More Two-Faced Uzbek Policy

(posted May 26 1:15 AM ET)

The NY Times did some impressive reporting last month, ferreting out our policy of sending detainees to Uzbekistan, the country with the slogan “We Boil People.”

That’s why it’s so inexplicable that the paper is enabling the Bush Administration’s transparently two-faced strategy of the dealing with the recent Uzbek massacre of its own people.

Yesterday’s Times offered the headline, “China Backs Uzbek, Splitting With U.S. on Crackdown.”

And today’s edition, reporting on a high-profile meeting between the Chinese and Uzbek leaders, says:

Both China and the United States have sought closer relations with Uzbekistan...But their responses to the shootings there differed sharply.

Washington called for an independent inquiry and threatened to withhold aid unless an impartial investigation is conducted.

Sure sounds like Bush Administration is taking a principled stand against Uzbekistan, unlike those Chinese, right?