Uzbekistan kicks us out

[Secretariat]

Any idea why? Apparently, we used an air base there to help fight in Afghanistan, and too deal with foreign nationals from other countries (CIA flights)...

Looking back to 911 when we basically told Pakistan we're flying over your air space and going in whether you like it or not.

Now, we're afraid of Pakistan, bullied by Uzbekistan into havng to cut and run from a strategic point in our "true" fight against Bin Laden who is the head of al Queda.

I dunno. It seems this administration is all over the map, except where the guy responsible for the bombings is at.

[JustRalph]

read between the lines genius...........we paid 15 million for the rights to land there. They obviously raised the price and we refused to pay...........Rumsfield said that we planned ahead for this..........negotiations were probably going on for a while........they got too greedy...........

[lsbets]

There was a huge uproar from human rights groups when we based in Uzbekistan because Karimov has a pretty horendous human rights record. Recently, the US has been putting pressure on the Uzbek government to institute reforms, and I would guess this is there way of pushing back.

You can't have it both ways - if you don't want us to deal with guys who aren't so nice, you can't complain if they kick us out because we started telling them to be nice.

[skate]

im thinking they call this move a pullback.


they are doing it al l over the globe.

and its great, about time, thank you.

[Tom]

?????

[lsbets]

Here's some more info on what happenned. I would think those on the left would actually support Bush on this one for putting pressure on an authoritarian regime to change:

"Uzbekistan's authoritarian President, Islam Karimov, initially courted Washington as a counter-balance to the traditional regional power, Russia.

But relations have plummeted since the Andijan killings in May, when Uzbek troops fired into crowds of demonstrators to crush an anti-government protest.

The Uzbek authorities restricted flights into Karshi-Khanabad after the US backed calls for an independent inquiry into the incident, described as a "massacre" by aid agency Human Rights Watch.

The eviction notice from the Uzbek government came days before a senior US official was to travel to Tashkent for talks about Andijan, human rights and political reform, according to The New York Times. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4732197.stm

It would probably be pretty tough for us to say we support democracy if we play ball with Karimov, and I would think we've contemplated leaving there for a while.

[boxcar]

Geesh, lsbets, what are you trying to do here: Blow Sec's circuits by overloading his "mind" with facts?

Boxcar

[NoDayJob]

Originally Posted by Tom

?????

They kick us out and turn the airbase into another international airport, at U.S. taxpayer's expense. Next they'll ask us for foreign aid to remodel the facilities.

NDJ