Apparently, in the Bush administration, a policy of “democracy promotion” includes having top officials pose in “Hollywood Walk of Fame”-style photo shoots with dictatorial thugs.

There, on the far left, is our energy secretary, Samuel Bodman, all smiles. Next to him stands the murderous Uzbek tyrant Islam Karimov, who just two weeks ago ordered Tiananmen-style massacres of hundreds of his own citizens, and has since refused to even allow an international investigation of the matter. We’d offer our view on Karimov, but the conservative Economist magazine sums it up well:

Even on the most self-interested calculus, the reality is that Mr Karimov is an ally the West is better off without. His help in the war against terror is outweighed by the encouragement he has given to radicals of every stripe in Central Asia and beyond, and by the damage that association with him does to the West’s reputation. … Nor is Uzbekistan of real strategic importance any more. With bases in Kirgizstan and Afghanistan, America hardly needs Khanabad, the base for which it pays Mr Karimov handsomely. He should now be made a pariah, his regime stripped of all forms of aid, and all military assistance withdrawn.

Posing with them is Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliyev. Just a few days prior to this photo, which was taken last Wednesday, “Azerbaijani police beat pro-democracy demonstrators with truncheons when opposition parties, yelling ‘free elections,’ defied the government’s ban on protests against [Aliyev].”

So why is everyone so happy? They’re celebrating the opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, a project certain to enrich and strengthen these repressive regimes. At the ceremony, Bodman read a letter from President Bush lauding the “visionary leadership” of President Aliyev, and offering “congratulations to the people of Azerbaijan” for the pipeline, since they’ll surely see so much of the profits. Uh-huh.

In at least one way, though, this photo is useful. Just print it out and keep it in your wallet, so the next time someone asks why pro-democracy activists around the world no longer see us as a beacon of hope, you can whip it out and save your breath.

In the run up to the Iraq war, the American people were repeatedly told false information about Saddam Hussein’s WMD capacity. What’s amazing is, years later, the people still aren’t being told a the straight story. Here is what Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said today on CNN’s Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer:

MCCAIN:…There was no doubt in anybody’s mind that if he remained in power that he would continue that attempt and the sanctions were not — the status quo wasn’t prevailing.

But according to Charles Duelfer, the Bush administration’s hand-picked weapons inspector, the sanctions — and the status quo — were working very well. Here’s a summary of the Duelfer’s finding from the 10/7/04 Washington Post:

Duelfer said one of Hussein’s main strategic goals was to persuade the United Nations to lift economic sanctions, which had devastated the country’s economy and, along with U.N. inspections, had forced him to stop weapons programs.

Let’s be clear. According to the definitive report produced by the Bush administration, had the sanctions remained in place, Saddam Hussein would not have been able to acquire WMD. Had the administration chose sanctions instead of war, Iraq would still not have had WMD and more than 1600 American troops killed in Iraq would be alive today.

It’s little wonder why most Americans think the Iraq war wasn’t worth it.