Craig Murray served as British Ambassador to the Central Asian Republic of Uzbekistan from 2002-2005. He was an activist ambassador, seeking out British companies and European businessmen active in Uzbekistan to try to smooth their way with bureaucratic and corrupt officials. But it was his stand with hard- pressed local opposition leaders against Islam Karimov's tyrannical government known for its human rights violations, that got him into trouble. The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office was eager to please its American ally in the War on Terror, and Uzbekistan, with its border on Afghanistan, was a key ally in this struggle. So Murray's activities directed to improving the human rights of local residents were extremely unwelcome to his superiors and eventually cost him his job. Murray is candid about his own personal indiscretions as well as the bleak existence of the local population. His account of dealing with a regime which routinely employed rape and torture of its own population is eye-opening. Yet it is the accommodation of the United States, which used Uzbekistan for “extraordinary rendition” of terror suspects, and other NATO nations with Karimov's regime that truly makes the reader question the methods of the War on Terror. Murray’'s autobiographical account of his service in Tashkent reads more like a James Bond novel than a diplomatic memoir.
Bill McCully, Executive Director
