The Lord of War comes to the U.S.

[MT2008]

Originally Posted by BurtReynoldsMoustache

The rules apply to Mr. FFL because he is a United States citizen operating within the United States of America. Bout is a Russian citizen operating almost everywhere except the United States, and even then he still did business with the United States government with their full knowledge of who he was and what he did.

I know that. It's a metaphor. I assumed you were doing the same when you compared Bout to an American FFL in the first place?

Anyway, there are international laws regulating arms sales, too. Not all of Bout's sales violated internationl law, but some did - including the sale of RPGs and SAMs to Marxist FARC rebels, which is what he's being charged with. FARC is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., EU, and many other countries, which means that selling them weapons is illegal. Especially since we have him on record telling his "customers" that the weapons he had to offer them would be ideal for shooting down U.S. Black Hawk helicopters.

The bottom line is, if you sell weapons to people who you know are prohibited from owning them, you get in trouble. This is true in both U.S. and international law. That's what Bout did, and that's why he's facing charges.

Originally Posted by BurtReynoldsMoustache

I guess the thing that bothers me is not that they're going after him, but that Bout is being handled by the civilian criminal justice system. I find the implications of the government claiming jurisdiction over the entire world to be quite chilling. I don't see any reason why this couldn't be handled the old fashioned way.

What do you mean by "the old fashioned way"?

Bout is going through the American criminal justice system because he was caught in a DEA operation, and charged by the DoJ. If he had been caught by someone else (Interpol, for instance), he would have gone through the appropriate system. But we caught him, so we get to prosecute him.