately we did not have the opportunity to hear him testify before us in the Federal court house. We did however get to see a picture of him displayed in the court room, not to sound cruel or judgmental, and to borrow juror Heather Hobson’s words in her description of Bout, I thought Misha was very scary looking.

Andrew Smulian and Viktor Bout in Moscow, November 2007 photo taken by Misha.

What was much scarier than the photograph of Misha was how easily he disappeared from the DEA’s Special Operations Division and flew back home to Russia never to be troubled again while Viktor Bout is facing life in prison in a foreign country. After all, he arrived with Viktor Bout and accompanied him from Russia to Thailand. Andrew Smulian testified to also meeting Misha in Moscow with Viktor Bout in November 2010. How scary he looked is actually irrelevant but the fact that he was untouchable leads me to believe in Dimitri Khalezov’s theory that Misha was in fact FSB [Russia’s Federal Security Service a branch of the former KGB] working in collaboration with the DEA in Operation ‘Relentless’.

I spoke with an acquaintance of mine on the phone today about the mysterious Misha. We both agreed that Misha was not needed by the DEA thus not detained. Just for the sake of convenince we will call this acquaintance anonymous. It is apparent that DEA Operation ‘Relentless’ was a well thought out intricate plan than spanned over three continents that had very specific objectives and specific ways to execute and achieve those objectives. In fact,one could say that Viktor Bout was treated as a High Value Target (HVT) by the DEA’s Special Operations Division empowered by the U.S. Department of Justice in their pursuit of him.

Russian FSB agents.

Anonymous did not buy the FSB theory but they offered in their own words a non-expert and common-sense opinion. Misha was an unknown variable is this very delicate and previously worked out equation. Thus, being an unknown variable would make him dangerous to the DEA’s case. In addition to that, anonymous suggested that Misha could only collaborate and empower Viktor Bout’s case and by default weaken or even perhaps destroy the case the DEA’s case. I agree with anonymous on both of their points and both seem very plausible. However, I also think that Misha being FSB doesn’t negate anonymous’ two points but in fact would add strength to their argument.

Investigative journalist and author of SHADOW MASTERS, Daniel Estulin delivers an extraordinary and captivating exclusive interview with Dimitri Khalezov. Dimitri Khalezov is a former Soviet commissioned officer of the “military unit 46179”, otherwise known as “the Special Control Service” of the 12^th Chief Directorate of the Defense Ministry of the Soviet Union. Basically in layman’s terms, he worked in nuclear intelligence for the Soviet army. In an interview with Dimitri titled Arms Trafficking, Stolen Missiles, Soviet Submarines, Nuclear Detonations and 9/11: Exclusive Interview with Dimitri Khalezov in Bangkok, he links Viktor Bout, former FARC commander Raul Reyes and uranium. The following is an excerpt from Dimitri Khalezov’s previously mentioned interview:

Primarily, the Israeli secret services – the Mossad and Sayaret Matkal. They have keen interest in this case, too. It was demonstrated by the unprecedented Sayaret Matkal’s involvement in the case of one of the FARC leaders – Raul Reyes and “his” weapon-grade Uranium that was planted by “someone” around his camp in the Ecuadorian jungle. Don’t miss this point – Raul Reyes was murdered on March 1, 2008, while Victor Bout was scheduled to be lured to Bangkok on March 4, 2008, in direct connection with the FARC and Uranium affairs, while all legal paperwork that requested the Thais to arrest him has been submitted to the Thai side by the Americans in the last day of February – that is BEFORE the murder of Raul Reyes.

Former FARC commanders Raul Reyes on the left and Alfonso Cano in the center.

In my face-face interview with Dimitri in Bangkok in February of this year titled, Reality is Stranger Than Fiction: Dimitri Khalezov discusses 9/11 with George Mapp in Bangkok was focused primarily on 9/11. However, we did touch on the subject of Viktor Bout. Here is a sample from the previously mentioned interview between Dimitri Khalezov and myself with just a portion of his entire answer.

I know you are very close to Viktor Bout and his family as well as his Thai lawyer Lak. You were also extremely involved in the actually court case in Thailand. Is there any connection to Viktor Bout’s extradition to America and 9/11?

Yes, of course. The Americans do not even hide this. They openly state that Viktor Bout is “bad guy” in connection to 9/11. But they do not go into details. However, I will. Viktor is actually wanted in America because the U.S. security officials are gullible enough to believe that Victor has allegedly sold the nuclear-tipped missile that hit the Pentagon on 9/11 to “terrorists”. In addition they believe that Viktor also sold several portable mini-nuclear devices (known as “mini-nukes”) to the so-called “Al-Qaeda” prior to 9/11, and they also believe that he sold weapon-grade Uranium to various terrorists who used the Uranium to produce home-made nuclear bombs that were used in several acts of nuclear terror – particularly in the infamous mini-nuke’s bombing at El-Nogal, in Bogota, Columbia, in 2003, that was presented to plebes as a “car-bombing”.

Dimitri actually goes into much greater detail in his interview with author Daniel Estulin. The full text of Daniel Estulin’s interview of Dimtri Khalezov as it relates to Viktor Bout and 9/11 can be found here in a 28 page PDF: http://www.911-truth.net/Victor_Bout/Most_shocking_interview_English.pdf

For anyone interested in the transcripts used in the trial you can find them at the link below. Please keep in mind that these transcripts are only a small sample of all the conversations that took place and these particular segments were cherry picked by the prosecutors. Albert Dayan in his cross of Ricardo Jardenero got him to admit on stand that DEA informant Carlos Sagastume had the ability to turn the recording device on and off at will. Viktor Bout – Government Trial Exhibit 1002-T: [PARTICIPANTS: Viktor Bout, Andrew Smulian, Misha Belozerosky, Carlos Sagastume, Mike Snow, Ricardo Jardenero, Unidentified female, and Unidentified male]

Fair Game

“I am proud to have served my country by working at the Central Intelligence Agency. I and my former CIA colleagues trusted our government to protect us as we did our jobs. That a few reckless individuals within the current Administration [Bush] betrayed that trust has been a grave disappointment to every patriotic American…. I feel strongly that those who acted so recklessly, and who acted in such a harmful way, need to answer for their shameful conduct…” ~ Valerie Plame Wilson, July 14, 2006.

Valerie Plame who was a covert CIA operative whom did extensive work in the CIA’s counterproliferation operations. She began her long career with the CIA sometime in 1985 [the CIA will not release exact dates]. Valerie had served her country first, ahead of her husband and her twins, risking her life on the front lines of terrorism often in foreign countries. Her husband Joseph Wilson, former Ambassador to the United States wrote an article in the New York Times on July 6, 2003 titled What I Didn’t Find in Africa.

Former CIA covert operative and author Valerie Plame Wilson.

Joseph Wilson’s was standing up for the truth, unfortunately for him, his article directly contradicted the White House, the entire Bush Administration as well as attacking their premise for invading Iraq. After that article was written, many insiders on Capitol Hill and inside the White House considered Valerie Plame as ‘Fair Game’. In retaliation for her husbands article members inside the Bush administration ‘outed’ Valerie Plame on July 14, 2003 Robert Novak intentionally revealed her name as well as saying that she was a CIA operative in a newspaper column.

If a CIA covert operative working for the agency for approximately 18 years can get ‘outed’ and betrayed by her own government, then what chance does Russian citizen Viktor Bout have? The short answer is slim to none! The State Department, the White House, the Department of Justice, the FBI [did forensic analysis on Bout’s laptop], the NSA probably helped with the wiretaps and Google records, more than likely the CIA lent a hand and of course the DEA and their secret Special Operations Division with their highly paid informants all collaborated in DEA Operation ‘Relentless’. Not to mention the Thai government that broke international law in their cooperation with the U.S. government in the illegal extradition of Viktor Bout who still had a legal pending court case in the Royal Thai court system. If you believe Dimitri Khalezov’s theory about Misha working for the Russian FSB then that would implicate the Russian government at least at the highest levels also conspired against Viktor Bout and collaborated with the Thai and U.S. governments to help catch him.

