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Meet Our New Saddam Introducing Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan
[The full text of this article is available from the UP!.]

MEMORISE THIS NAME: ISLAM KARIMOV [tip: "carry 'im off"]

HOPEFULLY THIS ARTICLE WON'T BE DUG OUT IN 10 YEARS TIME AS AN "AMAZING PREDICTION OF THE CREATION OF A MONSTER"

Introducing Islam Karimov, one of Washington's most recent allies in the War on Terror. The neo-Stalinist autocrat presides over Uzbekistan, a vast mineral and oil rich country strategically located in central Asia. A country where 1. dissidents are boiled alive. 2. having an Islamically sanctioned beard can get you arrested. 3. torture is widespread. 4. where human rights abuses are occurring on "a massive scale, financed increasingly by the American taxpayer. . . . Recognise anything here? . . . Essentially, the bases gave America a foothold in a globally strategic region and in a better position to compete with Russia and China for the great oil treasures of the Caspian Sea, which is believed to hold vast oil reserves comparable to those of the Middle East. . . . Yet, unlike the Middle East, transport of the black gold from the landlocked lake to the open sea is a major hurdle. Therefore, the primary issue guiding the politics of the region revolve around not ownership of oil, but control of the proposed pipelines by which the oil is transported. It's within this context that Uzbekistan has emerged as the key strategic state in the area. . . . According to the Human Rights Watch (HRW) 2003 World Report, Karimov's government violates, on a systematic level, basic rights "to freedom of religion, expression, association and assembly." It notes that Karimov has used the pretext of the "War on Terror", to pursue a campaign whose aim is to squelch opposition. Specifically, the government has arrested and tortured thousands of independent Muslims, including minors. HRW and other human rights organisations estimate 7-10,000 prisoners held on religious and political charges. Most recently, forensic evidence has been revealed suggesting that Karimov's government boiled to death two Muslim prisoners after they refused to stop praying. . . . for the first time in history a significant section of the population gets the chance to watch as a Demon is created, followed by the falling out, and then the Demonisation Process that will eventually begin again. . . . "If U.S. policy is to have any credibility in the Muslim world - indeed in the world at large - it must be based not on convenience, but on principle. In the 1980s, the U.S. made a similar deal of convenience with another Central Asian tyrant. His name was Saddam Hussein."
St. Louis Post Dispatch, Nov 8, 2003

posted by Lorenzo 8:23 AM