Village Voice: [UAE] Ports: All 'Bout a Dealer Named Bout

[paulthompson]

Yet another wrinkle about the UAE's criminal ties comes out in the wake of this port deal:

Ports: All 'Bout a Dealer Named Bout

A Russian arms merchant funnels money, guns, and dope through the United Arab Emirates

by James Ridgeway

WASHINGTON, D.C.—To hear the administration and its supporters talk, you'd think the workers in New York ports are carefully vetted by the Waterfront Commission, the ports themselves protected by the ever watchful Coast Guard, and routinely surveilled by U.S. Customs.

In truth,one administration after another has slashed the operational capability of the Coast Guard. Reagan even contemplated its privatization by a major defense firm. As for the Customs Service, it inspects as little as 5 percent of the cargo going through the New York ports.

This is a dream setup for any arms or dope dealer, and that's exactly what the United Arab Emirates is all about.The ties between its top officials and royal family with the Taliban and Al Qaeda go back at least a decade.

http://villagevoice.com/news/0609,ridgeway,72294,2.html

---

The Village Voice article also did a piece yesterday on the UAE government and their ties to al-Qaeda:

Dubai's Port of No Return

Don't jump to conclusions, but there are ties between the UAE, bin Laden, and the Taliban

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0609,ridgeway,72286,2.html

I'm happy to say my research is referenced heavily in both, and quoted extensively in the second piece. Check them out!

[leftchick]

1. another one of our friends in the war on terra

they really do think we are stupid I swear!

[radfringe]

39. CNN yesterday

had a Dubai Port's guy on trying to explain security steps they already and will take.

My immediate thought was "where's the Dubai press person?" - because the Dubai spokes person was dressed in traditional garb, robe, head dress and all... He looked like what people think of as a poster child for al-qeada...

A hooded and robed KKK spokes person talking about equality between the races would have had better luck reassuring the public.

so much for fashion critique - the spokesperson said nothing you wouldn't expect coming out of any other executive's mouths when they are trying to defend a company.

[RazzleDazzle]

2. Fabulous, Paul, just fabulous

It's good to see you back here -- I've missed you. I'm a real fan and admirer of your work.

[StrafingMoose]

3. Which aspect of this controversy do you find

the most important ? The economic one (ie: selling out America) or the national security/terrorism one ?

I'd vote for the former, since as shown on 9/11, whoever "they" were, they didn't need ports to do it.

[paulthompson]

5. Neither

To me, it's not about the port security per se, or the economics, it's about the hypocrisy. The Bush administration says "you're either with us or you're with the terrorists," but the fact of the matter is, they frequently deal with the devil for a variety of reasons, and assume the complacent media and public will never pick up on the contradictions. Finally this port deal has struck a chord, but the deal is hardly unique. Look at this Victor Bout character, for instance. He's the world's number one illegal arms dealer, easily one of the top five most wanted criminals in the world, a guy who has provided huge support to al-Qaeda. Yet time and time again, until today, the US military chooses him for transportation contracts with the US military in Iraq.

How can this compute? How can the Bush administration be going after the "bad guys" and doing business with them at the same time? Yet it does. This same story plays out over and over with the Saudis in particular, where we know Saudi money and even official Saudi government-run charities like the IIRO or MWL are prime funders for terrorist groups, yet the US doesn't put any real pressure on them to stop the money flow. In Afghanistan, the US has basically turned the country over to warlords whose main revenue is opium and heroin, and the US has ordered the US and UN troops there not to interfere with the drug trade in any way. Some estimate that the drug profits coming out of Afghanistan today are the biggest funding source for al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. In Pakistan, the US has turned a blind eye to that government's support of terrorism. There are literally hundreds of terrorist training camps in Pakistan, many of them al-Qaeda run, and again the US government doesn't seem to care.

Over and over again, the Bush administration says they're fighting terrorism while having close relations with the very governments that most support terrorist groups. Meanwhile, the US has boldly gone off and attacked the wrong countries like Iraq, and Gitmo and other prisons get mostly filled with people who have nothing to do with al-Qaeda at all.

So it's the hypocrisy that most disturbs me.

