UZBEKISTAN: The shooting dead of hundreds of demonstrators by Uzbek soldiers has drawn only muted reaction in Washington, where Uzbekistan is considered a close ally in its war on terrorism.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan urged restraint by both sides and said that Uzbeks should pursue their goals peacefully.
By contrast the British government condemned the Uzbekistan authorities for opening fire on demonstrators.
British foreign secretary Jack Straw said yesterday: "The situation is very serious. There has been a clear abuse of human rights, a lack of democracy and a lack of openness."
The US has an air base and 1,000 personnel in the Karshi-Khanabad region of Uzbekistan. It is used for military operations in Afghanistan, 90 miles to the south.
And recently it emerged that the US has another use for Uzbekistan: Washington has sent terror suspects there for detention and interrogation.
Uzbekistan's role as a surrogate jailer for the United States was first reported last month by the New York Times, which cited several current and former intelligence officials.
One official estimated that the number of terrorism suspects sent by the US to Tashkent was in the dozens.
Details of the CIA's prisoner transfer or "rendition" programme since 9/11 have emerged in accounts by former detainees who alleged they were beaten and tortured after being sent to prisons in Egypt and Afghanistan.
US intelligence officials estimate that 100 to 150 suspected terrorists have been rendered to Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Uzbekistan.
International human rights groups have accused Uzbekistan of torturing prisoners with the use of boiling water and electric shocks on genitals, as well as plucking off fingernails and toenails with pliers.
Two prisoners were reportedly boiled to death.
The renditions to Uzbekistan were made despite the US State Department criticism of the central Asian republic.
The country "is not a democracy and does not have a free press", it states on its website. "Several prominent opponents of the government have fled, and others have been arrested. The government severely represses those it suspects of Islamic extremism, particularly those it suspects of membership in the banned Party of Islamic Liberation (Hizb ut-Tahrir). Some 5,300 to 5,800 suspected extremists are incarcerated."
It goes on to say that "prison conditions remain very poor, particularly for those convicted of extremist activities, and a number of such prisoners are believed to have died over the past several years from prison disease and abuse".
It says the police and the intelligence service "use torture as a routine investigation technique".
Asked about renditions at a press conference on April 28th, Mr Bush said: "We operate within the law and we send people to countries where they say they're not going to torture the people. But let me say something: the United States government has an obligation to protect the American people. It's in our country's interests to find those who would do harm to us ... We still [ are] at war."
Mr Bush has welcomed President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan to the White House, and the US has given Uzbekistan more than $500 million for border control and other security measures.
The official US view is that Uzbekistan is "a strong supporter of US military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq and of the global war against terror" and the US "in turn, values Uzbekistan as a stable, moderate force in a turbulent region".
Washington has urged greater reform to promote long-term stability and prosperity and registration of independent political parties and NGOs.