Uzbek Ministries in Crackdown Received U.S. Aid -NYT

[Rose Siding]

Uzbek law enforcement and security ministries implicated by witnesses in the deadly crackdown in the city of Andijon last month have for years received training and equipment from counterterrorism programs run by the United States, according to American officials and Congressional records.

The security aid, provided by several United States agencies, has been intended in part to improve the abilities of soldiers and law enforcement officers from the Uzbek intelligence service, military and Ministry of Internal Affairs, the national law enforcement service. Besides equipment aid, at least hundreds of special forces soldiers and security officers, many of whom fight terrorism, have received training.

Witnesses and American officials say the Uzbek Army, law enforcement and intelligence service were all present at the crackdown. Among them was a special Internal Affairs counterterrorism unit known as Bars, which has two or three members who trained in a course sponsored by the State Department for crisis-response commanders in Louisiana in 2004, according to the State Department.

It is not clear whether these specific officers were present in Andijon, although their unit was. Several United States officials said they had no evidence that any of the hundreds of individual troops or security officers with American training took part in the violence. At the same time, however, they said they were not certain that no American-trained personnel were present.

http://nytimes.com/2005/06/18/international/asia/18uzbekistan.html?hp&ex=1119067200&en=ba66e563da568dd2&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[maddezmom]

1. not surprising, but disgusting

:mad: No wonder we don't want an UN investigation?

[vogonjiltz]

2. Democracy is on the march

[Up2Late]

3. O.K. Let's see if the White House denial sounds familiar?

For some reason, this New York Times article isn't in the International Herald Tribune (the International version of the NYT), but this is a slightly different version of this article from the IHT. Hummm, Why would they be different?:

U.S. policy challenged after Uzbek bloodshed

By Thom Shanker and C.J. Chivers The New York Times

FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2005
WASHINGTON The bloody crushing of a prison break and antigovernment protest in Uzbekistan has forced the Bush administration into a complicated balancing act between two of its most prized goals: democratization and counterterrorism.

When soldiers opened fire into crowds on May 13 in Andijon, the deaths brought worldwide outrage, including sharp criticism from administration figures, as well as questions from the U.S. Congress and human rights groups about American military training programs in the Central Asian republic.

The question posed by the violence is one that has faced administrations, Democrat and Republican, when they sought to make common political or military cause with states governed by authoritarian rulers: Can an ally go too far?

Pentagon officials say they have found no evidence to indicate that American military training had been extended to any of the Uzbek forces involved in the violence on May 13.

(more at the link above)

(Someone needs to tell the Pentagon they really need to try a little harder to find evidence.)

[Algomas]

4. My first question: Were American military personnel directly involved?

My second question: Is this kind of "security" coming to my neck of the woods?

[Robeson]

5. These hoodlums are our hoodlums. Is this surprising?....

...not to me.

[saigon68]

6. THEY ARE THUGS AND HOODLUMS

i Wonder if they used Lynndie's trick of tying used Menstrual pads to the faces of prisoners?

[eridani]

7. If Karimov ever shuts down our bases--

--whaddya wanna bet that we'll have to go and save those poor people from "the Butcher of Tashkent."?