Arms Sales to Undemocratic Regimes Thru the Roof.

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Hypocritical U.S. fight for 'freedom'

Bush arms repressive regimes, sends guns to nations in conflict, ties aid to support of America's terror war

BY WILLIAM D. HARTUNG AND FRIDA BERRIGAN

June 13, 2005

Despite President George W. Bush's vow to promote freedom and democracy around the world, U.S. arms sales policy is doing just the opposite.

Most major recipients of U.S. arms sales in the developing world are undemocratic, as defined by our own State Department. And U.S.-supplied weaponry is present in a majority of the world's active conflicts.

The Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush administrations were no strangers to the policy of transferring U.S. arms to dictators, but this trend has intensified dramatically under the administration of George W. Bush.

Perhaps no single policy is more at odds with President Bush's pledge to "end tyranny in our world" than the United States' role as the world's leading arms-exporting nation. Although arms sales are often justified on the basis of their purported benefits, from securing access to overseas military facilities to rewarding coalition partners, these alleged benefits often come at a high price.

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1. Meanwhile in Uzbekistan...

Meanwhile, the tens of millions of U.S. arms transfers to Uzbekistan exemplify the negative consequences of arming repressive regimes.

Uzbek protesters ran gauntlet of death

By Alex Rodriguez
Tribune foreign correspondent
Published June 13, 2005

KARA DARYA, Kyrgyzstan -- By late afternoon May 13, talks had stalled between Uzbekistan authorities and armed demonstrators inside a government building in Andijan. Speaking by phone to the gunmen, a top law-enforcement official used an Uzbek proverb to foretell the government's next move:

"Your eyes will soon see what befalls you."

Shortly afterward, gun-mounted armored personnel carriers raced up to Babur Square outside the building, where thousands more demonstrators were rallying against the trial of 23 local businessmen on Islamic extremism charges. Without warning, Uzbek soldiers opened fire on the crowd, survivors said.

Every other street leading from the square already had been blocked by military vehicles and soldiers. Uzbek authorities left only one way out: Chulpon Prospekt, Andijan's main thoroughfare.

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Uzbekistan's Growing Police State

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2. U.S. Opposed Calls at NATO for Probe of Uzbek Killings

U.S. Opposed Calls at NATO for Probe of Uzbek Killings

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.

British and other European officials had pushed to include language calling for an independent investigation in a communique issued by defense ministers of NATO countries and Russia after a daylong meeting in Brussels on Thursday. But the joint communique merely stated that "issues of security and stability in Central Asia, including Uzbekistan," had been discussed.

The outcome obscured an internal U.S. dispute over whether NATO ministers should raise the May 13 shootings in Andijan at the risk of provoking Uzbekistan to cut off U.S. access to a military air base on its territory.

The communique's wording was worked out after what several knowledgeable sources called a vigorous debate in Brussels between U.S. defense officials, who emphasized the importance of the base, and others, including State Department representatives at NATO headquarters, who favored language calling for a transparent, independent and international probe into the killings of Uzbekistan civilians by police and soldiers.

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