This is the position taken by the United States Department of State, on an issue of a foreign state's policy. The matter concerns violence, state sovereignty, a refugee crisis and the possibility of ethnic cleansing. The State Department has welcomed an internal investigation by the foreign government in question, but has called for a more "credible" "international investigation," presumably under the auspices of the United Nations.
Of course, the State Department is not talking about Israel.
No, the topic at hand is Kyrgyzstan, a predominantly Muslim nation that has been the site of intense ethnic violence for the past two weeks::
KYRGYZSTAN'S interim government promised a US envoy on Saturday that it would probe deadly ethnic clashes as it extended a state of emergency amid fears of fresh violence in the volatile south.
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After meeting with Kyrgyzstan's acting government, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake said he had been promised authorities would investigate the violence.
'Members of the provisional government assured me of their intention to launch an investigation into the causes of the violence.... Such an investigation should be complemented by an international investigation by a credible international body,' Mr Blake told journalists in Bishkek. -- AFP
Only in the Orwellian world that characterizes the "special relationship" between the United States and its client state of Israel could this position be squared with the position of the United States on the Gaza flotilla massacre articulated by Ambassador Wolff earlier this month:
"We are convinced and support an Israeli investigation as I called for in my statement earlier, and have every confidence that Israel can conduct a credible and impartial and transparent, prompt investigation internally."
These words were later echoed by the official White House press release:
Today, the Government of Israel took an important step forward in proposing an independent public commission to investigate the circumstances of the recent tragic events on board the flotilla headed for Gaza. Through a presidential statement of the United Nations Security Council, the United States joined the international community in condemning those acts which led to nine fatalities and many injuries on board the flotilla, and supporting the completion of a prompt, impartial, credible, and transparent investigation.
We believe that Israel, like any other nation, should be allowed to undertake an investigation into events that involve its national security. Israel has a military justice system that meets international standards and is capable of conducting a serious and credible investigation, and the structure and terms of reference of Israel’s proposed independent public commission can meet the standard of a prompt, impartial, credible, and transparent investigation. But we will not prejudge the process or its outcome, and will await the conduct and findings of the investigation before drawing further conclusions.
While Israel should be afforded the time to complete its process, we expect Israel’s commission and military investigation will be carried out promptly. We also expect that, upon completion, its findings will be presented publicly and will be presented to the international community.
Apparently, Kyrgyzstan cannot be trusted to conduct an independent inquiry "like any other nation." Despite Kyrgyzstan's status as "the site of an airfield that serves as a key transit hub supporting the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan," or perhaps because of it, the US wants an independent and "international investigation" in addition to any internal inquiry on the part of the interim government. This is a sensible position; the provisional government has accused deposed former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev of orchestrating the violence that has displaced hundreds of thousands:
Officials of the interim government in the capital, Bishkek, are adamant that the six days of rioting between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan's impoverished south were triggered by agents of former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who was ousted in a bloody April street revolt, and subsequently went into exile in Belarus.
"This was a carefully planned action by the enemies of the interim government, aimed at undermining authority and disrupting the constitutional referendum," interim government member Almazbek Atambayev told journalists in Bishkek. "The information available to our special services confirms that all of these measures were funded by the Bakiyev family, particularly Bakiyev’s youngest son, Maxim."
Ex-president Bakiyev has denied any connection to the upheavals. A constitutional referendum is scheduled for next week.
Serious concerns have been raised about the ability of the provisional government to manage the crisis, and Uzbekistan Foreign Ministry officials have expressed surprise and alarm at Kyrgyzstan's reaction so far:
Uzbekistan authorities said even though the flow of people had slowed down they were still dealing with an estimated 120,000 refugees. Aid workers were calling the fallout from ethnic clashes in Kyrgyzstan a humanitarian crisis.
No one from Kyrgyzstan's interim government had made official contact with them since refugees flooded into their country, the Uzbekistan Foreign Ministry said.
Foreign Ministry officials said they were surprised and concerned that they have not had official contact with their neighbor during this crisis.
Assuming that Assistant Secretary Blake's itinerary matched the one provided by a State department spokesman on Wednesday, he has consulted with Uzbekistan's leadership and visited and spoken with the refugees. His call for an independent investigation is presumably an informed one. Certainly, the accusations made by the provisional government are serious and should factor into any call for an independent investigation; after all, if substantiated, the accusations would form the basis for criminal trials for ethnic cleansing. On the other hand, the IDF has also made serious allegations against the civilian humanitarian workers killed on the Mavi Marmara, and the US has yet to insist on an "independent" and "international" investigation.
In the world of the "special relationship" this should not be surprising. While Kyrgyzstan may be a key ally in the Afghanistan war and important to both US and Russian interests, this Sunni Muslim state could never hope to receive the same treatment Israel does. All the better for the Central Asian refugees, and all the more tragic for the victims of Israeli and American policy in the Middle East.