[StrafingMoose]

12. Agreed.

That coupled with the other CNN story about the 2nd head of the Pentagon basically saying that you're a terrorist threat if you oppose the deal shows how widespread that hyporicsy can be troughtout all layers of governement.

[leesa]

30. It's not hypocrisy. Bush and company ARE the terrorists. They go after

the ones that interrupt their game. They are quite consistant about this. It's just that who they define as a terrorist on teevee is not who they really see as the terrorist. Anyone trying to interrupt their crime syndicate is a terrorist. For instance, Saddam became a terrorist because he was going to change from the dollar to the Euro...big trade impact...would have killed us in the marketplace. Obviously we didn't give a flying fuck how many Iraqis he killed or tortured because we are doing the exact same thing to them now.

[paulthompson]

4. Here's some more on Victor Bout

The below is from Douglas Farah's blog. Farah is a Washington Post reporter who is on leave to write a book about Bout. Incredibly, Bout, the world's biggest illegal arms dealer and long time al-Qaeda ally, has been getting contacts to supply the US military in Iraq for several years now, and these contracts continue despite periodic news reports pointing them out. The UAE is in the center of all this, since Bout uses that country as his hub. But here's Farah:

The UAE and Viktor Bout

One way to determine how a person or entity will act in the future is to see how they have acted in the past. As the debate over the UAE ownership of ports heats up, it is worth looking at how the leaders there have handled another important security issue related to radical Islamic terrorism—Viktor Bout. The response is deeply troubling.

Viktor Bout, the world’s largest illegal weapons dealer, made $50 million selling weapons to the Taliban, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. He continues to feed murder and mayhem across Africa by selling weapons to rogue regimes and nonstate actors. And he continues to maintain several dozen aircraft, registered to different and constantly changing companies, IN THE UAE—one of only three countries in the world to recognize the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Bout and 30 of his companies are designated by the U.S. Treasury Department and the United Nations Sanctions, meaning every country is bound to freeze the assets of those companies and individuals. Yet the UAE has made no move to go after Bout’s aircraft, even though one of his designated companies, IRBIS, continues to fly openly, and has not even bothered to change its name. His aircraft sit on the runways of Sharjah, and his pilots continue to fly daily from there, including recent flights for the U.S. military and its contractors.

The United States, for the past EIGHT YEARS has been asking the UAE to crack down on Bout’s illicit activities there, with no results. The latest high-level U.S. delegation was in UAE last week, asking the rulers to please shut down IRBIS, as required by UN charter. The answer was that the rulers would continue to study the issue.

Not a very auspicious way of handling a know aider and abettor of terrorist organizations, one with an outstanding Interpol red notice and one designated by the United Nations. It does not build confidence in the ability of UAE rulers to handle future problems. One of the reasons is that Bout has a partnership with a member of the UAE’s ruling family, a prince who ran an airline with him and has reportedly helped insure that Bout’s operations are untouchable. If it happens with Bout, one can only imagine other terrorists with business or family connections receiving the same kind of protection, perhaps with deadlier results.

www.douglasfarah.com

For more on Bout working with the US in Iraq, check out this New Repubic article from last month:

http://www.globalpolicy.org/intljustice/wanted/2006/0112pentagon.htm

And for more on Bout in general, check out this New York Times article from 2003:

http://www.globalpolicy.org/intljustice/wanted/2003/0817arms.htm

[inphoman]

7. Where Is Paul Thompson Leading Us

"another important security issue related to radical Islamic terrorism"

Radical Islamic terrorists didn't wire the twin towers with explosives and demolish them cremating thousands alive in the process.


Radical Islamic terrorists weren't in control of the Media, the antiwar activists, the Kean Commission, the Democratic and Republican parties and the U.S. Military leaders that completely covered it up for 4 1/2 years.


Why does Paul focus our attention on foreigners when radical Islamic terrorists have never been the real issue. Paul Thompson should know better than to promote these distractions. I'm disappointed.

[blm]

8. Get real, the Islamists he references have been in BED w/ the Bush family

for decades. These people foment unrest for political purpose and enrichment for their families - the Islamists are used as the Christian leaders are used - The Bushes, the House of Saud, UAE and other financiers have been pulling this crap since they formed BCCI.

