NEW VERSION OF EVENTS IN UZBEKISTAN

Lefty Australian academic blogger John Quiggin on the unrest in Uzbekistan:

The NYT has survivors’ accounts of the massacre in Uzbekistan. Meanwhile, on last night’s ABC News, I saw the commander of the US base in Afghanistan interviewed. He said something like “The host country military are doing a wonderful job protecting the base and we have had no trouble from the disturbances”. That’s the same host country military that was murdering hundreds of its own people a few days earlier.

When he writes "Afghanistan" he probably means Uzbekistan. Anyway, it might just be that Uzbek forces had no choice but to finish a fight they didn't start.

According to the Los Angeles Times, a group of "businessmen" and their supporters just sort of ran amock. Rashanbek Khadzhimov, a lawyer who represented the businessmen, has largely confirmed the Uzbek government's version of events:

"It was a collective decision on their part, but it was also a spontaneous decision," he said. "They attacked a police unit where there were only five policemen on duty and they seized at least 100 Kalashnikovs. They attacked a military unit and got some more weapons there.

"Then they made their biggest mistake. When they were freeing their friends from prison, they released the most horrible criminals who were there and gave them guns. They released from prison, together with the flower of the nation, the scum of the nation."

Some of the subsequent violence that the government blames on supporters of the 23 businessmen was committed by criminals who were released and given weapons in the jailbreak, Khadzhimov said.

To put the reporting in perspective:

The New York Times headline:

Toe Tags Offer Clues to Uzbeks' Uprising

The Los Angeles Times:

Uzbek Witness Tells of Brutality on Both Sides

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not supporting the Karimov government or its actions. I'm simply pointing out that the "wanton murder" scenario being pitched by the left is open to question. But, we all know how hard it is for lefties to pass up a chance, even a fabricated chance, to slam America.