Viktor and Alla Bout in a Thai court room October 4, 2010.

On Monday 4 October 2010 in a Bangkok, Thailand court room I had several opportunities to speak face-face with Viktor Bout. Late in the afternoon that day, Bout left me, according to him, with a famous Russian saying, translated into English of course because my Russian is slightly better than my Thai. Bout said, “the circus is gone but the clown’s still remain.” He was referring to the biased, illegal [Thai] court proceedings that have detained him for over two and half years and that have separated him from his wife Alla and their [then] sixteen year old daughter Elizabeth.

I hope to have an opportunity to speak with and interview Viktor Bout directly in the near future as opposed to second-hand via his wife Alla. If so, one of the first questions that I will ask him is what he thought of the entire legal procedure that he had undergone from his extradition through to the verdict. One thing is certain and indisputable, from the Wikileaks cables showing that Viktor Bout was pursued as a high value target as well as lobbying the U.N. to add the FARC as a terrorist organization, the intentional disinformation and lies, all the spin doctoring, all the character assassinations in the media, to the all the resources, time, efforts that the U.S. have expended in their pursuit of him, and that is that Viktor Bout is ‘Fair Game’!

This article was first published at Dobroyeutro’s Blog

Dobroyeutro Blog ~ News with intelligence ~ Dobroyeutro wants to share news with intelligence with our readers from around the world…to share our original articles and to encourage our readers to feel free to share their articles and ideas…to have a forum with interesting and intelligent topics in a polite and civil manner…

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KIMBERLY DOZIER, AP Intelligence Writer – In an anonymous industrial park in Virginia, in an unassuming brick building, the CIA is following tweets — up to 5 million a day.

At the agency’s Open Source Center, a team known affectionately as the „vengeful librarians“ also pores over Facebook, newspapers, TV news channels, local radio stations, Internet chat rooms — anything overseas that anyone can access and contribute to openly.

From Arabic to Mandarin Chinese, from an angry tweet to a thoughtful blog, the analysts gather the information, often in native tongue. They cross-reference it with the local newspaper or a clandestinely intercepted phone conversation. From there, they build a picture sought by the highest levels at the White House, giving a real-time peek, for example, at the mood of a region after the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden or perhaps a prediction of which Mideast nation seems ripe for revolt.

Yes, they saw the uprising in Egypt coming; they just didn’t know exactly when revolution might hit, said the center’s director, Doug Naquin.

The center already had „predicted that social media in places like Egypt could be a game-changer and a threat to the regime,“ he said in a recent interview with The Associated Press at the center. CIA officials said it was the first such visit by a reporter the agency has ever granted.

The CIA facility was set up in response to a recommendation by the 9/11 Commission, with its first priority to focus on counterterrorism and counterproliferation. But its several hundred analysts — the actual number is classified — track a broad range, from Chinese Internet access to the mood on the street in Pakistan.

While most are based in Virginia, the analysts also are scattered throughout U.S. embassies worldwide to get a step closer to the pulse of their subjects.

The most successful analysts, Naquin said, are something like the heroine of the crime novel „The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,“ a quirky, irreverent computer hacker who „knows how to find stuff other people don’t know exists.“

Those with a masters‘ degree in library science and multiple languages, especially those who grew up speaking another language, „make a powerful open source officer,“ Naquin said.

The center had started focusing on social media after watching the Twitter-sphere rock the Iranian regime during the Green Revolution of 2009, when thousands protested the results of the elections that put Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad back in power. „Farsi was the third largest presence in social media blogs at the time on the Web,“ Naquin said.

The center’s analysis ends up in President Barack Obama’s daily intelligence briefing in one form or another, almost every day.

After bin Laden was killed in Pakistan in May, the CIA followed Twitter to give the White House a snapshot of world public opinion.

Since tweets can’t necessarily be pegged to a geographic location, the analysts broke down reaction by languages. The result: The majority of Urdu tweets, the language of Pakistan, and Chinese tweets, were negative. China is a close ally of Pakistan’s. Pakistani officials protested the raid as an affront to their nation’s sovereignty, a sore point that continues to complicate U.S.-Pakistani relations.

When the president gave his speech addressing Mideast issues a few weeks after the raid, the tweet response over the next 24 hours came in negative from Turkey, Egypt, Yemen, Algeria, the Persian Gulf and Israel, too, with speakers of Arabic and Turkic tweets charging that Obama favored Israel, and Hebrew tweets denouncing the speech as pro-Arab.

In the next few days, major news media came to the same conclusion, as did analysis by the covert side of U.S. intelligence based on intercepts and human intelligence gathered in the region.

The center is also in the process of comparing its social media results with the track record of polling organizations, trying to see which produces more accurate results, Naquin said.

„We do what we can to caveat that we may be getting an overrepresentation of the urban elite,“ said Naquin, acknowledging that only a small slice of the population in many areas they are monitoring has access to computers and Internet. But he points out that access to social media sites via cellphones is growing in areas like Africa, meaning a „wider portion of the population than you might expect is sounding off and holding forth than it might appear if you count the Internet hookups in a given country.“

Sites like Facebook and Twitter also have become a key resource for following a fast-moving crisis such as the riots that raged across Bangkok in April and May of last year, the center’s deputy director said. The Associated Press agreed not to identify him because he sometimes still works undercover in foreign countries.

As director, Naquin is identified publicly by the agency although the location of the center is kept secret to deter attacks, whether physical or electronic.

The deputy director was one of a skeleton crew of 20 U.S. government employees who kept the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok running throughout the rioting as protesters surged through the streets, swarming the embassy neighborhood and trapping U.S. diplomats and Thais alike in their homes.

The army moved in, and traditional media reporting slowed to a trickle as local reporters were either trapped or cowed by government forces.

„But within an hour, it was all surging out on Twitter and Facebook,“ the deputy director said. The CIA homed in on 12 to 15 users who tweeted situation reports and cellphone photos of demonstrations. The CIA staff cross-referenced the tweeters with the limited news reports to figure out who among them was providing reliable information. Tweeters also policed themselves, pointing out when someone else had filed an inaccurate account.

„That helped us narrow down to those dozen we could count on,“ he said.

Ultimately, some two-thirds of the reports coming out of the embassy being sent back to all branches of government in Washington came from the CIA’s open source analysis throughout the crisis.

George Mapp – On Tuesday morning, 16th November 2010, Viktor Bout’s wife, Alla, received a most disturbing and completely unexpected phone call. She was informed that her husband Viktor was imminently being extradited to the U.S.A. This phone call came to her before she was able to prepare and bring Viktor’s vegetarian lunch and visit him in prison, both of which she did routinely on a daily basis. After receiving the horrifying news, according to an article in the Guardian published that same day, “Alla rushed to the prison with his [Bout’s] lawyer when she heard her husband was about to be deported but did not get to see him.”

Alla did not make it in time to say goodbye, her husband Viktor was already whisked away by the Thai commandos to Bangkok’s Don Muang airport. Alla Bout would not see her husband Viktor again until five weeks later when they spoke briefly in yet another courtroom during his scheduled court date last Friday 21st January 2011. However, this time it was in a different court in a different country, a New York city Federal court room.

Alla was looking forward to her first scheduled visit with her husband Viktor since last November 16th when he was suddenly extradited from Thailand. In a recent report published on Friday 21st January 2011 by Itar-Tass, Alla Bout said: “A lawyer told me that the prison administration at last gave me a permission to see my husband. The meeting will take place on Monday [January 24] afternoon and will continue for three hours, rather than one hour as envisaged by the law.” She later mentioned in the same article that “she does not know yet whether her next meeting with her husband will also be three hours long or whether the prison administration offered only one such chance in leniency.” Alla Bout felt that she was granted two extra hours visiting time because their 16- year-old daughter Lisa and Viktor’s 74-year-old mother Raisa would also attend the visit.

