With Friends Like These...

Uzbekistan, one of our apparent allies in the war on terror has been having some problems with antigovernment demonstrators and prison breaks. I used to wonder why Uzbekistan was our ally, especially since they have a little problem with torture. But hey, we would never support torturers, would we.

But then I read this article and found out exactly why we are allies with the Uzbeks: they are cut from the same neocon cloth.

First they imply that all people opposed to the government are terrorists:

"Not a single civilian was killed by government forces there," prosecutor-general Rashid Kadyrov said.

Therefore killing them is ok.

Next blame the liberal media:

President Islam Karimov, who abruptly joined the news conference while Mr Kadyrov was speaking, has criticised Western and Russian media for biased reporting.

"There is a broad campaign in the media, especially in the Western media, to be ahead of events... and to show that Uzbekistan is a tyranny, that in Uzbekistan they shoot innocent people," Mr Karimov said, raising his voice.

"Who would shoot at people who do not have weapons?

"There are no such people in any government in the world."

Especially not this government. Finally, wipe hands clean and call anyone who disagrees with you stupid and against God:

"It's blasphemy and a mockery of common sense to say that it was a peaceful demonstration," he said.

Wash, rinse, repeat.