Terrorists in the Coalition of the Willing: The case of Uzbekistan
              (by Kaley Kennedy)

When George W. Bush first announced in March 2003 the countries that would support the United States in its invasion of Iraq, many critics noted that most of the countries had little or no militia or money to offer the US. This rather long list of mostly second and third world countries included Uzbekistan, a country of the former Soviet Union. Uzbekistan previously proved to be very useful when the US entered Afghanistan by allowing the US to use its air base. However, in the invasion of Iraq, Uzbekistan has not provided any significant contribution.

Having been given independence in 1991 through the fall of the Soviet Union, Uzbekistan's recent history has been wrought with difficulties. Their democratic transition has been far from successful. The current president, Islam Karimov, was elected in an election in 1991 under unclear circumstances. His term was extended under the terms of a 1995 referendum. In 2000, Karimov was re-elected, though western critics cited that the election was neither fair nor free. Uzbek officials were accused of using military intimidation and ballot tampering as a means to keep Karimov in office. Through another referendum in 2002, Karimov's term was extended until 2007. There are no plans for any new presidential elections before then.

In 1992, immediately following his induction into office, Karimov banned the Birlik and Erk (Freedom) parties and arrested large numbers of opposition party members for alleged anti-state activities. It would be three years before any of these opposition members saw trials. They were all sentenced to several years in prison, though there has been little proof that their actions warrant such punishment. Opposition members continue to be sought after and silenced. In the recent election in December 2004, in which members of the newly adopted bicameral parliament were chosen, there was little representation of any opposition parties. Most of those elected were part of Karimov's own political circle.

During the past four years, focus has fallen upon the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) in terms of direct opposition to the state. They were blamed for a bombing in Uzbekistan's capital, Tashkent, in 1999, and soon after declared jihad on Uzbekistan unless Karimov stepped down from his post as president. In 2001, matters escalated. Authorities incarcerated 73 people for up to 18 years for aiding Islamic extremists in its southern Surkhandarya region in 2000. In 2002, information surfaced indicating that Muzafar Avazov, an Islamic man detained by Uzbek security forces, was boiled alive.

Perhaps what is most disturbing about the acts of torture executed by the Uzbek government is the involvement of the Western world, especially Britain. The former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, indicated in a number of memos, one of which was leaked to the media in October 2004, that the British government must stop using the information acquired by Uzbek officials through torture. His requests were ignored completely from 2002 to 2004. When the media published Murray's memos, he was removed from his post immediately. Murray began to openly criticize the actions of the British government, and was consequently disciplined and soon after resigned.

In May 2005, the violence in Uzbekistan reached an all-time high. While protesting the incarceration of 23 local Islamic businessmen, hundreds of civilians were gunned down in the city of Andijan. Estimates of the number of dead vary widely. The Uzbek government claims 167 were killed, while Human Rights Watch puts the number at closer to 300. In addition to hundreds of deaths, the recent actions of the Uzbek government have forced many people to flee. Refugees are flooding into bordering Kyrgyzstan to escape religious persecution. Entire religious groups and human rights organizations are being charged with anti-constitutionalism and being imprisoned without trial.

Karimov publicly placed blame on the US and EU for causing the massacre. He claims that the Americans used their contacts in the Islamic extremist movements to spark the protest and drew media to the region to catch the effects. Karimov claims that his authorities were then just protecting their government from violent insurgents. The alleged motive is that most other countries do not agree with Uzbekistan's 'independent foreign policy.' Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown support for Karimov and has openly announced that the countries of the world must support Karimov if there is any hope for combating terrorism on the worldwide scale.

Perhaps, though, a better strategy for fighting worldwide terrorism would be to not support countries that engage in state-terrorism. The United States has claimed that the invasion of Iraq had nothing to do with oil, revenge, or any other reason besides saving the Iraqi people and ensuring Saddam Hussein did not have any Weapons of Mass Destruction. If that is true, then why is the US accepting support from a nation that employs the same tactics against its citizens as Hussein did? Why is it wrong for Saddam Hussein to capture opposition members and torture them, but acceptable for the Uzbek government to torture Muslims? How does a nation justify using intelligence it knows was gained through torture and then publicly decree that it is invading another country in order to stop torture?

There are no answers for these questions; they are just more examples of the hypocrisy of the United States and its 'Coalition of the Willing.' Terrorism can be defined as the systematic use of intense fear and violence especially as a means of coercion, though once again the line between terrorism and heroics has been blurred. By any means it is clear that the US is aligning itself with terrorists. How is the 'War on Terror' ever going to end when both sides are guilty of the act?

Sources

"Coalition Members." The White House. 21 Mar. 2003. 30 Jun. 2005. <http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030321-4.html>.

Gabuev, Aleksandr. "Vladimir Putin Justifies His Trust in Islam Karimov." Kommersant. 30 Jun. 2005. 30 Jun. 2005. << a href="http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?id=587878" target="_blank">http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?id=587878>.

"Uzbek crackdown a massacre." BBC News. 07 Jun. 2005. 29 Jun. 2005. < a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4617231.stm" target="_blank">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4617231.stm>.

"Uzbekistan." Wikipedia. 27 June 2005. 29 June 2005. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzbekistan>.

"Uzbekistan: Wider Crackdown Feared." Human Rights Watch. 15 May 2005. 30 Jun. 2005. <http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/05/15/uzbeki10902.htm>.

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