Operation Stealth Kidnap
Alla Bout was shocked and surprised by the sudden and unexpected extradition which she refers to as a ‚kidnapping‘. It was sudden because the Thai political cabinet had just made the decision in a secret session hours before Bout was extradited. „The operation was secret,“ Alla told Russia Today in a television interview. The decision was unexpected because Viktor Bout’s court case was still pending in the Royal Thai court. According to Lak Nittiwattanawichan, Bout’s Thai lawyer, they filed an appeal which was accepted by the court and they were waiting for a court date to be set for the appeal to be heard. Viktor Bout was as Alla Bout said, “kidnapped” just days before the extradition deadline of 20th November 2010. A previous Thai court ruling had set a deadline of November 20th for Viktor Bout to be extradited to the U.S. or be set free.

Alla Bout told Russia Today during her recent interview on 20th January 2011: „the operation [to send him to the US] was secret. The cabinet ordered the extradition of Viktor Bout, even though the prime minister of Thailand had said that while court proceedings are ongoing, he wouldn’t be extradited…. He was shipped to the United States as if he was just a thing, without his documents and without the Russian embassy being informed. The operation was so quick because it is illegal under Thai law.”

After the secret Thai cabinet meeting took place and the decision was made, Bout was quickly whisked to the airport and placed under DEA custody. According to BBC News, “Within hours of the Thai cabinet’s decision Bout was removed from his prison cell, placed in a bulletproof vest and escorted to a chartered plane by police commandos in balaclavas and combat gear, where he was handed over to DEA agents.”

In the same Russia Today interview mentioned previously, Alla Bout said that her husband Viktor was extradited from Thailand to the United States last year without the proper procedures being followed, so he was in effect kidnapped.

Lak, Viktor’s Thai lawyer told Alla that, “he cannot find a single document signed by the Thai Cabinet on Viktor’s extradition, which should exist according to the Thai government. This means that nobody has signed any documents, no written permission on his extradition has been issued.” Alla then states again in the Russia Today interview that “nobody signed any documents, no written extradition permission was given. So, he was merely kidnapped,“ she said.

On the morning of 16th November 2010 the U.S. DEA agents wasted no time in flying Viktor Bout out of Thailand to U.S. soil. The agents were able to get him out of Thailand and into U.S. jurisdiction just days before the deadline that the Thai court set of 20 November 2010. After that date, according to Thai law, Viktor Bout would have been a free man.

Apparently in their haste in bringing Bout to the U.S., the agents did not bother with any formalities or paperwork. Therefore, one can not say that Viktor Bout was actually transferred from Thai custody to U.S. custody, because in reality he is still legally in Thai custody as well as in an open and pending court case in the Royal Thai court.

Alla Bout was not able to talk directly with her husband and had to rely on the Russian consul in New York. It was only through Alexander Otchaynov, the Russian deputy consul that Alla was told about Viktor’s flight from Thailand to America. In an interview on 21st November 2010, in the Bangkok Post, Alla Bout said that the DEA agents tried very hard to get a confession and to cop a plea out of Viktor on his flight to America.

“While on the flight to America, the American guards tried to apply psychological pressure on him, trying to convince him very hard to cooperate with them and to admit something he did not do and did not say,“ said Alla Bout.

In the same interview Alla expressed a bit of sarcasm towards the U.S. authorities for them offering political asylum to Viktor and his immediate family because he was being portrayed as such a villain by them.

“In exchange for that [a confession], they promised him political asylum in America and also political asylum for his wife and daughter in America, but he refused. This is especially strange since the Americans maintain that he is such a bad person,“ said Alla Bout.

Before Viktor Bout was able to embark on his unplanned, visa-free travel to America on a chartered jet, he first had to suffer humiliation and inhumane treatment. Alla later in the same interview expressed her displeasure at Viktor’s inhumane treatment after he was stripped butt-naked and left that way for some time. Alla Bout said that: “on Tuesday morning, they stripped him naked and they took absolutely everything from him including his shoes and the telephone books with his contacts and the telephone contacts of his lawyers all of them. They left him naked, absolutely naked. After that, they brought him some dirty sports shoes which do not belong to him. The prison authorities felt sorry for him and they gave him the cheap slippers.”

Manufactured Jurisdiction
Before I discuss the allegations waged against Viktor Bout and the lack of evidence, I would first like to first talk briefly about jurisdiction. On Tuesday 16th November 2010 shortly after Viktor Bout’s extradition, the Russian foreign ministry expressed their displeasure and questioned the jurisdiction of a trial to be held in America. According to the Guardian, the Russian foreign ministry, “has questioned the U.S. claim of jurisdiction given that he [Bout] is not an American citizen and is not alleged to have committed crimes on U.S. soil.”

Also on the same day in a BBC News report, Sabrina Shroff Viktor Bout’s court appointed lawyer told a federal court in New York City, “that since none of his alleged crimes occurred in the U.S., the U.S. cannot try him.”

As I have stated many times before that Viktor Bout was being held in prison in Thailand illegally, it appears that U.S. federal court appointed attorney Sabrina Shroff agrees with me. In the same BBC News article. Mrs. Shroff also stated that “she will also argue the arrest of Mr Bout in 2008 in Bangkok was illegal under Thai law.”

Andrei Klimov, Vice Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs, argues that Bout’s case is not within the jurisdiction of U.S. courts. Klimov told RIA Novosti on 16 November 2010 that: “He is not a U.S. citizen and has not committed any crimes on the territory of the United States. All the rest is outside the U.S. jurisdiction. Washington has no right to force anyone suspected of wrongdoing to be brought over to the U.S. for trial. Every country has its own courts to try crimes committed on their territory. Second, crimes suspects can stand trial in countries whose citizens they are. Finally, they can be tried by international courts. By the way, Americans do not recognize the jurisdiction of international courts with respect to their own citizens.”

Andrei Klimov also says in a report that appeared in The Christian Science Monitor on the same day that the issue is unlikely to derail US-Russian relations, but says it sets a dangerous precedent. „Bout is not a citizen of the U.S., nor do the Americans have any evidence of him breaking the law on U.S. soil, so why are they doing this?“ he says. „It appears the U.S. is acting like a global prosecutor, and a world judge. But who gives them this power? This looks something like Guantanamo,“ where people fall into legal limbo, he said. „The principle is wrong.“

Viktor Bout’s attorney Sabrina Shroff in a BBC News report expressed her concern to his lawyer about the jurisdiction issue. Ms Shroff told U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin, that “it’s a manufactured jurisdiction.”

The DEA’s New Mandate
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has become a vast international spy network as shown by U.S. Embassy cables revealed by Wikileaks. The DEA now has 87 offices in 63 countries and close partnerships with governments that distrust the CIA, such as Nicaragua and Venezuela. Many nations are eager to take advantage of the agency’s drug detection and phone-tapping technologies as stated by a Public Intelligence article.

According to a Wikileaks cable that was reprinted in the New York Times, “The Drug enforcement Administration has been transformed into a global intelligence organization with a reach that extends far beyond narcotics, and an eavesdropping operation so expansive it has to fend off foreign politicians who want to use it against their political enemies, according to secret diplomatic cables.”

Well, this would explain why U.S. undercover DEA agents set up or as Wayne Madsen put it, “entrapped” Viktor Bout in Thailand while posing as rebels from the terrorist organization the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia also known by its Spanish language acronym FARC. Just to recap, Bout was arrested in Thailand by U.S. undercover DEA agents posing as a terrorist organization from Columbia.

Here is an important observation that I want to acknowledge, according to a very well-written and informative article titled, Turf Wars in Washington, which was published last September: Bout never before had any dealings in Latin America before the DEA sting operation where the agents posed as Columbian rebels.
“Interestingly, prior to his bust, Bout had never been involved in Latin American gunrunning, concentrating instead on Africa and Eurasia” as reported in Turf Wars in Washington.

In the article, The Assassination of Viktor Anatoliyevich Bout, I already discussed quite extensively the DEA’s sting operation. I will however talk later in greater detail about the significance and relevance of FARC, which are directly linked to Viktor Bouts charges and allegations.

