Heil Mikhail
Some 10, 000 Georgians today took to the streets of Tblisi to denounce their rambunctious President Mikhail Saakashvili. If these people recognize that their own country provoked an unnecessary and humiliating conflict with Russia, then why can’t America’s political establishment?
The protesters are brave: Saakashvili, who of course gets on splendidly with soon-to-be-VP Joe Biden, is increasingly acting like a paranoid, deluded autocrat. He recently dismissed his army chief after concluding that Georgia’s military forces had shown themselves to be weak.
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Don’t forget that Randy Scheunemann used to lobby for Georgia. I assume he’ll be getting that old job back.
The New York Times has an exhaustive story today on the Georgian government’s assault on South Ossetia, and the conclusion is unequivocal: “Georgia’s inexperienced military attacked the isolated separatist capital of Tskhinvali on Aug. 7 with indiscriminate artillery and rocket fire, exposing civilians, Russian peacekeepers and unarmed monitors to harm.”
In response, the U.S. State Department now concedes that the Georgian government was wrong to attack South Ossetia.
This report follows new revelations about Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s sneak attack on Tskhinvali, the BBC’s report on Georgian abuses, Human Rights Watch’s disclosure of Georgian use of cluster bombs, and our own growing compilation of eyewitness accounts of Georgian abuses before, during, and after the five-day war.
So now the question is: Why is the United States still giving billions of taxpayer dollars in unconditional aid to Saakashvili, rewarding him for what the NYT is now reporting was an indiscriminate attack on civilians?
While it’s good that the media are beginning to take a look at what really happened during the Georgian government’s assault on South Ossetia, it is time for the American government and people to find out what Georgia’s U.S. trained and equipped military really did.
Sen. Hillary Clinton needs to push her bill S.3567. This bill, which is currently referred to the Foreign Affairs Committee, seeks to examine the causes of the conflict and make recommendations about U.S. policy. Sen. Clinton must ensure that the American people get a full and fair hearing on what happened in August.
Saakashvili…yeah he’s the REAL problem.
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