Thousands of people crowd the city square, moving as a singular mass. It stared upward, demanding liberalization and an end to corrupt governance. Looking back downward, with scorn, was another mass; armed with machine guns and a stake in using them if the situation out-stepped its bounds.

And then they used them.

Hundreds dead, multiples more wounded, and thousands behind bars. A complete news blackout. Is this Tiananmen Square or Andijon, Uzbekistan?

If we’re talking about renegade totalitarianism obstructing the liberties of its own citizenry by use of force, then they are one in the same. But this is about where the similarities end, as each situation is infinitely riddled with unknown complications that, especially in the case of Andijon, are yet to be uncovered. Amid all of the chaos, the question that continues lingering on in my mind is, “Could this have been prevented?”

Yes, completely, one hundred percent. If the Uzbeks had just eaten their meager portions of bread, happily exceeded their production quotas, and shut-the-hell-up about it then they would have been able to continue on with their daily lives as Our Dear Leader Karimov regally rules the land.

Alternatively, this could have all been prevented if Uzbekistan had a liberal democratic government, whose only preoccupation is to uphold the economic and civil liberties of its people against oppression. Don’t they deserve that much, doesn’t everyone? That is the question that truly lingers in my mind. Freedom has the power to change the world. The talk of Islamist extremists there is overblown, mostly from Karimov’s own lips. A free and prosperous Uzbekistan can sap the nutrients from the soil in which it grows. This kind of extremism is derived from the desolate conditions forced by their very own government. One that allows people the liberty to pursue happiness is one that can inadvertently fight terrorism at its roots.

We are already seeing fascinating developments in Georgia, Ukraine, Iraq, Lebanon, and Kyrgyzstan, countries who turned out en masse to choose their own destinies.

There was fear in Georgia, where the possibility of Russian occupation came clear into view. There was fear in Ukraine, where lines of riot police held tense moments aimed at the hundreds of thousands. There was fear in Iraq, where the streets were supposed to “run with blood” from suicide bombs. There was fear in Lebanon, where the Syrian army and intelligence agents could have easily leveled the entire city of Beirut. There was also fear in Kyrgyzstan, where riotous protestors and a powerful autocrat faced off between shots of rubber bullets and breaking molotov cocktails. But at no point was there a systematic attempt to arrest and kill as many people as possible to preserve power.

Uzbekistan is where the trend ended. Everyone’s worst fears came true as those bullets hit chest after head after woman after child. Yet it only deepened the hatred of these people for their government. To those who peacefully demonstrated that day, freedom itself was more important than the consequences of fighting for it. Life is not worth living without it, and after the May 13 massacre, the people of Uzbekistan must finally know that the interests of their government are directly opposed to their own.

There are many issues for the United States government to consider, including the influence of both Russia and China, the potency of Islamic terrorists in the region, and the lengths to which Karimov will go to suppress his people. One wrong move and it could throw the country into the wrong arms. I think that move would be hesitating to take a hard stance against the Karimov regime. When, inevitably, Uzbekistan comes to reform, the people are going to remember who their friends were when they lived under a government they hated.

Remember, freedom has the power to change the world. When the time comes, none of those issues will matter anymore. Unfaultering support for the values of democracy will bring America both the friends and security it needs throughout all regions of the world, quelling Islamofascism and the remnants of totalitarian communism where they hide. The war on terrorism can only be fought by conducting a war on tyranny. Stability can only be achieved when democratic governments held directly accountable to the people are instituted. Please, President Bush and Secretary Rice, keep this doctrine in mind when facing the challenges posed by the uprising in Andijon. Reform and regime change cannot be expected over night, but it should certainly be expected.