After the release of the Wikileaks cable it was clearly evident that the DEA had a new mandate and that they had expanded far beyond drugs and drug trafficking. What is not clear is the scope of its operations that it is now involved in or the boundaries of its jurisdiction. The DEA and its new expansive outreach of intelligence operations and its border-less jurisdiction is starting to make it look much more like the CIA.

Thanks to the release of the U.S. Embassy cables, we catch an inside glimpse of their expansiveness, their operations as well as their jurisdictions or lack thereof. According to the Wikileaks cable reprinted in the New York Times, the “cables describe lengthy negotiations over the extradition to the United States of the two notorious arms dealers wanted by the DEA as it reached beyond pure counter-narcotics cases: Monzer al-Kassar, a Syrian arrested in Spain, and Viktor Bout.”

The cable in the New York Times also states that, “Both men were charged with agreeing to illegal arms sales to informants posing as weapons buyers for Colombian rebels. Notably, neither man was charged with violating narcotics laws.”

According to an article in Public Intelligence, “The body’s vast network of informants also had on its roll David Headley, an accused in the Mumbai attacks case, who worked as a double agent for the DEA.”

The report in Public Intelligence also said, “Though the cables did not offer large disclosures, they provided an insight into the story of how an entrepreneurial agency operating in the shadows of the FBI has become something more than a drug agency.”

Wikileaks
A Wikileaks cable dated from 13 August 2009 published in the Guardian on 1st December 2010 showed and proved that the Viktor Bout extradition was an extremely high value priority for the U.S. government. It also clearly showed how concerned the prosecutors had become about the previous defeat in the Thai court system. So concerned in fact that they urged President Obama to call Thai Prime Minister Abhisit specifically in regards to Viktor Bout. Here is a closer look at a few small excerpts of that Wikileaks cable that appeared in the Guardian.

Discussion of a POTUS [President Of The United States] telcon to PM Abhisit has been under way for some time; they have not spoken in the seven months both have been in office. We suggest that the call be accelerated and that it include a serious discussion of our concerns over the implications of the Bout verdict, as outlined above. We believe POTUS involvement on Bout would have significant effect here.

“…the USG [United States government] had repeatedly underlined the importance of the case, all the way up to the Secretary of State and POTUS [President Of The United States ] levels.”

There are many more interesting examples in the Wikileaks cable but I will just point out several more for the purpose of context. The cable expressed concern by the U.S. that they disagreed with the judges ruling in the Thai court, “In our view, the judge was wrong on both counts.”

The cable also suggested that the Obama administration should contact the Columbian government for support, “We suggest Washington engage the Colombian government …”

The cable also states, “We also suggest exploring whether Colombia would be willing to ask Thailand for Bout’s extradition while he (hopefully) is still in detention during the appeals process.”

This stems from the allegation that Bout was trying to sell weapons to the Columbian rebels aka FARC which is deemed a terrorist organization by the U.S. but not by the United Nations (UN).

“Finally, despite the listing by the US and EU (European Union) of the FARC as a terrorist organization, we understand that the FARC is not listed as such by the UN. A move to have the FARC listed formally by the UN would assist the effort to keep Bout in custody. JOHN”

Also the U.S. Embassy suggested the U.S. government contact Russia in case Bout is found not guilty in the Thai court. “Finally, we recommend consideration of laying down a marker in Moscow about Bout, looking forward to the possibility that Bout may end up back in Russia were the appeal of the Lower Court ruling might not succeed.”

Finally the last example of the cable that I will share, “At the same time, the Embassy [U.S.] recommends the State Department, Attorney General Holder, and the US Mission to the UN in New York engage the Thai Ambassador in Washington and the Thai PermRep in New York in parallel.”

The Wikileaks cable certainly pointed out an awful lot of lobbying by the U.S. Embassy to the governments of Columbia, Thailand and even Russia. As well as within the U.S. government itself all the way up to President Obama. This U.S. Embassy cable clearly contradicts the allegations levied against Viktor Bout and highlights a need for a lobbying effort in the absence of any evidence.

Mind Games
Alla Bout already expressed her displeasure in the press about her husband Viktor being stripped butt-naked shortly before he was extradited and whisked away on a charted flight to America. In an article published Saturday by RIA Novosti, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that “they are putting Viktor Bout under intense psychological pressure.”

Ryabkov continued, “this should be ended and he [Bout] should be given a chance to defend himself and communicate, including with his relatives.” Ryabkov went on to tell journalists in Washington that “Bout is being held in isolation.” According to RIA Novosti Bout is allowed one 15-minute telephone call a month, is not allowed to send emails and is being denied a requested vegetarian diet.”

However, an indirect head game and possibly the most damaging thus far was the harassment by U.S. custom and FBI anti-terror agents towards his wife upon her arrival that more than likely, eventually got back to Viktor Bout. After Alla Bout left the airport she spoke to Russia Today, “They have clearly been waiting for us,” she said.

“They turned our luggage upside down and took away all the personal things from my bag.” Alla Bout was not allowed to speak with the Russian consul, “They told me to switch off my cell phone and did not allow me to get in touch with the Russian consul until this interrogation was over,” explains Viktor Bout’s wife. Alla then added, “One person introduced himself as a special anti-terror agent. He said he wanted to talk to me about the purpose of my visit.”

U.S. military psyops air mobile trainingU.S. military psyops air mobile training
I can only imagine that the only thing worse than being locked in a tiny cell like a caged rat, is being locked in a tiny cell like a caged rat and having your family being harassed and being unable to do anything about it.

According to Alla Bout, “they also asked her questions such as whether or not she knew her husband was a terrorist.” Alla, claims they were “interrogated” for hours and treated like terrorists.

The Media’s Smear Campaign and Their Wild Imagination
In my piece about Viktor Bout that I wrote last September titled, The Assassination of Viktor Anatoliyevich Bout, which discusses who is behind the character assassination of Viktor Bout, I pointed out that Viktor Bout was not a billionaire as stated by the media but in actual fact that he was broke. Alla Bout in a press conference held in Bangkok on Monday 22nd November 2010, stated that she is actually in debt.

“Mrs. Bout detailed how the Bout family is actually in debt, having to support her daughter in Russia and herself in Thailand, paying for rent, food, transportation fees, visa fees, and Viktor’s care,” according to Russia Today.

Recently in the Bangkok Post, Alla Bout was quoted as saying, “the U.S. has no evidence against Viktor, otherwise it would have long ago been presented at the Thai court.”

Alla Bout tells The Voice of America on 22nd November 2010 that her husband is “the victim of a smear campaign by what she calls ‚unscrupulous United Nations experts‘, U.S. officials, and the media.”

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov commented in an article that appeared in The Voice of Russia on 16 November 2010: “Despite the fact that Bout was not found guilty by a Thai court, he was, however, allowed to be extradited to the U.S. I see it as an example of unprecedented political pressure on Thailand’s government and judicial system. Russia will continue to provide Viktor Bout with all necessary support”, Mr. Lavrov said.

“What the U.S. authorities are doing is both ethically and legally incorrect”, says Mr. Alexander Treshchev, a spokesman with the EU Chamber of Lawyers in the same Voice of Russia article.
Professor Rolf Goessner, a German law analyst, shares this view with the Voice of Russia: “In my opinion, this is legally unjustified. International practice should embrace Russia as well – we need to stick to international norms. That’s why I regard this as a violation of international law.”

On Monday, October 4 2010 in the Honorable Royal Thai court in Bangkok, I was eye to eye with Viktor Bout. In „Face to Face with Viktor Bout“ I talk explicitly and in great detail about the the lack of evidence against him. The only thing that has changed since last October when I wrote that article, is that more laws against Viktor Bout were broken and he was illegally snatched and kidnapped out of the Thai court system while a case was still pending.

Alla Bout tells The Voice of America that “his extradition was illegal because there was still a case against him pending in court here [in Thailand].”

