500 killed by Uzbek regime

President Bush: ``All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you.'' (January 20, 2005)


President Bush chums with Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov in March 2002 for signing of the U.S.-Uzbek Declaration on the Strategic Partnership and Cooperation Framework.

Today the news from Uzbekistan is stark following the massacre of hundreds in the City of Andijan:

Andijan city centre and especially Babur Square were awash with the blood of men and women, young and old, who had come out, for the first time in many long years of oppression, to express their discontent with the regime’s policies. The blood of children was spilled there, too.

Body parts, brains and other internal organs along with personal items and children’s shoes were scattered within a radius of two to three kilometres of the square where the shooting began.

There were still 30 dead bodies on the square itself, and near the monument to Babur – the local boy who invaded India and founded the Moghul dynasty – lay ten more which people had collected together.

Men and women cried as they surveyed the scene.

``To the government, we’re just dirt. They don’t regard us as human beings,'' said one of the women.

Eyewitnesses claimed that more than 1,500 people were killed by government bullets, although the nearest thing to an accurate estimate came from a local doctor who saw 500 bodies.

There is evidence to suggest that government security forces carried out deliberate extrajudicial killings once the mass shooting was over. The initial assault by security forces began when a convoy of armoured vehicles raked the crowd, estimated at 10,000-15,000, with gunfire without even stopping to take aim.

Thanks to the excellent Ruth Group for that link. See more here.

White House spokesman McClellan receives the Outrageous Irony of the Year Lost on Most Americans Award for this:

The people of Uzbekistan want to see a more representative and democratic government, but that should come through peaceful means, not through violence.

Deep Blade Journal carried some extended comments on Uzbekistan with many links on November 10, 2003. Also see The Memory Hole for photos of an amazing array of US officials warmly greeting their Uzbek counterparts.