Arms dealer reportedly flew into Iraq

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 (UPI) -- An arms trafficker wanted by the U.S. government received $60 million for moving supplies into Iraq for the U.S. military, a new book says.

"Merchant of Death: Money, Guns, Plans, and the Man Who Makes War Possible" by Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun is the story of Viktor Bout, ABC News reports. Bout, who made millions of dollars after the fall of the Soviet Union selling Soviet weapons to third-world countries, lives in Moscow.

Farah, a former reporter for The Washington Post, and Braun, a former reporter for the Los Angeles Times, say Bout-owned planes made 1,000 trips to Iraq between 2003 and 2005 for Pentagon contractors. Some of the flights were made after President George Bush signed an executive order banning the U.S. government and its contractors from dealings with Bout.

In 2001, Bout, who had previously supplied arms to the Taliban, offered to help the United States get rid of the Taliban and find Osama bin Laden.