On Friday 21 January 2011, Viktor Bout prepared to attend a pre-trial hearing, his wife Alla told Russia Today that “the allegations are a fabrication to distract the public from its real problems. In fact, Alla Bout refers to allegations against her husband Viktor as “wild imagination.”

Role Model vs. Case Study
The allegations against Bout are a defamation of character, as well as being scathing and slanderous. Even Douglas Farah, who co-authored a book about Bout said this — “It is important to note, as we do in the book, that much of what Viktor Bout does is, while reprehensible, not illegal.”

“A report by Amnesty International published in the same year [as „Lord of War“, 2005] accused Mr Bout of being “the most prominent foreign businessman” involved in trafficking arms to UN-embargoed destinations from Bulgaria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan and other countries” as reported by The Sunday Times of London on 6 March 2008. Interesting, no mention of Columbia and they refer to him as a businessman.

Viktor Bout was an opportunist. A hard working and ingenious entrepreneur. He was simply a transporter. Yes he transported everything from oil, coltan (a mineral used in mobile phone production), various other minerals, ostrich eggs, diamonds, troops and yes sometimes even ‚legal‘ weapons. I am not saying that he is an angel or a role model but I am saying that what he did was not illegal and does not distract from his accomplishments as a businessman. Viktor was simply earning a living and providing for his family. He had mouths to feed.

I met him and spoke to him face to face inside a courtroom in Bangkok as well as spent time talking and dining with his wife Alla. Viktor, Alla, Kurt Pelda of Deutsche Welle, Thilo Thielke of Der Spiegel, Dimitri Khalezov and I had quite a lengthy discussion at the court room. Luckily for us the judges left the room for quite a long time to deliberate thus enabling us to chat. Viktor from my observation is quite intelligent, well-read, polite and charismatic. I can easily imagine him outside of the court room in a party setting being the center of attention while people in the party gravitate towards him.

If Viktor Bout was properly examined in a truthful and unbiased fashion, I am sure a case study of his career would one day be talked about in text books at Harvard, Yale, The London School of Economics and Wharton. He was the epitome of capitalism. From nothing, Bout, grew a huge international air cargo business that eventually grew into an empire. That was his only crime, being too successful.

Once Bout grew a successful international air cargo empire, with a virtual monopoly in the African continent, then others became envious and thus was born the global „jihad“ against him. I will not speculate as to how much Viktor Bout’s air cargo empire was once worth because I am not sure but perhaps in the billions.

Bout built from nothing an extremely successful empire that was an entirely legal entity until he was put out of business by his previous customers, the United States government and the United Nations.

According to The Christian Science Monitor, Viktor Baranets, a military columnist for the Moscow daily Komsomolskaya Pravda, „The Russian reaction to the prosecution of Bout might have been different if the Americans had come to our side and spelled out the case against him,“ says Mr. Baranets, who has interviewed Bout and says he appears to have many strong arguments in his own defense.”

He also said that the “US authorities never attempted to cooperate with their Russian counterparts to bring Bout to justice.”
„As it is, we have a lot of questions. Many people in Russia believe that Bout is being framed. Some think that Bout was removed because he’s a competitor of American arms interests, or otherwise crossed them. The case against him contains a lot of strong accusations, but the substance looks thin“ stated Mr. Baranets.

As reported by the Guardian on 16th November 2010, “However, part of the Russian criticism of the American charges against Bout stems from the continued U.S. use of him to transport supplies in Iraq as well as contracting with NATO in Afghanistan and the United Nations in Sudan.”

Many air cargo companies left the African continent when it became too hot and dangerous and ripe with bloody civil wars that made it too risky to transport cargo. Bout stayed and gambled and it paid off huge.

If anything, Viktor Bout should be given recognition for his accomplishments as a businessman. But as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg encountered, you can not grow a business into a billion dollar company and not make enemies. It is not possible. Zuckerberg was sued by he best friend at the time that his company was growing exponentially.

Another example of a business success story besides that of Bout and Zuckerberg is Robert Johnson. Johnson started with $10,000 from a credit card, not cash but credit and years later eventually sold that media company, BET (Black Entertainment Television) to Viacom for over $1 billion dollars. If you are interested in this story you can read more in The Billion Dollar BET: Robert Johnson and the Inside Story of Black Entertainment Television written by Brett Pulley.

Book on BET
Marc Zuckerberg started Facebook with O.P.M. (other peoples money), initially with practically no money of his own and last week the company was valued at $50 billion.

Viktor Bout merely filled a gap in an area where there was huge demand and where the law was gray. Viktor Bout was able to operate freely for decades because of the lack of any internationally-binding rules therefore his air cargo business‘ were legitimate as well as legal. He built a successful and colossal air cargo empire form scratch, isn’t capitalism and entrepreneurship what America is all about?

Logic and Reason
It is not intelligent to think that if Viktor Bout actually had billions or even millions of dollars, according to the slanderous lies continuously spun out by the media, that he would not spend it to salvage his freedom. Viktor has been stuck in solitary confinement in a tiny cell, in Thailand while several cameras were constantly watching him including one above the toilet, living like a caged rat. Now he is again isolated back in solitary confinement in a foreign country facing life imprisonment.

You do the math. If you were a billionaire would you have Sabrina Shroff represent you? No disrespect to Ms. Shroff but she is a U.S. government court appointed attorney. If it was me facing life imprisonment and I was a billionaire, I would resurrect Johnny Cochran from the grave and have him represent me, no matter what it cost. Actually, according to Daniel Estulin in a recent phone conversation with him, Mrs. Shroff may no longer be representing Viktor Bout. He told me that Alla had been meeting with several other attorneys.

When in Bangkok last October, I saw Alla Bout, Dimitri Khalezov and several of their friends, running around like chickens being chased, photocopying, collating, organizing and stapling documents that supported her husbands case to then be handed out to the press. And paying for this copying and all other legal cost’s with their own money. If Alla Bout was wealthy, which she is not, she would not be be handling a large portion of her husbands legal defense personally. There would have been a huge team of lawyers alongside Lak to defend Viktor.

It is not intelligent for someone to be extradited for terrorism, accused of killing U.S. nationals and U.S. officers and then offered a deal. Bout was offered a plea bargain while the DEA agents applied psyops on him on the flight to America. They offered a deal not only to Bout but his whole immediate family. According to a Bangkok Post article in November approximately five days after Bout’s extradition, “While on the flight to America, the American guards tried to apply psychological pressure on him, trying to convince him very hard to cooperate with them and to admit something he did not do and did not say,“ Mrs Bout was quoted as saying.

It makes absolutely no sense and goes against human nature and common sense for any DEA agent or any U.S. government official to have any sympathy for him and his family if there was a shred of truth to the accusations. It is not intelligent or logical to think that agents of the U.S. government would offer Viktor Bout and his family a deal if they really believed or had any evidence of the allegations of terrorism and trying to kill Americans charged against Viktor Bout. If there was any real evidence or truth to his allegations, I believe that most law enforcement officials, government employees, military personnel and most American citizens including myself would be happy for him to spend the rest of his life in prison.

In fact, I doubt that Viktor Bout would be alive today if any of the allegations were true but assassinating him quietly does not fit the political agenda nor would it justify the astronomical waste of U.S. taxpayer dollars used for the propaganda, sting operations and legal fees used in the capture and extradition of Viktor Bout. The U.S. taxpayers tab for this political agenda against Bout has been running since the 1990’s and the meter is still ticking.

However, it is logical to understand why the DEA agents where applying such pressure to Bout to make a deal. The charges, are imaginary and fabricated. There is no evidence and never has been. Bout was cleared twice in Thai courts for lack of evidence.

Wayne Madsen and the Blame Game
Investigative journalist Wayne Madsen recently did a taped interview on Russia Today. Madsen raises some very interesting points and topics while reiterating many things that I have previously discussed. Madsen mentions how “the Bush administration probably left him [Bout] alone because he was doing business with that administration.”

Madsen also mentions the broader range of the DEA as well as having a new mandate. He states in the Russia Today interview, “The DEA is not only involved in drugs anymore but they have a new mandate. The DEA is now in the intelligence gathering business which is perhaps out of their league. According to Madsen, the new DEA is “operating far beyond it capabilities and its knowledge.”

