Reply #23: places such as Uzbekistan (a country known for boiling prisoners alive) [View All]

[LibertyorDeath]

Six weeks after Craig Murray started his job as British ambassador to Uzbekistan in 2002, a packet of photos landed on his desk. Inside were pictures a mother had taken of her son’s mutilated corpse. The young man, a political prisoner accused of having ties to radical Islam, had been tortured, beaten and immersed in boiling water.

“And,” Murray recently told an audience at the University of Chicago, “when that guy was boiled to death, you paid to heat the water.” He was referring to the $500 million in U.S. aid given to the Uzbeks in 2002.

Q. “Murder in Samarkand” refers to an actual event, right?

A. Yes. I was having a talk over dinner with this professor and dissident in Samarkand one night, and while we were having dinner, his grandson was abducted off the street, tortured and, at about 4 o’clock in the morning, dumped on the doorstep. I was subsequently told by the Russian ambassador that it had been done by the Uzbek authorities as a message for me to stop meeting with dissidents.

Q. Do you think transporting suspects to countries where other nationals can interrogate them using torture is still going on?

A. I have no reason at all to think the policy has changed. But being much more careful about touching down in Europe with prisoners onboard, because of all the fuss in Europe and the investigations going on.

More...http://polizeros.com/category/uzbekistan-torture/page/2/



Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld Visits Uzbekistan

Defense Secretary Thanks 'Stalwart' Uzbekistan for Support in War on Terror

By John D. Banusiewicz
American Forces Press Service

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, Feb. 24, 2004 – Expressing America's gratitude for Uzbekistan's help in the war on terror, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld met here today with key leaders of this former Soviet republic.

Rumsfeld arrived this afternoon from Kuwait, and met with President Islam Karimov and Defense Minister Kodir Ghulomov to discuss what the secretary described as a wide range of military, political and economic issues.

A senior defense official told reporters traveling with Rumsfeld that the United States has about 1,000 military people and some contractors in Uzbekistan working on support operations and humanitarian missions at Karshi- Khanabad, known as "K2." Service members populate Camp Stronghold Freedom and an airfield there in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

At a news conference following his meetings with the Uzbek leaders, Rumsfeld said the United States and Uzbekistan have a framework of a strategic partnership with military-to-military relationships, and look forward to strengthening political and economic relationships between the countries. The secretary cited Uzbekistan's participation in NATO's "partnership for Peace" program as part of the path toward that stronger relationship.

more http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Feb2004/n02242004_200402244.html