Eurasianet – Ousted Ambassador makes Uzbekistan key election issue in Britain: Some critics have suggested Murray’s comments and actions were motivated primarily by a quest for celebrity. He adamantly denies the charge, saying that until his assignment in Uzbekistan he had not exhibited a penchant for courting controversy. His shock over the vast scale of rights abuses in Uzbekistan compelled him to speak out, Murray indicated. “It is a vicious regime,” he said. “I went to the trials of opponents, I met the families of dissidents who had been arrested or killed. It was just quite appalling. And what was also appalling is that the US backed – is sill backing – the regime, and then invaded Iraq allegedly to overthrow a similar regime. It was hypocritical.”

See also:

Guardian – Tony Blair’s new friend: Britain and the US claim a moral mandate – and back a dictator who boils victims to death.