Posted on 08/11/2008 8:16:28 AM PDT by Jeff Head
TBILISI, Georgia — Russia opened a second front of fighting in Georgia on Monday, sending armored vehicles beyond two breakaway provinces and seizing a military base and police stations in the country's west, the Georgian government and a Russian official said.
GEORGIAN FORCES
RUSSIAN FORCES
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
1) Trading the Chinese power for Walmart Spatulas.
2) Allowing fund managers priority over real workers.
3) Illegal immigration. With the word Illegal being emphasized.
4) Wondering why foreign religious states don't want the Paris Hilton , Brittany Spears westernization of their country. (we need to clean up our act)
5) Trusting and empowering of the countries whose stated agenda is still th overthrow of the US. (see #1)
All of it to me is the constant demoralization of the nation. The sacrifice of principals that made this nation great. Its hard to watch.
By KIM GAMEL | Associated Press Writer
12:52 PM EDT, August 10, 2008
BAGHDAD (AP) _ The U.S. military began flying 2,000 Georgian troops home from Iraq on Sunday, military officials said, after the Georgians recalled the soldiers following the outbreak of fighting with Russia in the breakaway province of South Ossetia.
The decision was a timely payback for the former Soviet republic that has been a staunch U.S. supporter and agreed to send troops to Iraq as part of the U.S.-led coalition.
Georgia was the third-largest contributor of coalition forces after the U.S. and Britain, and most of its troops were stationed near the Iranian border in southeastern Iraq.
The U.S. military has played down concerns about the redeployment, saying it may have "some impact" in the near term but no significant long-term effect on Iraq's security.
"We want to thank them for the great support they've given the coalition and we wish them well," military spokesman Rear Adm. Patrick Driscoll said earlier Sunday at a news conference.
Georgia, which borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia, had asked the U.S. military on Friday to provide transportation.
"We are supporting the Georgian military units that are in Iraq in their redeployment to Georgia so that they can support requirements there during the current security situation," said Col. Jerry O'Hara, another military spokesman in Baghdad. "Flights have in fact begun today and Georgian forces are redeploying."
He declined to disclose flight details. But another senior U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information, said the military would fly the troops back "to the republic of Georgia.
The officials also said American units had been shuffled in their area of responsibility to compensate for the departure of the Georgians.
O'Hara said that even though the loss of forces was unexpected, "we can and are accommodating the changes."
Most Georgian troops moved last year from the relatively safe Green Zone in Baghdad to an area southeast of the capital to help interdict supplies allegedly being smuggled to Shiite extremists from Iran. More than 100 remained in Baghdad to help secure the Green Zone.
At least five Georgians soldiers have died in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Some Iraqis welcomed the Georgian withdrawal, saying they're tired of the presence of U.S-led foreign troops.
"God willing, not only the Georgian forces will withdraw but all other troops will leave our country and security and stability will come back to our land," Baghdad resident Ghada Adnan told Associated Press Television News.
Georgia, whose troops have been trained by American soldiers, began an offensive to regain control over South Ossetia overnight Friday, launching heavy rocket and artillery fire and air strikes.
In response, Russia, which has granted passports to most South Ossetians, began overwhelming bombing and shelling attacks against Georgia and Georgian troops.
I cannot speak for New Mexico or other places...but I know a lot of the people down there.
That is not to say that the liberal, anti-American sentiment does not have roots there...it is just not strong enough to effect what you are talking about in Texas at this point IMHO.
Good statement. McCain wouldn't be a bad president if we could keep him occupied solely with foreign affairs.
And of course the systematic removal of God from our public life.
Rather sad comment on the commitment of the US to Georgia...these returning soldiers will in all likelihood be killed or imprisoned.
This whole oil/energy thing has had me worried about how it would ultimately affect us in a larger sense.
We have gone from being totally stunned and united about defending ourselves in the world on 9-12-2001 - to a bunch of whining appeasers today. The US voters today are easily 50% plus willing to vote away our sovereignty and security in order to "make nice" in the world. Our own citizens are shouting to all who will hear that our military and particularly our executive branch and CIC are war criminals.
Congress is on vacation...
We have a President - cowed, haunted by the press and other liberal factions - so much more interested in getting along and trying to prove he's a good guy to people who will hate and vilify him regardless.
Congress is on vacation...
The President is admiring our Olympic team and hoping for a kumbaya moment to somehow arise by his being there.
Our borders are open and being overrun with illegal immigrants.
Foreign investors are snapping up US interests at bargain basement prices.
Congress is on vacation...
Gas is breaking the back of middle class families' budgets.
Congress is on vacation... Oh and
Al Gore thinks global warming is our most pressing issue of the day! Sheesh!
Good first step to fly the Georgian troops back into the country using US planes. Get those planes in the air, and move a carrier group up close in support of the Georgian request. And get as many EU weinies involved in order to up the ante to the Russians. Get the usual UN stuff rolling right away and get a couple US or UN or EU peacekeepers in there right away. Protect the Georgian Government, and insist on Russian payments to rebuild any assets taken out in Georgia. Get some Jets over Georgia, as they have requested.
Good gosh...we wish them well? They have stood in harms way beside us hen we called for help and now we fly them back and to their country that is being over-run and...we wish them well?
My guess is that this is a quote from an exit ceremony of some type or a press conference regarding the same.
Those Gerogians did one hell of a lot more than, "wish us well", when we called for their help.
I wish to God that we had the plan in place and were executing it as we speak to give these soldiers the kind of support and help they really need to save their free country.
I know this is off-topic, but I just loved watching the U.S. men's 400m freestyle relay team beat the French team yesterday, especially since the French team had been issuing statements earlier such as, "We're going to smash the Americans. That's what we came for." They were heavily favored in the race, but the U.S. team beat them by 0.08 seconds. Ha! They were very quiet after that.
