National Correspondent for the Los Angeles Times
National correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, based in Washington, and author of Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Planes, and the Man Who Makes War Possible
PROFILE
Stephen Braun
Guest
FROM Stephen Braun
To the Point
'Merchant of Death' May Be Responsible for Missing Weapons in Iraq In the 1990's, Victor Bout was a target of US intelligence, which wanted to end his role in illegal arms traffic worldwide. But even after public revelations about his notorious activities, Bout became a weapons contractor for the Pentagon. In 2004, four of Bout's planes were supposed to ship 99 tons of AK-47's and other weapons from Bosnia to Iraq. There's no record they ever got there. Stephen Braun of the Los Angeles Times is co-author of Merchant of Death : Money, Guns, Planes and the Man Who Makes War Possible.
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