Reply #3: Pentagon Will Pay Uzbeks for Air Base [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

Pentagon Will Pay Uzbeks for Air Base
By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

(09-20) 08:24 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --

The Pentagon intends to pay a nearly $23 million bill to Uzbekistan for use of an air base that the Uzbek government recently announced will no longer host U.S. aircraft and troops. The base has been used for nearly four years as an integral part of U.S. combat and humanitarian missions in Afghanistan.

Although the payment follows normal Pentagon practice, it takes on more political overtones at a time when human rights groups and others are criticizing Uzbekistan's human rights record, particularly in light of the government's response to violence in the city of Andijan last May in which a disputed number of civilians were killed.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Monday, six senators — four Republicans and two Democrats — voiced strong objection to paying the $23 million. They said it should be placed in an escrow account and provided to the Uzbek government only when it "shows that it is again willing" to work as a U.S. partner.

The Pentagon's decision to pay the bill was first reported in Tuesday's editions of The Washington Post.
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/09/20/national/w082409D95.DTL

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Why has _Bush's administration NEVER explained to the American public WHY they do business with a vicious, murderous tyrant like Islam Karimov who BOILS political prisoners, among his many treatments of dissent?