[paulthompson]

9. Exactly

The Bush administration does not operate in a complete vacuum. In a case like this, the emphasis should be on the TIES between the Bush administration and criminal elements overseas. If you think there are no criminal elements overseas, terrorist or otherwise, in the Muslim world or elsewhere, you need to do some more reading. There are, and as the Victor Bout case so clearly illustrates, the Bush adminstration has disturbing ties with some of them. Does this take the heat off the Bush administration in any way? No! Just the opposite, it highlights the wrongdoing of the Bush administration.

[cascadiance]

11. It brings back and underscores letting the Bin Ladens and

... other members of the Saudi royal family leave the country via plane when none of the rest of us could fly after 9/11. Being of middle eastern descent lowers your rights in this country with changes given by the Patriot Act and places like Guantanamo, UNLESS you're rich and buddies with "Il Duce" Bush. Then you have MORE rights, power, and privileges instead of less than the average person. That's where the rest of us are headed too, not just folks from Middle Eastern countries...

[blm]

18. Huge difference in the way Muslims in US are treated and Mideastern Royals

who have been cozy with the Bush family for about 5 decades.

[inphoman]

25. Bush Is Just A Puppet

"If you think there are no criminal elements overseas, terrorist or otherwise, in the Muslim world or elsewhere, you need to do some more reading. "

If you don't already know that the important elements belong to NATO Intelligence, and that any independent elements are inconsequential start here:

http://www.voltairenet.org/article133909.html

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=theme&themeId=18

"Does this take the heat off the Bush administration in any way? No! Just the opposite, it highlights the wrongdoing of the Bush administration."

Stop pointing our attention to the expendable puppets in the White house and start talking about real issues. "Bush this" and "Bush that" is misleading and there are enough CIA controlled gatekeeper assets such as The Nation, NPR, The NY Times and Air America playing the fake left activist role. When these white house puppets are long gone, this fake war on terror will still be raging on the false premises of 9/11, Bin laden Zarqawi, Zawahiri, and the next false flag attack they are going to stage on us. 9/11 Synthetic Terror is a good place for anyone serious to start understanding how the game really works. www.tarpley.net

No more excuses in 06.

[anotherdrew]

6. this info, combined with the recent Gordon England quote make for treason.

We really honest to god have a cabal of evil fucks doing their damn best to ruin this country.

There's going to need to be a decade of investigations, "preventative detentions", and life-terms for some of these people once they're out of power.

As if the UAE were a trust-worthy ally. Just wait for the knife in the back folks...

[Catrina]

13. Treason, yes, but there are so many of them ~

Every time I think I have heard all there is to know about them, there's more ~ aside from anything else, why do they do it? How much money is ever going to be enough for them?

When I read the OP, my first thought was that I have come to believe there is no 'Al Queda' at all, at least none that cannot be controlled by these New World Order nutcases ~

I agree with you, it would take years to prosecute these crimes, to conduct investigations etc. but if that does happen, there should be no pardons this time ~ many of those who are now in this administration would have been safely in jail had Bush Sr. not pardoned them ~ we should learn a lesson from that ~

Hi Paul :hi: ~ it's a privilege to meet you ~ I have not yet read all of your work, but use it all the time for reference purposes ~

I have a question ~ is Congress aware of all that we who are online know, thanks to researchers and independent journalists, like you? Is the entire government complicit or are they powerless to do anything about it all, or maybe too scared? Is it too late to restore America and take it out of the hands of whoever is controlling it?

To me, the Port deal was stunning in the sense that it was all done in secret ~ that they set up their own Committee to approve it, and their own security agency to 'investigate' and conclude that there was no security risk, with Negroponte at the head of that 'obscure agency'.

The OSP out of which came all the fake info before the war, WHIG, all these shadow governments within the government ~ it really is frightening what they are up to. I guess my question is 'can they be stopped'? They don't seem to care about laws or the American people, or even Congress!

