Comments on: Lord of War

Lord of War

homunculus — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 11:58:08 -0800

Busting the Merchant of War. "The Bush administration finally nails a notorious supplier to terrorists—after he spent 30 years hiding in plain sight." [Via Disinformation.]

By: homunculus

homunculus — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:07:19 -0800

Arms Trade—a major cause of suffering

By: Pastabagel

Pastabagel — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:10:51 -0800

From the article: Over lunch at his estate in the south of Spain, 61-year-old Syrian arms dealer Monzer al-Kassar is a courteous host, insisting his guests take at least a taste from the platter of lamb with yoghurt, the stuffed grape leaves or the eggplant. Underneath the circular table, his ageing white poodle Yogui begs for scraps. Why do all storieslike this about arms dealers, or drug kingpins, slave traders etc, always begin by portraying the person as some aristocratic gentleman? It's like they are trying to conform the reality of the person to meet our expectations of what these criminals are like, which is in turn shaped by the movies. This article, and others like it, read like celebrity profiles. Anyone who is involved in gun running is usually a thug. They can dress well, live in luxury, and they are still thugs. You don't move in the circles necessary to be a success in that business unless you are a thug.

By: growabrain

growabrain — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:16:12 -0800

But still doing business with Victor Bout...

By: ninjew

ninjew — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:16:29 -0800

Ok, perhaps they can look a little closer to home to bust the next war criminal/terrorist. I think he also lives in a large, heavily secured mansion. But he's not usually mistaken for anything resembling an aristocratic gentleman.

By: namespan

namespan — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:19:28 -0800

after he spent 30 years hiding in plain sight Which means that Clinton did nothing, nothing, to address this. If Bush hadn't had to spend so much time cleaning up after his messes...

By: quin

quin — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:22:33 -0800

But what Kassar didn't realize was that the men he was talking to weren't from the FARC at all. They were confidential informants, secretly working for the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office and New York officials with the Drug Enforcement Administration. Spokespeople with the U.S. Attorney's office refused to comment for this story, but according to the indictment they prepared, the feds spent a year inventing a nonexistent conspiracy to arm Colombian rebels, establishing their informants' radical bona fides with Kassar, and setting up New York bank accounts with which to lure him in. For the next four months, they allegedly convinced Kassar to set in motion an elaborate multinational scheme to defraud port officials around the world and deliver high-powered weapons into the hands of a paramilitary force bent on murdering as many Americans as they could. That's some crazy deep-cover work. Are we sure this isn't viral marketing for Miami Vice 2?

By: elpapacito

elpapacito — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:23:15 -0800

Which means that Bush Senior did nothing, nothing, to address this, but he had to clean up after Regan mess !

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:27:14 -0800

This is great news! Now we can go after that fucking sonofabitch who sold Saddam those chemical weapons...

By: Mayor Curley

Mayor Curley — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:27:23 -0800

It's only okay to provide weapons to violent insurgents if they're right-wing. FARC bad, AUC and Contras good.

By: boo_radley

boo_radley — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:29:55 -0800

pastabagel -- I suspect it's because the arms dealer won't read past the first paragraph, and thus the writer gets to stay amongst the living. If these articles lead with "A vicious bastard who once hit an orphan with a three legged dog, john q drugrunner barely qualifies as human. A lack of morals and humanity informs his every actions, and he eats fast food continually", I suspect the journo in question would be shortlisted for a nasty surprise.

By: namespan

namespan — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 12:48:24 -0800

Well, naturally, Reagan left a mess, with all the work Reagan had to do cleaning up after Carter.

By: facetious

facetious — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 14:03:09 -0800

They finally arrested Cheney? Rock on!

By: shmegegge

shmegegge — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 14:50:36 -0800

Is namespan for real? I can't tell if it's a joke. If it's not, I'd be interested in hearing about namespan's personal knowledge of the activities of the DEA and ATF agencies during clinton's administration. also bush senior's and reagan's.

By: Skeptic

Skeptic — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 14:55:43 -0800

"Hiding in plain sight" is a bit of an understatement. Al-Kassar is notoriously ostentatious and a bit of a celebrity in Spain, where he has been linked with almost every shady deal since the eighties. Actually, it's a bit surprising that his arrest has made so little noise. That may have something to do with the general downfall of the whole Marbella set.

By: bardic

bardic — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 15:06:47 -0800

The US sells more arms to other countries than any independent operator. Just sayin'.