You are correct. Serbia/Kosovo is exactly the same. Clinton was wrong to intervene for Kosovo then, Bush was wrong to recognize Kosovo and we would be wrong again not to come to Georgia’s aid. A big difference between Serbia and Georgia is that Georgia is a staunch ally of ours. That should count for something.
Actually I would call the Georgia situation much closer to the Russian-Chechnyan scenario.
The more interesting question is the Status of Georgia’s troops currently serving in IRAQ. Arguably, these are Georgia’s best-trained and equooed troopers.
There is only one way they get home as a fighting force, and that would be with massive US assistance.
Serbia was a staunch ally of the U.S. until we screwed them.
Looking back in history, it was incredibly difficult for MacArthur to aid South Korea in the early stages. I would guess that it was easier for him to transport troops there from Japan than it is for us to transport troops to Georgia. By the time we get there, Russia will likely have overrun them. We could try to liberate Georgia, but that would be hell— especially against a nation like Russia. We could weaken Russia with bombing runs. But we'll need ground forces to win.
Considering that we are already fighting a war on terror with our intelligence agencies stretched to the limit, I would say the temptation to shluff this will be great.
Then there's another problem— would the people support a war? If not, it will be difficult to get funding. Photographs of dead/injured civilians would need to flood the news.
Then you'd better ask yourself if America should go to war against Russia. I say no.