NEWS: Former UK Uzbek Ambassador Accuses Foreign Office of False Claims., page 1

The UK's ambassador to Uzbekistan, withdrawn from his post for "operational reasons" has accused the Foreign Office of using false allegations to remove him from his post. His withdrawal also follows his attack in July on the UK�s use of intelligence gained under torture by the Uzbek government. The ambassador has been at the center of controversy since his appointment in 2002 for his outspoken criticism of US foreign policy in Uzbekistan and his public criticism of the Uzbek regime.

www.reuters.co.uk
LONDON (Reuters) - The government has removed its ambassador to Uzbekistan after he accused the Central Asian state of supplying the West with bogus information obtained through torture.

Craig Murray had told his London bosses Britain was undermining its moral standing by falling for "dross" provided by Uzbekistan, a United States ally in its war against terror.

The Foreign Office said on Friday it had withdrawn Murray, 45, from Tashkent for "operational reasons" and he would be relocated.

Murray, however, said his removal represented the "politicisation" of Britain"s supposedly neutral civil service.

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The treatment of this man is disgusting. The Foreign Office and the US clearly want someone in Uzbekistan who'll keep his mouth shut. They've wanted rid of him since he, rightly, spoke up about what is happening in Uzbekistan and US and UK policy towards the dictatorial regime. (Which includes the US giving the repressive regime $500m in aid and rent payments for the US air base in Chanabad.)

This an exert of a report on his temporary withdrawl and intimidation from this time last year (almost to the day):

politics.guardian.co.uk...

Inquiries by the Guardian have discovered that Craig Murray, one of Britain"s youngest ambassadors, was subsequently called back from his Uzbekistan post, threatened with the loss of his job, and accused of a miscellaneous string of diplomatic shortcomings in what his friends say is a wholly unfair way.

The accusations against him included:

� Supporting the visa application of the daughter of an Uzbek family friend who overstayed in England;

� Drinking too convivially with Uzbek locals;

� Allowing an embassy Land Rover to be driven down steps.

Mr Murray"s subsequent episode of depression, for which he had medical treatment, was preceded by what one Foreign Office source calls "a campaign of systematic undermining".

A senior source said the former ambassador had been put under pressure to stop his repeated criticisms of the brutal Karimov regime, accused among other things of boiling prisoners to death. The source said the pressure was partly "exercised on the orders of No 10", which found his outspokenness about the compromises Washington was prepared to make in its "war on terror" increasingly embarrassing in the lead up to the Iraq war.

Check out the supported discussion thread for more on Uzbekistan and its role in the 'war on terror'.

Related News Links:
quote.bloomberg.com
www.telegraph.co.uk
news.scotsman.com

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
The Central Asian Stans & the Caspian.

[edit on 15-10-2004 by kegs]