Uh-oh...
Victor Lebedev, Air Bas' general manager, was identified two years ago by U.S. officials as a Bout operative. He confirmed in an interview that his firm's planes had flown into Balad four times in October, carrying supplies for KBR, the Halliburton subsidiary.
Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall said KBR had hired Falcon Express Cargo, a Dubai-based freight company. Falcon, in turn, subcontracted with Air Bas to haul the KBR cargo, Hall said. She said KBR is no longer using Falcon.
"KBR had no knowledge of a relationship between Falcon and Air Bas, and if we had known, we would have terminated the contract," she said.