US Ambassador: Our troops in Georgia forever

Russian Journal ^ | January 19, 2004

[RussianConservative]

TBILISI - US troops in Georgia will remain there forever, said US Ambassador to Georgia Richard Miles, Channel One reported.

According to Mr. Miles, the presence of American troops is necessary to provide security for the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline project. At the same time, Mr. Miles expressed regret that Russia created obstacles to an American presence in Georgia.

However, this contradicts the statement made by the newly-elected Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. Mr. Saakashvili said at a press conference on January 12 that Georgia would not allow the United States to build military bases in Georgia.

Perhaps, Georgia’s policy change was due to Washington’s readiness to allocate $164m in aid to the country. The news was announced by Georgian Foreign Minister Tedo Dzhaparidze last week. He said the US aid would not be limited to this package, as several private American funds also expressed readiness to help Georgia.

[cynicom]

Pravda always was a liar.

[RussianConservative]

Maybe you miss source: Russian Journal...try again.

[cynicom]

All sounds like Pravda...Russian media told lies for so many years that they would not know the truth if they saw it.

[Post Toasties]

Either this Richard Miles is an idiot or he thought he was talking to one if he made that kind of unsupportable statement.

[RussianConservative]

Oh and US media full of truth...one to speak.

[RussianConservative]

In past under Sheve, Miles often try to force Georgian policy.

[cynicom]

We agree our media lies. All those years Pravda lied, not a Russian spoke up, not a one.

[RussianConservative]

Because when Soviets around oh so much free speech to say about lies of government.

[kingu]

I hope that Richard Miles is recalled to Washington for the rump chewing that he so rightly deserves and that the State Department clarifies this dumb statement.

If it is the policy of the United States that our troops are going to stay ANYWHERE forever, I would like to hear it said so I can bombard the person with objections.

[Democratshavenobrains]

American Ambassadors don't seem to be very smart nowadays.

[BlackVeil]

Long term, the presence in Georgia will bring all sorts of problems and tensions.

Because the US is stuck in Afghanistan, it should try not to alienate either Russia or China. Because either of them could make the Afghan adventure a nasty, awful, unfair experience ... not the nice easy victory we were promised.