Really? How will it cost them? All it proves is that America’s promises are worthless, and they have the strength and ruthlesness to destroy those who oppose them.
This is total win for the Sov, er, Russians.
That was an AMAZING race. Particularly that last leg. That guy swam inspired and on pure adrenaline. What a race and what a victory.
Georgia appeals for help over Russia "invasion"
By Matt Robinson
TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgia appealed for international intervention on Monday and pulled its battered forces back to defend the capital, as Russian troops moved further into its territory, ignoring Western pleas to halt.
You have to love that "invasion" in quotes. Like it might be an invasion, or it's a so-called invasion, but really just a normal everyday international activity of Russians driving tanks all over their neighbors countries! LOL. They are such wrong headed leftists at Reuters. The article continues:
"The Georgian army is retreating to defend the capital. The Government is urgently seeking international intervention to prevent the fall of Georgia," a Georgian statement said.
Moscow snubbed a plea from the Group of Seven (G7) industrial powers for a ceasefire. It said Georgia had not kept a promise to halt fighting and was shelling the Russian-held region of South Ossetia where the conflict began last Thursday.
SNUB! A great word. Putin to USA: Screw you! USA to Putin: please stop that. Putin to USA: No! Pound Sand. I'll show you Geeorgia in NATO, right here Bush, right here!!
A Reuters witness saw Georgian helicopter gunships bombing targets near the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali, sending dark smoke billowing into the air. A second reporter heard heavy artillery bombardments on the road north of the wrecked town.
Reuters can find Georgians doing things, but not Russians apparently!
Moscow appeared in no mood to compromise, opening a second front in the fighting by moving troops out of Abkhazia in the west and taking the Georgian town of Senaki, though Russian officials earlier said they did not intend to occupy territory beyond the two separatist areas of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. A senior Georgian official later claimed that Russian troops had seized the Georgian town of Gori, some 40 km (25 miles) from South Ossetia. Moscow denied that report and a Reuters correspondent said no troops were visible in Gori's streets. The correspondent said a column of Georgian military trucks was visible on the highway moving out of Gori eastwards towards the capital Tbilisi.
Follows, the attempt at an even handed summary.
The simmering conflict erupted last Thursday when Georgia suddenly sent forces to retake South Ossetia, which threw off Georgian rule in the 1990s and declared itself independent, albeit without international recognition.
Moscow responded with a counter-attack by its vastly bigger forces that drove Georgian troops out of the devastated South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali on Sunday. Russia says 1,600 people have been killed in the fighting and thousands more are homeless but these figures are not independently verifiable.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said he had agreed to a plan proposed by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Monday under which hostilities would end, a mixed peacekeeping force would be deployed and troops would return to pre-conflict positions.
Women and children wept in the streets of Tskhinvali on Monday as they surveyed the destruction amid continued Georgian shelling. Russian troops distributed water and food from trucks.
Ah yes, eveil Georgians shelling woman and children, virtuous Red Army soldiers handing out food.., ok, I think I've got the plot now ...
One elderly resident told Reuters how she sheltered in a cellar with her 7-year-old grandson during the bombardment.
"My grandson screamed: 'Uncle Putin please help us, help us so that the Georgians don't kill me !'. They were screaming and crying it was terrible, a nightmare," she said.
"Thank God the Russians have come. It is getting better."
Honesty, I did NOT make this up!! This is really their version of things!! Amazing!!
CONFLICTING CLAIMS Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who has taken a leading role in the crisis, attacked the United States for helping Georgia fly home troops from Iraq and said the West was mistaking the aggressors for victims in the conflict -- a reference to strong Western support for Georgia.
Putin mocked the support given by the West to Saakashvili, comparing him to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who was hanged in 2006 for executing Shiites.
"They (the Americans) of course had to hang Saddam Hussein for destroying several Shiite villages," Putin said.
"But the current Georgian rulers who in one hour simply wiped 10 Ossetian villages from the face of the earth, the Georgian rulers which used tanks to run over children and the elderly, which threw civilians into cellars and burnt them -- they (Georgian leaders) are players that have to be protected."
Al Reuters attributes these comments directly to Putin. If true I think it is fair to say he has moved from slight pain in the ass to full scale serious enemy. Seems he is still smarting over the loss of his buddy Saddam?? Three paragraphs of financial news follow on the Russian stock echange then they close with this:
A Georgian government source said on Sunday 130 Georgian civilians and military personnel had been killed and 1,165 wounded, many because of Russian bombing inside Georgia. Russia denies hitting civilian targets.
A very small line or two at the very end giving the Georgian side of things, of course giving the final counter argument to the Russian.
Pretty clear who Reuters is aligned with on this one.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush is putting the crisis with Russia at the top of his agenda as he returns from Asia.
The president plans to make a statement in the Rose Garden at 5:15 p.m. EDT on Monday, shortly after arriving back from the Olympic Games in Beijing.
The United States and its allies are pressing Russia to accept an immediate cease-fire with the former Soviet republic of Georgia and agree to international mediation over the crisis in Georgia's separatist areas. Russia has ignored calls for a truce and has responded with overwhelming military force.
Sad, but true.
What about Ukraine? I don't know. Putin could over-reach too, but hasn't so far.
There is no way in hell Turkey is going to allow a Carrier Battle Group to transit the Bosporus Straits.
This is something Bush should latch on to (if he was not already involved in orchestrating), and arrive there with these others.
This type of thing could come out of the blue and upset Putin's entire Op Plan.
Tough stuff...hope the Georgians learned something from 1980-1988 Afgahnistan and make those Red b*stards bleed - make them pay dearly.
Aim small, miss small.
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