Pentagon Will Pay $23 Million Bill for Use of Uzbek Air Base

[cal04]

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. Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said the senators' concerns would be addressed, and he stressed that the Pentagon feels an obligation to pay what it owes for using the Karshi-Khanabad air base, often called K-2.

"Uzbekistan has been a good partner in the war on terror, specifically with respect to our ongoing operations in Afghanistan," he said. "The K-2 facility has been instrumental in our ability to prosecute the war against the Taliban and al-Qaida. It also has been instrumental to providing humanitarian relief to those affected regions in northern Afghanistan."

In a move interpreted by many as payback for U.S. calls for an international investigation of the Andijan episode, the Uzbek government in July invoked a provision of the K-2 agreement that requires all U.S. forces to leave by January. The senators' letter to Rumsfeld on Monday asserted that the Uzbeks have not kept to their end of the K-2 agreement.

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBZ8GCBUDE.html

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. 23 million bucks to a military dictator who boils his political opponents

sweeeeeeet

[krkaufman]

9. Yeah, the US supporting a tyrannical dictator...

... what could go wrong there? Splendid plan!!

[enigma000]

2. President Karimov is a real piece of work

Check out the Amnesty International Report

http://web.amnesty.org/report2004/uzb-summary-eng

The US can do better than this sicko. Pay the back-rent owed and clear out of there. Let the Chinese and the Russians make deals with Karimov - that is until a colour-coded revolution removes him from power.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Pentagon Will Pay Uzbeks for Air Base

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.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/09/20/national/w082409D95.DTL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



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?

[WhiteTara]

4. why does monkey boy Always look so happy

when he is holding hands with terrible terrible tyrants and murderers? I wonder if he gets some sort of sexual thrill from the close proximity of other evil men?

[bleedingheart]

6. do you not remember that Cheney stated that in the "war on terror"

we would be doing business with unsavory characters?

sadly he was telling us the truth....and it is shameful that we are doing this...

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/timeline/2001/meetthepress091601.html

[Judi Lynn]

8. Most people wouldn't want to go anywhere near that black hole of a man.

Who could imagine acting as if everything's just peachy keen around a man who BOILS PEOPLE?

This guy has unbelievably low standards in choosing friends.

Shows you we've got one sick son of a hoohoo sitting in the White House.

[leveymg]

5. How much do we owe them for the torture services?

Or, was that part of the deal?:grr: :bounce:

[gratuitous]

7. The problem with paying blackmail money

Is that the underlying offense doesn't really go away. And the blackmailer learns that the information has some monetary value. So, if it's worth $23 million today for the Uzbeks to keep quiet about Bush administration complicity in their crimes against humanity, what will the price tag be tomorrow?