The Foreign Service Journal, September 2007

That is not true, of course. I believe strongly in individual liberty in all spheres. Thus, I am a passion- ate supporter not just of democracy and human rights, but also of capi- talism and free markets. So how could someone with that belief set come to be perceived as anti-American? The answer is that I do not believe that recent U.S. for- eign policy has promoted those goals at all, but rather has been doing something very dif- ferent. Walter Carrington Avenue To illustrate what I mean, let me offer an example of diplomacy at its best. One of my inspirations was Walter Carrington, the U.S. ambassador to Nigeria from 1993 to 1997. Amb. Carrington never accepted the brutal dicta- torship of the Sani Abacha regime (1993-1998) and con- stantly went beyond normal diplomatic behavior in assist- ing and encouraging human rights groups, and in making outspoken speeches on human rights and democracy. Carrington, as often in the U.S. system, was a political appointee rather than a career officer. That certainly meant he was free of the inherent caution that tends to bedevil long-term diplomats. But I do not view it as the crucial factor that made him different. Many career offi- cials are just as dedicated as he, and many political ap- pointees are overly concerned with status and networking. Carrington’s approach was a direct challenge to the British Embassy in Nigeria, which pursued a much more traditional line of polite interaction with the president and his cohorts. This appeasement did us no good, as Abacha repeatedly moved against our interests; for example, he banned British Airways from flying into Nigeria. Nonetheless, my diplomatic col- leagues looked down their long noses at Carrington with disdain, for raising unpleasant subjects like tor- ture and execution at cocktail par- ties. (I regret to say that some of the career subordinates in the U.S. embassy did the same.) The Abacha dictatorship hated Carrington so much that the Niger- ian armed forces even stormed the ambassador’s farewell reception and arrested some Nigerian participants, a breach which was rightly con- demned by the U.S. Congress. But a grateful people did not forget his efforts on their behalf, and soon after Abacha’s downfall, the street on which the U.S. and British consulates in Lagos were situated was renamed by the local authorities as Walter Carrington Avenue. His example taught me a great lesson in diplomacy: The relationship of an embassy should be with the people of a country, not just with their authorities. Regimes that are hated by their people will never survive indefinitely, though they may endure a very long time. A Perfect Failure Uzbekistan is undoubtedly one of the most vicious dic- tatorships on Earth. Freedom House ranks it as one of just five countries scoring a perfect 7 — complete lack of freedom— on both political rights and civil liberties. The Heritage Foundation’s view of economic freedoms there is similarly critical. In short, Uzbekistan does not follow the Southeast Asian model of an authoritarian govern- ment overseeing a free economy and rapid economic development. It is more akin to North Korea than to Singapore. Soviet institutions have been strengthened and corruption has increased. Only the iconography switched, from communism to nationalism. Yet Uzbekistan was embraced as a Western ally fol- lowing the 9/11 attacks, becoming a member of the “Coalition of the Willing.” In 2002 alone the U.S. tax- payer gave the Uzbek regime over $500 million, of which $120 million went to the armed forces, and $82 million to what are arguably the world’s most vicious security services. Also during that year, according to impeccable British government pathology evidence, at least one Uzbek dissident was boiled alive. The U.S. tax- payer paid to heat the water. F O C U S 42 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 7 Ambassador Craig Murray resigned from the British Diplomatic Service in February 2005 after more than two decades. He is now rector of the University of Dundee and an honorary research fellow at the University of Lancaster School of Law. His memoir of his time in Uzbekistan, Murder in Samarkand , is available at www.Amazon.co.uk . Paramount and Brad Pitt’s Plan B production company are producing a movie based on that memoir, with filming scheduled to begin in February 2008 under British director Michael Winterbottom. One of my inspirations was Walter Carrington, the U.S. ambassador to Nigeria from 1993 to 1997.