[paulthompson]

16. My take

I think very, very few Conresspeople know most of this information. There are a few, like Cynthia McKinney or John Conyers. Unfortunately, I think most don't want to know, and if they were told, they would not be moved. Why? Because it undercuts what they believe in and stand for. Ditto with most in the mainstream media. As an example, look at this Salon story about permanent military bases in Iraq:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2006/02/15/tomengelhardt/index_np.html

The bases are already built. Information about them is not hard to find; there's even been a story in the Washington Post. Yet Republicans, Democrats, and the mainstream media all pretend as if the bases don't exist. Why? Because most media outlets and Democrats support the Republican plan of US military domination of the Persian Gulf. They only differ in tactics and strategy. If Kerry had won in 2004, the US would still be in Iraq, with perhaps the war not run as disasterously. Like many issues, you only have a small number of Congresspeople, most of them black, who would actually oppose the existence of these permanent bases and demand a total withdrawal from Iraq. If you listen to the likes of John Murtha, he's not talking about a complete withdrawal from Iraq, he's talking about a withdrawal from the populated areas of Iraq. Obviously he knows about these bases deep in the desert and the implication is that he would want a withdrawal to these bases, but that's a great taboo that he does not mention directly.

Unfortunately, it's like this with so many issues these days. There are very few in power willing to point out the emperor has no clothes. The only solution is to vote them out, both the Republicans and the many DINOs (Democrats in name only).

[Generator]

22. Thank you again Paul for all your work

And keeping us sane when we see this disconnect between what's the reality in the world and what we are told is happening. Reading the article in Harper's magazine March issue on the case for impeachment of Bush (it's the cover story with not much really new to us but refreshing to see) and reading that Conyers is doing all his hard work even though he knows he has no subpeona powers but basically to do what you've done. A record of the real events.

Here's his quote:
"To take away the excuse, he said, that we didn't know. So that two or four or ten years from now, if somebody should ask, "Where were you, Coneyers, and where was the United States Congress?" when the Bush administration declared the Constitution inoperative and revoked the liscense of parliamentary government, none of the present can plead ignorance or temporary insanity, can say that "somehow it excaped our notice" the the President was setting himself up as as supreme leader exempt from the rule of the law.

They don't want to know, indeed. If they knew it would cause a massive upheaveal in their actions or if not, in their sanity to continue as if 'there is nothing to see here.'

[paulthompson]

32. Thanks

For the interesting quote. It's nice to see Conyers on the ball. I only wish there were more like him.

[bobthedrummer]

27. Then there is the proposed US Embassy deal in Baghdad

"Baghdad Embassy Bonanza: Kuwait Company's Secret Contract & Low-Wage Labor"
by David Phinney (CorpWatch)
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13258

[cascadiance]

10. Me and you and a dog named "Bout"...

[lumpy]

14. Kick

great info

[xchrom]

15. every time i hear the phrase ''we will not negotiate

with terrorists'' when it comes to the status quo and and certain radical arab factions -- i know it's a lie.

this administration does business -- like the reagan administration -- with radical characters all the time.

all to support it's own ends.

i want to thank you for pointing the way to where some of the lies are.

[blm]

19. Yeah - amazing that the news media lets them get away with it... yet again

.

[DoYouEverWonder]

26. They're all in it together

They protect each other because they have no choice anymore. It's either stand with Bush or go to jail.

[SpiralHawk]

17. k and r

Thanks Paul for all your important work,,,

[leftchick]

20. kick

:kick:

[sadiesworld]

21. K&R

[seemslikeadream]

23. Thanks Paul for everything you do

:hi:

Bout

[MellowOne]

24. It's beyond reason that Americans will go along with this n/t

[starroute]

28. I'd like to cross-post to another thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x511833

It's about Randi interviewing someone who found evidence of money-laundering (as well as dealings in drugs, arms, and sex) while auditing a UAE bank and has been trying ever since to get the word out.

To my surprise, when I looked at the book excerpt at the guest's own site, I found that one of the accounts his bank found concerning enough to close was that of San Air, one of Bout's companies.

All this stuff *really* needs to come out, and the sooner the better.

[paulthompson]

29. Thanks for that

That does look very interesting

[Massachusetts]

31. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree....

