This entry was posted on
Monday, June 20th, 2005 at
1:29 pm and is filed
under The War on Stupid, Uzbekistan.

How many people were shot dead for protesting in Uzbekistan? Was it 15? 500? More?

Well, it looks like we’ll never know now. But, at least we can sleep soundly in our beds knowing that they were shot humanely, effectively and efficiently:

New York Times – Uzbek Ministries in Crackdown Received U.S. Aid: Uzbek law enforcement and security ministries implicated by witnesses in the deadly crackdown in the city of Andijon last month have for years received training and equipment from counterterrorism programs run by the United States, according to American officials and Congressional records. The security aid, provided by several United States agencies, has been intended in part to improve the abilities of soldiers and law enforcement officers from the Uzbek intelligence service, military and Ministry of Internal Affairs, the national law enforcement service. Besides equipment aid, at least hundreds of special forces soldiers and security officers, many of whom fight terrorism, have received training.

And what did Karimov claim to be doing when he ordered the shooting of protestors? That’s right, he claimed to be fighting terrorism. And we provided the training and the bullets!

Yes, I mean *we*, white boy:

Private Eye (No 1134): While foreign secretary Jack Straw rushed to condemn Uzbekistan’s army for shooting dead civilians in Andijan, no one bothered to suspend the British Army’s training programme for the very same Uzbek soldiers. The ministry of defence told Private Eye that the UK-Uzbekistan military cooperation programme was under review following the shootings, but had not been suspended. Under this programme Uzbek officers train at Sandhurst, the Royal College of Defence Studies in London and at the Joint Service Command and Staff College near Swindon.

But don’t hold your breath for a “Prince Harry trains side-by-side with terror squad” headline in the Scum anytime soon.

PS – Considering that it’s your taxes paying for this, you might want to take a peek at the following item…

BBC – Blair called to protester’s trial: Tony Blair has been summonsed to appear at a Weymouth court for the trial of a woman who refuses to pay her income tax in protest against the Iraq war. Pat Blackburn’s son-in-law was killed in the conflict, and she refuses to pay more than £16,000 in tax until Mr Blair resigns or apologises. The judge at her trial has backed her calls for the Prime Minister to appear as a witness.