Wayne Madsen also states that “Viktor Bout was entrapped in Thailand by the DEA.” Madsen goes on to say that “Bout was not really extradited he was renditioned.”

The Russian Foreign Minister, Alla Bout and many others all agree that Thailand is ripe with corruption and it is in bed with the U.S. government and Wayne Madsen concurs. He says that “Thailand is a military dictatorship where the PM is basically a stooge for the U.S. and that Thailand is not a democracy.”

When asked by the interviewer if he thought Bout would receive a fair trial in the U.S., Madsen replied: “I doubt he is going to get a fair trial here [U.S.]” He then added “If Bout made a movie it would be a blockbuster.”

Wayne Madsen and I diverge slightly on his conclusion on why Viktor Bout was ultimately captured and is now being detained by the U.S. government. Madsen alleges that “Bout was taken off the streets, because he thinks that he knows who is really behind the 9/11 attack.” Thus Madsen believes that the U.S. went after Bout to find out what he knows about 9/11 and its perpetrators.

I believe the claims of the U.S. prosecutors of charging Viktor Bout with terrorism and attempting to sell ballistic missiles, will ultimately be tied into Bout’s allegations thus linking him to 9/11. However, I feel strongly as well as Dimitri Khalezov that Viktor Bout knows absolutely nothing about nor has ever had any connection to 9/11. Dimitri is an expert on the 9/11 topic and is a former Russian nuclear intelligence officer.

If you are interested in 9/11 you should watch Dimitri’s video as well as read his book the 911thology. It is by far, the most provocative, prohibited and proven 9/11 video.

Whether or not Viktor Bout has any knowledge of 9/11 or not does not mean that the prosecutors will not attempt to connect him to the events that occurred on that catastrophic day. I will discuss this topic more in the following two sections.

The Auspicious Court Date
On Friday, 21st January 2011 Viktor Bout would finally have his day in court which was already postponed from January 10th. He and his family were eagerly awaiting the pending announcement of his trial date as Viktor had already spent over two and half years in Thai prisons. The judge then announces that his court date will be held on 12th September, 2011.

When I heard Bout’s court date announced, I shook my head. I immediately thought to myself that September 11th, 2011, the ten year anniversary of 9/11, has to be a Sunday and that the next business day is Monday the 12th. I was correct. I was thinking that 12th September 2011 could not be a Saturday because then the trial could be held on the previous Friday if they had wanted it to be on the 11th.

In a RIA Novosti article that appeared several days ago, Alla Bout also made reference to that auspicious date. “The trial was set on this date to flaunt the results of U.S. efforts against terror and the costly anti-terrorism campaign pursued by the United States in the past decade. I support a fight against terror, but will not let it be carried out at the expense of my family,“ Alla Bout told RIA Novosti in a video link-up from New York.

In a CNN report in November approximately a week after Bout’s extradition, Alla Bout claimed that “the United States had been describing her husband as an alleged „Merchant of Death“ for years — and intensified their campaign after the September 11 terrorist attacks.”

„Reading between the lines of the media reports, you can see now a message that’s very clear: we have not got [Osama] bin Laden yet, but we have got Viktor Bout, and that’s the second best,“ said Alla Bout.

Last October I wrote an article titled, „Face to Face with Viktor Bout: Court Room Conversations“, I stated in a slightly flippant manner the following statement: “Next the prosecutors will be blaming Viktor Bout for firing the Granit missile that struck the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 that was stolen from the Kursk submarine (which was sunk by a collision with the SSN 691 Memphis in August 2000) which in turn caused the U.S. government to panic and then to press the buttons to cause the underground nuclear detonation of World Trade Center 1, World Trade Center 2 and World Trade Center 7; thus blaming Bout for those deaths of Americans that died on that tragic day.”

The Russian Kursk submarine
I then went on to say, “Sounds preposterous, outrageous and far-fetched? Ironically, the latter paragraph has much more truth than the former.”

The former paragraph in the referenced article was referring to the baseless and imaginary charges of terrorism and conspiring to kill Americans filed against Viktor Bout.

Via a RIA Novosti report, Alla Bout described on last Tuesday as a „political show“ the U.S. authorities‘ decision to begin a trial against her husband on September 12th, a day after the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

The End Game
According to Daniel Estulin, I may have not been too far off base in my claims that Viktor Bout will ultimately be connected with 9/11 as I have just stated in the previous section. In fact, in one of Daniel’s recent Russia Today interviews, he mentions 9/11 specifically. I spoke to Daniel via phone last Tuesday to clarify a few points and ask him a few specific questions about Viktor, Alla and the case in regards to his interview titled, „Daniel Estulin: Bout gets life sentence in unfair trial, but end game is Russia.“

Daniel Estulin is an award-winning investigative journalist and public speaker. One of the many books that Estulin has written is SHADOW MASTERS which deals with several topics but a large portion of the book is devoted solely to Viktor Bout. Unlike Douglas Farah, co-author of a book titled ‚Merchant of Death‘, who admittedly never met or interviewed Bout, Estulin has met and interviewed Bout extensively. According to Estulin, Farah’s book is filled almost entirely with propaganda and lies and says that “the book’s nickname [the Merchant of Death] for Bout is constantly parroted in the US media.” Estulin goes on to say that Farah has even lied under oath in his testimony in front of the U.S. congress in August of 2008.

Viktor Bout is charged with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals and government officers, conspiracy to use an anti-aircraft missile and conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

According to Daniel Estulin the U.S. public prosecutor’s office entered a court appeal on the 26 August 2009 that states “Bout conspired to provide guided ballistic missiles to FARC.” Estulin told me that the reference to ballistic missiles is extremely significant because it implies that by default they are nuclear capable. Estulin added “FARC = Bout = Ballistic missiles = Nuclear terrorism.”

I just recently found out through International extradition attorney Douglas McNabb that the U.S. federal prison does not have a parole system. Viktor Bout is facing 25 years to life if convicted of all of the alleged charges. This past January 13th Viktor celebrated yet another birthday in prison, now 44 years old, a 25 year sentence is not much different to a life sentence in my opinion.

Daniel Estulin is not optimistic at all about Viktor’s freedom and rights to a fair trial. Estulin says, “The U.S. has been after Bout since the 1990’s. It is absolutely ridiculous to think that he will get a fair trial in America. He will NOT get a fair trial and will get a life sentence.”

Game Over
On 6 March 2008 Viktor Bout was arrested in Thailand by U.S. DEA agents and Thai police in a well orchestrated sting operation. The quote that splashed headlines world-wide was the phrase “The game is over.” DEA agent Louis Milione according to CBS was asked if Bout said anything, Milione replied, „‚The game is over,‘ or something like that.“ My guess is that what Bout said was closer to “something like that,” but not in English.

This strange, curious and eventful case of Viktor Bout has been anything but dull. It continues to develop new twists and turns and to throw us a few curve balls. It will be very interesting to see how it unfolds and what new developments will occur. I am intrigued and fascinated by the possibilities that lay ahead for Viktor Bout as well as his fate in this seemingly never ending story.

This article was first published at Dobroyeutro’s Blog

Dobroyeutro Blog ~ News with intelligence ~ Dobroyeutro wants to share news with intelligence with our readers from around the world…to share our original articles and to encourage our readers to feel free to share their articles and ideas…to have a forum with interesting and intelligent topics in a polite and civil manner…

Viktor Bout, Afrikas “Merchant of Death”
Viktor Bout – Auslieferung in die USA?
Scheinheilig? USA verlangen Auslieferung von Viktor Bout
Conflicts in Africa – Millions suffered, a few became millionaires, one of them: Viktor Bout (Butt)
Söldner, Gauner, Waffen und Rohstoffe
Ugandas Ölfunde: Söldner fördern es, die Amerikaner kaufen es.

