Uzbekistan massacre follow-up

US Administration sets limits on how much Central Asian people can yearn in the era of Bush-inspired democratic movements

Via Atrios, I see the Washington Post is reporting today that

Defense officials from Russia and the United States last week helped block a new demand for an international probe into the Uzbekistan government's shooting of hundreds of protesters last month, according to U.S. and diplomatic officials.

This is an utterly amazing news story. Here is another snip from it:

One official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss the matter, said Rumsfeld caused great surprise by saying -- after being told in this discussion that the British language was consistent with stated U.S. policy and should be embraced -- that he was unaware of the policy, had not participated in meetings about it and did not want to press for its inclusion in the communique.

The communique nixed by Rumsfeld would have endorsed a ``independent, transparent'' international investigation into the Andijan massacre carried out by Uzbek forces one month ago. Evidently, the Pentagon has gone to war and prevailed over the State Department over US policy. Terror War basing in Uzbekistan has come out more important than human beings and their political rights.

How Myers kept the aid flowing last year
Here's yet another good one from the same story:

A senior State Department official, who called The Washington Post at the Defense Department's request, denied any "split of views." But other government officials depicted this week's spat over the communique as a continuation of frictions that erupted last summer, when then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell would not certify that Uzbekistan had met its human rights obligations. The decision led to a cutoff of $18 million for U.S. training for Uzbekistan's military forces.

Weeks later, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, and criticized that decision as "very shortsighted"; he also announced that the United States would give $21 million for another purpose -- bioterrorism defense.

Myers and Rumsfeld deserve to be brought up on charges for courting the criminal Karimov regime in contravention of all decency.

HRW lays it out
Meanwhile, a new report on Uzbekistan has been issued by Human Rights Watch. HRW's report ``details the Uzbek government’s indiscriminate use of lethal force against unarmed people, describes government efforts to silence witnesses, and places the events against the background of Uzbekistan’s worsening human rights record.''

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)