And The Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks

FryYourFriend'sEnd
KeepOnSpellin'InTheFreeWorldVille

There is no question that Islam Karimov, the current big bossman of Uzbekistan, runs a repressive and violent regime.

But there are tyrants and then there are tyrants.

And there is nothing like a tyrant to call your own:

The President (George W. Bush): "[In] the post-9-11 world, the United States must make sure we protect our people and our friends from attack. . . . One way to do so is to arrest people and send them back to their country of origin with the promise that they won't be tortured. That's the promise we receive. This country does not believe in torture."

Question: "As commander in chief, what is it that Uzbekistan can do in interrogating an individual that the United States can't?"

George W. Bush repeated his talking point: "We seek assurances that nobody will be tortured."

Actually, there is much that U.S. interrogators can learn from their counterparts in Uzbekistan on how to breakdown prisoners. One of the CIA's jet planes used to render purported terrorists to other countries where information is extracted by any means necessary made 10 trips to Uzbekistan. In a segment of CBS's 60 Minutes on these CIA torture missions, former British ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray told of the range of advanced techniques used by Uzbek interrogators:

"drowning and suffocation, rape was used . . . and also immersion of limbs in boiling liquid."

But what happens when a torturing tyrant with a heart of gold goes off the rails?

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, July 7 - Uzbekistan on Thursday threatened to evict the United States military from an important air base near the border with Afghanistan.

The United States was allowed to use the Soviet-era base, in Karshi-Khanabad after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States and continues to use it to support the continuing military efforts in Afghanistan.

The statement on Thursday from Uzbekistan's Foreign Ministry said it had allowed the base, where 800 American troops are stationed, to be established for the sole purpose of ousting Taliban rulers from Afghanistan.

"Any other prospects for a U.S. military presence in Uzbekistan were not considered by the Uzbek side," The Associated Press quoted the statement as saying."

Could there be a red, white and blue bullseye being painted on Mr. Karimov's backside, this very minute, in whatever secret bunker currently houses the (presumably) secretly re-named Office of Special Plans?

After all, rather than a tough slog in Iran, or even Syria, a slam-dunk against a viscious dictator might be looking pretty darn good right about now.

Awwwwwwww, heck.

The Roving Halliburtonians couldn't possibly be that cyncical.

Could they?

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The title of this post was actually the working name of a failed collaboration between William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac written wayback in 1945 which, of course, was a big year for dealing with tyrants (or not).

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