Kokain, Kindersoldaten und Killerkommandos – auf den Spuren des Waffenhändlers Yair Klein.
Was macht eigentlich……….der internationale Waffenhändler Yair Klein
.
Angolagate in Frankreich – Geldgier, Geschütze und Granaten

onlineredaktion – Anonymous has taken down more than 40 darknet-based child porn websites over the last week. Details of some of the hacks have been released via pastebin #OpDarknet, including personal details 1500 users of a site named ‚Lolita City,‘ and DDoS tools that target Hidden Wiki and Freedom Hosting — alleged to be two of the biggest darknet sites hosting child porn.

News of the Anonymous campaign to actively target anyone hosting child porn sites comes from statements associated with Anonymous on Pastebin and two Anonymous YouTube video channels. AnonNews has yet to issue a press release.

The AnonMessage and BecomeAnonymous YouTube channels both posted videos with statements of intent to hunt, skin and kill pedobears everywhere, starting with Freedom Hosting.

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Timeline of Events
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At apprx 8:30 CST while browsing the Hidden Wiki we noticed a section called Hard Candy which was dedicated to links to child pornography. We then removed all links on the website, within 5 minutes the links were edited back in by an admin. For this reason, we will continue to make the Hidden Wiki unavailable.
—

At apprx 8:45 CST we noticed 95% of the child pornography listed on the Hidden Wiki shared a digital fingerprint with the shared hosting server at Freedom Hosting.
—

At apprx 9:00pm CST on October 14, 2011 We identified Freedom Hosting as the host of the largest collection of child pornography on the internet. We then issued a warning to remove the illegal content from their server, which they refused to do.
—

At apprx 11:30pm CST on October 14, 2011 We infiltrated the shared hosting server of Freedom Hosting and shutdown services to all clients due to their lack of action to remove child pornography from their server.
—

At apprx 5:00pm CST on October 15, 2011 Freedom Hosting installed their backups and restored services to their child pornography clients. We then issued multiple warnings to remove all child pornography from their servers, which Freedom Hosting refused to do.
—

At apprx 8:00pm CST on October 15, 2011 despite new security features, we once again infiltrated the shared hosting server at Freedom Hosting and stopped service to all clients.
—

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Our Statement
————————
The owners and operators at Freedom Hosting are openly supporting child pornography and enabling pedophiles to view innocent children, fueling their issues and putting children at risk of abduction, molestation, rape, and death.

For this, Freedom Hosting has been declared #OpDarknet Enemy Number One.

By taking down Freedom Hosting, we are eliminating 40+ child pornography websites, among these is Lolita City, one of the largest child pornography websites to date containing more than 100GB of child pornography.

We will continue to not only crash Freedom Hosting’s server, but any other server we find to contain, promote, or support child pornography.

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Our Demands
————————
Our demands are simple. Remove all child pornography content from your servers. Refuse to provide hosting services to any website dealing with child pornography. This statement is not just aimed at Freedom Hosting, but everyone on the internet. It does not matter who you are, if we find you to be hosting, promoting, or supporting child pornography, you will become a target.

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Images & Misc
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Dead Server Screenshot: http://i55.tinypic.com/vy9w7k.jpg
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Freedom Host PR Screenshot: http://i53.tinypic.com/o5qlip.jpg
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Our Manifesto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFuJp_zPIlU
—

#Antisec | #Anonymous | #FreeTopiary | #AnonOps | #FreeAnons | #OccupyWallSteet | #OWS

We are Anonymous.
We are Legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect us.

————————
Server Information
————————
phpinfo() of FreedomHosting:
System FreeBSD server 8.2-RELEASE-p3 FreeBSD 8.2-RELEASE-p3 #0: Tue Sep 27 18:45:57 UTC 2011 root@amd64-builder.daemonology.net:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC amd64
Build Date Aug 26 2011 03:00:30
Configure Command ‚./configure‘ ‚–with-layout=GNU‘ ‚–localstatedir=/var‘ ‚–with-config-file-scan-dir=/usr/local/etc/php‘ ‚–disable-all‘ ‚–enable-libxml‘ ‚–with-libxml-dir=/usr/local‘ ‚–with-pcre-regex=/usr/local‘ ‚–with-zlib-dir=/usr‘ ‚–program-prefix=‘ ‚–disable-cgi‘ ‚–with-apxs2=/usr/local/sbin/apxs‘ ‚–with-regex=php‘ ‚–with-zend-vm=CALL‘ ‚–disable-ipv6‘ ‚–prefix=/usr/local‘ ‚–mandir=/usr/local/man‘ ‚–infodir=/usr/local/info/‘ ‚–build=amd64-portbld-freebsd8.2‘
Server API Apache 2.0 Handler
Virtual Directory Support disabled
Configuration File (php.ini) Path /usr/local/etc
Loaded Configuration File /usr/local/etc/php.ini
Scan this dir for additional .ini files /usr/local/etc/php
Additional .ini files parsed /usr/local/etc/php/extensions.ini
PHP API 20090626
PHP Extension 20090626
Zend Extension 220090626
Zend Extension Build API220090626,NTS
PHP Extension Build API20090626,NTS
Debug Build no
Thread Safety disabled
Zend Memory Manager enabled
Zend Multibyte Support disabled
IPv6 Support disabled
Registered PHP Streams php, file, glob, data, http, ftp, zip, compress.zlib
Registered Stream Socket Transports tcp, udp, unix, udg
Registered Stream Filters convert.iconv.*, string.rot13, string.toupper, string.tolower, string.strip_tags, convert.*, consumed, dechunk, zlib.*

Configuration
apache2handler
Apache Version Apache
Apache API Version 20051115
Server Administrator you@example.com
Hostname:Port xqz3u5drneuzhaeo.onion:0
User/Group www(80)/80
Max Requests Per Child: 10000 – Keep Alive: off – Max Per Connection: 100
Timeouts Connection: 900 – Keep-Alive: 60
Virtual Server Yes
Server Root /usr/local
Loaded Modules core prefork http_core mod_so mod_authz_host mod_file_cache mod_cache mod_disk_cache mod_filter mod_deflate mod_env mod_expires mod_headers mod_setenvif mod_mime mod_status mod_autoindex mod_dir mod_alias mod_rewrite mod_bw mod_php5 mod_alias_basedir mod_vhost_alias_frdmhst

Apache Environment
Variable Value
HTTP_HOST xqz3u5drneuzhaeo.onion
HTTP_CONNECTION close
HTTP_USER_AGENT Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:5.0)
HTTP_ACCEPT text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8
HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE en-us,en;q=0.5
HTTP_ACCEPT_CHARSET ISO-8859-1,utf-8;q=0.7,*;q=0.7
HTTP_DNT 1
HTTP_COOKIE visitz=0; sort=0a
PATH /bin:/usr/bin:/usr/ucb:/usr/bsd:/usr/local/bin
SERVER_SIGNATURE no value
SERVER_SOFTWARE Apache
SERVER_NAME xqz3u5drneuzhaeo.onion
SERVER_ADDR 10.0.1.2
SERVER_PORT 80
REMOTE_ADDR 10.0.1.2
DOCUMENT_ROOT /home/fh/www
SERVER_ADMIN you@example.com
SCRIPT_FILENAME /home/fh/users/l/i/lolitacity/www/index.php
REMOTE_PORT 56818
GATEWAY_INTERFACE CGI/1.1
SERVER_PROTOCOL HTTP/1.0
REQUEST_METHOD GET
QUERY_STRING no value
REQUEST_URI /users/lolitacity/index.php
SCRIPT_NAME /users/lolitacity/index.php

CCC – Der Chaos Computer Club (CCC) hat eine eingehende Analyse staatlicher Spionagesoftware vorgenommen. Die untersuchten Trojaner können nicht nur höchst intime Daten ausleiten, sondern bieten auch eine Fernsteuerungsfunktion zum Nachladen und Ausführen beliebiger weiterer Schadsoftware. Aufgrund von groben Design- und Implementierungsfehlern entstehen außerdem eklatante Sicherheitslücken in den infiltrierten Rechnern, die auch Dritte ausnutzen können.

