Last night I speculated that the terrorism in Uzbekistan might be part of a global al Qaeda counter-attack. I still believe that, although the current evidence is scant. But this headline is preposterous and misleading. It's the kind of headline that confuses some very real facts on the ground; the kind of headline that seeks to stir an emotional response in the reader, not an intellectual one. With all the chaos going on around the world the last thing we need is sloppy, emotive reporting.

Now, it is probable that there is a lot of animus towards the United States in Uzbekistan, at least among the radical Islam set. And it might be one of the IMT-IMU's motives to disrupt the US-Uzbek alliance--I'd put money on that horse. But it is really stretching it to imply that all the attacks are completely anti-US. There is a lot more at work in Uzbekistan, internally, than the short article cited above indicates. It's just sloppy reporting.

At any rate, it seems all hell is breaking loose in Uzbekistan--Nathan, as always has the details. The more I read about it the more I see this as an IMT-IMU style attack. There is no evidence to indicate that Hizb-ut-Tahrir was involved. Although getting any viable information from the Uzbek governement is like getting blood out of a turnip.

UPDATE: The BBC has more.