WASHINGTON — The State Department circulated a list of nine air companies linked to reputed arms trafficker Victor Bout in June, warning diplomatic posts against hiring the firms. But the Defense Department, which oversees most of the massive military contracts in Iraq, made no similar effort to warn its agencies, officials said Friday.
Planes flown by four firms suspected of ties to the Russian businessman's aviation network landed in Baghdad at least 195 times over the last year, government documents show. The flights operated under military contracts. Defense officials took action against two of the firms in August, but freighters owned by those firms still flew into Iraq as late as November under contracts with other defense agencies, U.S. officials and an executive of one of the firms said.
The State Department list was the only known action taken by a U.S. government agency to warn contracting officials against using specific air cargo firms tied to Bout. Critics asked why the Defense Department had not circulated its own list and expressed concern about an apparent lack of coordination between the State and Defense departments.
The Treasury Department, meanwhile, publicly targeted Bout in July by ordering his assets frozen, but did not name any of his companies.
Bout's aviation network has been accused by United Nations and U.S. officials of arms embargo violations in Africa and also reportedly aided the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Defense officials acknowledged Friday that the department had made no broad attempt to duplicate State's warning list or to share it with military contractors. A spokesman said the Pentagon did not supervise the dozens of air cargo and passenger subcontractors that have been hired by the U.S. military to transport supplies and reconstruction materiel.
"We don't track the subcontractors," said Glenn Flood, a Defense spokesman. "That's why we wouldn't have a list."
Defense moved against suspected Bout firms Air Bas and British Gulf International in August, rescinding government credentials they had used to obtain fuel at military installations in Iraq. In September, the Air Force pressed Federal Express to stop using Air Bas for cargo flights, and it agreed.
Bout, contacted by phone this week in Moscow, declined to respond in detail to questions about his relations with the firms.
"You are not dealing with facts. You are dealing with allegations," he said.