The Guardian – „Our service has become aware that last weekend LIFG deputy Emir Abu Munthir and his spouse and children were being held in Hong Kong detention for immigration/passport violations. We are also aware that your service has been cooperating with the British to effect Abu Munthir’s removal to Tripoli, and that you had an aircraft available for this purpose in the Maldives.

Our understanding is that the Hong Kong special wing (SW) originally denied permission for your aircraft to land in Hong Kong to enable you to assume control of Abu Munthir and his family. However, we believe that the reason for the refusal was based on international concerns over having a Libyan-registered aircraft land in Hong Kong. Accordingly, if your government were to charter a foreign aircraft from a third country, the Hong Kong government may be able to coordinate with you to render Abu Munthir and his family into your custody.

If payment of a charter aircraft is an issue, our service would be willing to assist financially to help underwrite those costs. Please be advised that if we pursue that option, we must have assurances from your government that Abu Munthir and his family will be treated humanely and that his human rights will be respected; we must receive such assurances prior to any assistance being provided.

For your information, the Hong Kong special administrative region is governed by a variety of legal constraints regarding deportation and custody of aliens. Accordingly, we believe that you will need to provide significant detail on Abu Munthir (eg, his terrorist/criminal acts, why he is wanted, perhaps proof of citizenship). It is also our understanding that Hong Kong officials have insisted that prior to turning Abu Munthir over to your custody, they must receive clear assurances from your government that Abu Munthir and his family will be treated humanely and in accordance with human rights.“

See also:
Tony Blairs und Muammar Gaddafis Menschenhandel geht vor Gericht
Libyen: Rebellenkommandeur beschuldigt Bundesnachrichtendeinst (BND) an Folterbefragungen beteiligt gewesen zu sein
Auslieferung und Folter: Wie Mi6 und CIA mit Gaddafi zusammenarbeiteten

Folter wird zum “Normalfall” oder: Zurück ins Mittelalter
Schweigen um die Morde an vier Deutschen in Djibouti

Libyen: Gaddafi lässt schiessen – die Ausbildung besorgte auch Deutschland
Heimkehr eines Attentäters, Libyens Staatschef Gaddafi und das deutsche Auswärtige Amt
Messe-Highlight in der Schweiz: Folterflieger zum Anfassen
CIA-Flüge und Gefangenentransporte: Zahlen und Fakten

Peter Murray – From protests precipitated by Facebook posts to internet censoring by authoritarian regimes technology has played a prominent role in the world’s recent moments of social unrest. We all know that the governments of Iran and Egypt and Libya eavesdrop when their citizens talk, but to listen in on Yahoo chat or Skype they needed help. Where that help came from might surprise you. Companies in the UK, Germany, France, the US and other countries in the West have sold software to regimes that enable them to spy on their citizens – ironically the same regimes those countries are now trying to topple.

Reporters from the Wall Street Journal recently discovered a technological spy headquarters in Tripoli. They found stacks of paper documenting thousands of conversations between Libyan citizens that had been intercepted by Moammar Gadhafi’s agents. They also saw a sign on the wall that read, “Help keep our classified business secret. Don’t discuss classified information out of the HQ.” The logo on the sign belonged to a subsidiary of a French company, that develops equipment to monitor communications over the Internet. According to the Wall Street Journal, in 2009 they provided Tripoli with their Eagle system. A kind of “deep packet inspection” technology, the Eagle is a powerful monitoring tool that can eavesdrop on emails, chats, and other online communications. A poster in the room instructed Eagle users: “Whereas many Internet interception systems carry out basic filtering on IP address and extract only those communications from the global flow (Lawful Interception), EAGLE Interception system analyses and stores all the communications from the monitored link (Massive Interception).”

Since the story broke, Amesys responded with a press release to address the “great deal of erroneous and false information” that has appeared in recent media. They confirm that they signed a contract with Libyan authorities in 2007, but only to monitor “a small fraction of the Internet lines…(a few thousand). This did not include either Internet communications via satellite (as used in Internet cafes), encrypted data such as Skype-type communications, or filtering of Web sites.”

Whatever their involvement, Amesys is hardly alone in their dealings with Gadhafi. The Chinese telecom company ZTE Corporation sold Libya technology that was used in their monitoring operations. The WSJ offered no more details but mentioned that a ZTE spokeswoman declined to comment.

To tap international phone calls Libya acquired technology from VASTech SA Pty Ltd, a South African firm. In a separate building that housed the country’s international phone switch a room occupied by Gadhafi’s security agents was outfitted with VASTech devices. A person there familiar with the operation said the agents recorded between 30 and 40 million minutes per month from both landline and mobile phone conversations. The recordings were then stored for years. When WSJ tried to contact the company “VASTech declined to discuss its business in Libya due to confidentiality agreements.”

Narus, a part of US-based Boeing, makes sophisticated Internet-monitoring products. Narus reps met earlier this year with Libyan officials “as they looked to add sophisticated Internet-filtering capabilities to Libya’s existing monitoring operation.” When queried by WSJ, a Narus spokeswoman said, “Narus does not comment on potential business ventures.” But added, “There have been no sales or deployments of Narus technology in Libya.”

Notice a pattern?
Perhaps if those pesky WSJ reporters hadn’t stuck their noses in Libya’s spy headquarters there wouldn’t be all this buzz and company spokeswomen wouldn’t be losing sleep at night. But the fact is, getting help from the West to spy or censor is nothing new for Middle Eastern and North African rulers.

Skype, the online video and voice software, is a favorite among would-be revolutionaries because its powerful encryption technology makes it difficult to tap. But leave it to Western entrepreneurs to find a way in. FinSpy is a “spyware” that can listen in on computer audio streams and therefore get around Skype’s fortress of encryption. It’s produced by Britain’s Gamma International UK Ltd. A “Top Secret” memo from Egypt’s Interior Ministry was discovered earlier this year. Dated Jan. 1, 2011, the memo described a trial that took place between August and December of last year in which Egypt gave Gamma’s hacking technology a test run. The memo reported the trial’s “success in hacking personal accounts on Skype” and “recording voice and video conversations over the Internet.” Gamma reps were showcasing their technology to governments at a trade show in Dubai this past February. The titles of their presentations were “Monitoring Encrypited Data on Computers and Mobile Phones” and “Applied Hacking Techniques used by Government Agencies.” Once again, WSJ reports that “Gamma officials there declined to be interviewed.”

Other Western companies develop software that allows networks to block Skype use altogether. Two companies based in California, Boeing’s Narus Inc. and Bitek International Inc., and Germany’s Ipoque GmbH sell such products to overseas buyers. Who? We don’t know, as “the companies all declined to discuss their foreign customers” when asked by the WSJ.

McAfee Inc., now part of Intel, sold Internet-filtering software to Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. The Canadian company Netsweeper has sold similar software to the United Arab Emirates, Yemen and Qatar. Despite a company policy that it “does not sell to governments or Internet Service Providers that are engaged in government-imposed censorship,” San Diego-based Websence Inc. has sold Internet-filtering technology in Yemen. Thanks to the technology Yemen’s government is able to block online tools used to disguise people’s identities from government probes. Websence released a statement in 2009 about how their technology was used in Yemen: “On rare occasions things can slip through the cracks.”

Keeping tabs on the citizens of Tripoli.

In China, prying government officials wouldn’t stand for a device that would allow their people to talk about anything they damn well please. When the Luxembourg-based company brought Skype to China in 2004 they had to create a special version of the software with filters that block text chats containing politically sensitive words.

Of course, China would lose the respect of other intrusive regimes if they merely filtered out naughty words. A report released in 2008 by the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, which researches how digital media impacts human rights, showed that China goes far beyond simple filtering. Messages containing sensitive keywords, such as “Taiwan independence” and the dissident group name “Falun Gong,” are uploaded and stored on servers in China. The report also adds that “many of the captured messages contain words that are too common for extensive logging, suggesting that there may be criteria, such as specific usernames, that determine whether messages are captured by the system.”

Read all @ singularityhub.com