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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Last US plane leaves Uzbek base |
| 2006-02-15 |
| The US has flown its last plane out of an air base in Uzbekistan that has been an important staging point for US military operations in Afghanistan. Uzbekistan in July gave the US six months to leave the base, after it joined international condemnation of the suppression of a May uprising. In a ceremony, troops lowered the US flag and handed to Uzbek officials the keys to the Karshi-Khanabad base. Some personnel remain at the base, which the US has occupied since 2001. "We are still performing some small operations on the base," US Central Command spokesman Joe Vermette told the Associated Press news agency. A Pentagon spokesman said troops had been withdrawing from the base over the past several months. It is not clear when the last troops will leave. The US and other Western countries called for an international investigation into the events in the Uzbek city of Andijan earlier this year. The Uzbek government says 187 people, mostly "terrorist organisers", died during the unrest. Human rights groups say 500 or more civilians may have been shot by Uzbek security forces. Thank you diplo-dinks and Human Rights commies for buggering up this one. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #6 Well you have a point there. How many Cubanos has Fidel puffed away since he first flipped us off? Let them all seeth and go hungry. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-02-15 18:54 |
| #5 We should leave Hugo in place too. He can't do anything to harm us. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-02-15 18:52 |
| #4 I must respectfully disagree lads. I'll grant you, we've back some losers...well a good many losers. But what's more important at the moment... maintaining a handy log base arrangement and whacking muzzie rats in the GWOT, or lecturing bloody Uzbekimites on how to handle internal dissidents and trouble makers? I'd prefer to skip over the human rights nicities until after the heavy lifting is finished. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-02-15 18:27 |
| #3 Valid point. Support of the Shah is what bought us the MM's in Iran. Would Mossadegh (sp?) have ever caused us more problems than they have? |
| Posted by: Cheremp Jeling8906 2006-02-15 16:02 |
| #2 It's better not to repeat the mistakes of the Cold War and support ugly regimes just because they gave us bases and whatnot. US support of such regimes hurt us then and hopefully we've learned our lesson. |
| Posted by: Jonathan 2006-02-15 13:33 |
| #1 The US has flown its last plane out of an air base in Uzbekistan that has been an important staging point for US military operations in Afghanistan. I sure hope these guys don't come begging for money at some point in the future, and if they do, I hope our government tells them to phuque off. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2006-02-15 12:57 |