[bobthedrummer]

33. Confirmation about Viktor Bout and some other links to Dubai/Bush

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/

[trof]

34. Viktor Bout and the Pentagon:

(BTW, I found out his name is pronounced "Butt" in Russian. He is a former KGB Major.)

After years of prompting by the United Nations, President Bush issued an executive order in July 2004 making it illegal for any American person or institution to do business "directly or indirectly" with Charles Taylor's associates, including Bout. Nine months later, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (ofac) ordered the freezing of the U.S. assets of 30 Bout-related companies, along with those of his U.S.-based partner, his brother, and two other associates. The United Nations had already taken similar action against Bout, who has been wanted by Interpol since 2002 on an outstanding warrant for laundering the proceeds of illicit weapons sales.

Yet, remarkably, given this record and the international efforts to shut him down, Bout also counts among his clients the U.S. military and its contractors in Iraq, nato forces in Afghanistan, and the United Nations in Sudan. The New Republic has learned that the Defense Department has largely turned a blind eye to Bout's activities and has continued to supply him with contracts, in violation of the executive order and despite the fact that other, more legitimate air carriers are available. Revenues from these flights enable Bout to carry on the profitable business of nurturing conflicts in other, less covered parts of the world, threatening further international instability.
http://www.ruudleeuw.com/vbout32.htm

[bobthedrummer]

35. kick

[Up2Late]

36. Good, it's here. Time for a Kick for this important part of the UAE Story

<http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/030306_world_stories.shtml#5>

...The UAE is not only the center of financial dealings in the Persian Gulf, it is switching central for dope and arms dealing. The dope comes out of Afghanistan into the UAE where tax monies are collected and used to buy arms, which were sent back in for the Taliban. Some of this money is thought to have helped finance the 9-11 attacks. A money trail is set forth in the government's filings in the Moussaoui case.

Long at the center of this operation is the mysterious Russian arms dealer, Victor Bout. The U.N. has accused Bout of providing arms to brutal regimes in Sierra Leone, Angola and to Charles Taylor in Liberia. The Center for Public Integrity, a Washington, D.C. research organization that operates a network of foreign correspondents, published a report on Bout in January 2002, citing Belgian intelligence documents from before the 9-11 attacks it had obtained. These documents reportedly show Bout earned $50 million in profits from selling weapons to the Taliban after they came to power in the late 1990s. The Center states, "Another European intelligence source independently verified the sales, and intelligence documents from an African country in which Bout operates-obtained by the Center-claim that Bout ran guns for the Taliban 'on behalf of the Pakistan government.' " Peter Hain, the British Foreign Office Minister for Europe who has led the international effort to expose criminal networks behind the conflict diamonds and small arms trade in Africa, told the Center's reporters, it was clear that Bout's supply of weapons to the Taliban "and to its ally, Osama bin Laden" posed a real danger....

:kick:

[lovuian]

37. Well it is a good thing that this came out after all

its shows the UAE connections are all over...

[Clara T]

38. Dubai and the Straits of Hormuz

Dubai and the Straits of Hormuz

By Mike Whitney

03/05/06 "ICH" -- -- “If you want to understand the policy of a country, look at the map.” Napoleon Bonaparte

Geography is fate.

United Arab Emirates is located at the center of an oil-dependent world. This tiny state forms the promontory that juts out into the famed Straits of Hormuz through which 40% of the world’s oil passes every day. Across the narrow straights sits Iran, the next victim on the list of “axis of evil” nations. Any attack on Iran will require that military forces quickly deploy to Dubai to forestall the closing of the straits and the subsequent devastation that would cost to world oil supplies and financial markets.

This is the critical point which is being intentionally concealed by America’s diversionary media. This is the reason that President Bush continues to force the Dubai port-plan even though 70% of the American people and Congress resoundingly oppose it.

The importance of UAE as a staging area for future hostilities cannot be overstated. No military strategy can hope to succeed without first establishing a beachhead across the straits in Iran so that the danger of blowing up oil tankers and blocking passage is removed. This tells us that plans for an attack may be on track for late March as originally threatened by Israel.

For its part, Iran has been trying to work out an agreement for enriching uranium with Russia, although Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad still insists that the NPT provides an “inalienable right” for the peaceful development of nuclear fuel.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12202.htm