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Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to
search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts
Vol. V, No.
15
May 22- 28, 2005 Quezon City, Philippines |
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Copyright 2004 Bulatlat bulatlat@gmail.com |
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Oil and
gas ensure that the US backs the Uzbek dictator to the hilt
By Craig Murray
British
Ambassador to Uzbekistan, 2002-4
The
Guardian
The bodies of hundreds of pro-democracy protesters in Uzbekistan are
scarcely cold, and already the White House is looking for ways to
dismiss them. The White House spokesman Scott McClellan said those
shot dead in the city of Andijan included "Islamic terrorists"
offering armed resistance. They should, McClellan insists, seek
democratic government "through peaceful means, not through
violence".
But how? This is not Georgia, Ukraine or even Kyrgyzstan. There, the
opposition parties could fight elections. The results were fixed,
but the opportunity to propagate their message brought change. In
Uzbek elections on December 26, the opposition was not allowed to
take part at all.
And there is no media freedom. On Saturday morning, when Andijan had
been leading world news bulletins for two days, most people in the
capital, Tashkent, still had no idea anything was happening. Nor are
demonstrations in the capital tolerated. On December 7 a peaceful
picket at the gates of the British embassy was broken up with great
violence, its victims including women and children. So how can
Uzbeks pursue democracy by "peaceful means"?
Take the 23 businessmen whose trial for "Islamic extremism" sparked
recent events. Had the crowd not sprung them from jail, what would
have awaited them? The conviction rate in criminal and political
trials in Uzbekistan is over 99% - in President Karimov's torture
chambers, everyone confesses.
But the torture by no means ends on conviction. In prison there is
torture to make you sign a recantation of faith and declaration of
loyalty to the president. And there is torture to make you sign
evidence implicating "accomplices". It was at this stage that the
infamous boiling to death of Muzafar Avazov and Husnidin Alimov took
place in Jaslik prison in 2002. I expect the government will take
care that the 23, if not already dead, die in the mopping up.
You may think I exaggerate. Read the 2002 report by Professor Theo
van Boven, the UN special rapporteur on torture, in which he
denounced torture in Uzbekistan as "widespread and systemic". Human
Rights Watch last year produced a book with more than 300 pages of
case studies. One of the uses of Uzbek torture is to provide the CIA
and MI6 with "intelligence" material linking the Uzbek opposition
with Islamist terrorism and al-Qaida. The information is almost
entirely bogus, and it was my efforts to stop MI6 using it that led
ultimately to my effective dismissal from the Foreign Office.
The information may be untrue, but it is valuable because it feeds
into the US agenda. Karimov is very much George Bush's man in
central Asia. There is not a senior member of the US administration
who is not on record saying warm words about Karimov. There is not a
single word recorded by any of them calling for free elections in
Uzbekistan.
And it's not just words. In 2002, the US gave Uzbekistan over $500m
inaid, including $120m in military aid and $80m in security aid. The
level has declined - but not nearly as much as official figures seem
to show (much is hidden in Pentagon budgets after criticism of the
2002 figure).
The airbase opened by the US at Khanabad is not essential to
operations in Afghanistan, its claimed raison d'être. It has a more
crucial role as the easternmost of Donald Rumsfeld's "lily pads" -
air bases surrounding the "wider Middle East", by which the Pentagon
means the belt of oil and gas fields stretching from the Middle East
through the Caucasus and
central Asia.
A key component of this strategic jigsaw fell into place this spring
when US firms were contracted to build a pipeline to bring central
Asia's hydrocarbons out through Afghanistan to the Arabian sea. That
strategic interest explains the recent signature of the US-Afghan
strategic partnership agreement, as well as Bush's strong support
for Karimov.
So the Uzbek people can keep on dying. They are not worth a lot of
cash, so who cares? I travelled to Andijan a year ago to meet the
opposition leaders, and kept in touch. I can give you a direct
assurance that they are - or in many cases were - in no sense
Islamist militants. They died an unwanted embarrassment to
US
foreign policy. We will doubtless hear some pious hypocrisies from
Jack Straw. But when I was seeking funding to support the
proto-democrats, the Foreign Office turned me down flat.
The US will fund "human
rights" training in Uzbekistan but not help for the democratic
opposition, in contrast to its policy elsewhere in the former Soviet
Union. When Jon Purnell, the US ambassador, last year attended the
opening of a human rights centre in the Ferghana valley, he
interrupted a local speaker criticising repression.
Political points,
Purnell opined, were not allowed.
The western news agenda has moved the dead of Andijan from the "democrat"
to the "terrorist" pile. Karimov remains in power. The White House will be
happy. That's enough for No 10.
Craig Murray was British ambassador to Uzbekistan from 2002 to 2004
www.craigmurray.co.uk
Monday May 16, 2005
Reposted by
Bulatlat
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