The Devil We Know

The UK's former ambassador to the hellhole known as Uzbekistan says Tony Blair's Foreign Office "is now seeking to block" his forthcoming tell-all, specifically by suppressing some of his diplomatic cables that criticized the Labour Government's acceptance of intelligence gained by Uzbek torture. He has now posted those correspondences online.

Comments

[thoreau]

Do the Uzbek's really torture people? Or do they simply subject them to humiliating, cruel, painful, degrading, uncomfortable, but not life threatening conditions?

There's a difference, you know. Or at least that's what everybody keeps telling me.

[thoreau]

I have no idea why I put an apostrophe on Uzbek to make it plural. My apologies.

[Ed]

T, your definition could also apply to prison and some H&R threads.

[R C Dean]

Not to mention staff meetings. I have definitely been in some conference rooms where uncomfortable and humiliating things were happening.

[quasibill]

"Not to mention staff meetings. I have definitely been in some conference rooms where uncomfortable and humiliating things were happening."

Yep, that would get a hearty round of applause at the local Communist Party HQ - equating a situation which you chose to put yourself into (your job) with a situation you were placed in at gunpoint.

After all, your boss merely exploits you...

[Rich Ard]

Don't be a buzzkill, dude.

[joe]

Not a single Iraq dove - not a single one - has ever provided to Saddam Hussein 1/100th the level of support that this administration gives to Karimov.

George Bush voted in favor of secret police and torture rooms before he voted against them.

Don't give this "spreading democracy" bullshit.

[Eric II]

Not a single Iraq dove - not a single one - has ever provided to Saddam Hussein 1/100th the level of support that this administration gives to Karimov.

Gave to Karimov, perhaps, but US-Uzbek ties have soured considerably in recent months. Following the Bush Administration's demand for an international inquiry regarding the Andijan massacre, Karimov suspended all anti-terrorism cooperation with the US and demanded that the US military vacate its base in Uzbekistan, which it's in the process of doing. Karimov has also bolstered his ties with Russia and China, neither of whom could care less if he carries out another Andijan - hell, the Chinese might give him pointers.

None of this is to say that the Administration was wrong in (belatedly) getting tougher on Karimov, but you can't say they've just turned a blind eye to his behavior in the name of retaining military and anti-terrorism support.

[Ken Hagler]

Keep in mind that the US "demand" only happened _after_ Murray's story first came out. The Feds did turn a blind eye until they were forced by the new publicity to scuttle for political cover, like cockroaches when the lights are turned on.

[SR]

Once, my car wouldn't start because Uzbeks drank the battery dry. (1000 points toward the purchase of a Reason t-shirt to the first poster to get the reference.)

[anodyne]

From the old SCTV?