Rumsfeld Redux

Ground truth in Andijon - May 2005

Some Outpost readers might recall the piece we did a few weeks ago about our colleague Jamie Kirchick's interview with ex-U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The interview broke some important ground on an aspect of Rumsfeld's record that has not met with the scrutiny it deserves: his position on human rights abuses in the Central Asian republic of Uzbekistan.

Now Jamie has published a closer look at the issue over at "The Atlantic Monthly." We strongly recommend that readers take a look. Uzbekistan might not be one of those places that stand in the foreground of U.S. public awareness, but that doesn't mean we should forget about the fact that American actions in countries like this -- often taken as a sort of afterthought to grand strategic calculations -- have genuine consequences.

-- Christian Caryl