But after reading various looks at the situation, I think we can't just hope everybody forgets about the killing and move on with the government as if nothing happened. This is still not a tier one issue but we cannot allow ourselves to be locked in with a regime that kills hundreds of innocents. This is not a situation where the Islamists are poised to take over. But by backing a corrupt regime, we are ensuring that those who don't want corruption will support the most effective opposition. And if that happens to be the Islamists, that will happen.
Some may say that the bigger interest of supporting a government that helped us in Afghanistan and where we have a military base trumps qualms over the regime's actions. But I think that the bigger interest of being on the side of freedom trumps a base. We will have to get along without our position in Uzbekistan if push comes to shove rather than side with this regime.
This article puts it well:
But the character of the Karimov regime can no longer be ignored in deference to the strategic usefulness of Uzbekistan. The Taliban has been defeated, and, with the liberation of Iraq, the nature of the global struggle to which the Bush administration is committed is no longer exclusively focused on the destruction of errorist redoubts. We are now committed to a democratizing effort that challenges tyranny along with terror as threats to peace and freedom around the world. The Uzbek regime that was part of the solution in 2001 is now, with its bloody suppression of protests, part of the problem.
Gratitude for help in the past cannot stay our hand from doing what is right. Our interests demand it. Karimov did not earn our favor forever. He earned a bit of time to square his rule with our ideals. He failed. That should be his problem and not a challenge for us to adjust to his rule. We must support the opposition and pressure Karimov to keep the troops in the barracks when there are peaceful protests.
And this change will be a good signal to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Past friendship is not a license to kill. Evolve and introduce democracy and liberty, or one day face our opposition.
That day has arrive for Karimov's Uzbekistan. We have no permanent friends in that region. We have permanent interests.
