Bush Orders Military to Deliver Aid to Georgia

[darrels joy]

Bush Orders Military to Deliver Aid to Georgia

Wednesday, August 13, 2008


WASHINGTON — President Bush has directed the U.S. military to lead a humanitarian mission to Georgia where tens of thousands have been forced out of their homes following a Russian invasion last week that has been described by Georgia's president as an "ethnic cleansing."

Bush said a U.S. C-17 aircraft with humanitarian supplies is already on its way and U.S. aircraft and Naval forces will deliver humanitarian and medical supplies to the country in the coming days.

"The mission will be vigorous and ongoing," Bush said from the White House Rose Garden with Defense Secretary Bob Gates and Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice by his side.

"We expect Russia to honor its commitment to let in all forms of humanitarian assistance. We expect Russia to insure that all lines of communication and transport, including seaports, airports, roads and airspace, remain open for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and for civilian transit," Bush said.

Bush said he is also sending Rice to Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, to "personally convey America's unwavering support for the government of Georgia." Rice will travel beforehand to France to meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

"The United States stands with the democratic government of Georgia and insists that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected," Bush said. "The United States strongly supports France's efforts as president of the European Union to broker an agreement to end this conflict."

The president spoke after a busy morning of briefings and a phone conversation with Sarkozy and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, a close ally of the United States.

The administration also spent Wednesday morning trying to document whether Russia is violating the cease-fire it agreed to institute with the former Soviet Republic. FOX News confirmed that Russian tanks entered the city of Gori, just 40 miles from Tbilisi, on Wednesday, after they were supposed to have withdrawn.

"We expect Russia to meet its commitment to cease all military activities in Georgia, and we expect all Russian forces that have entered Georgia in recent days to withdraw from that country," Bush said.

"To begin to repair the damage to its relations with the United States, Europe and other nations, and to begin restoring its place in the world, Russia must keep its word and act to end this crisis," he added.

Nearly a week of bombings and rocket attacks has left heavy damage in Georgia. A joint civilian-military assessment team was flying into the country late Wednesday afternoon, local time, to gather information on exactly what is needed, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity before the president's announcement. A second flight, with some initial humanitarian supplies such as sleeping bags and water, was to arrive after that.

In a conference call with international reporters earlier in the day, Saakashvili predicted a humanitarian disaster, the result of 100,000 people being displaced from their homes in the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which Russia wants to claim for itself. He also described "ethnic cleansing" in Gori, and said men and women are being separated and men put in internment camps.

Saakashvili said the U.S. and West underestimated Russia's regional ambitions and warned that "America's reputation here, since (the) Cold War, is going to hell now."

"We have been warning them a large scale Russian invasion is coming," Saakashvili said. "(The) State Department told us the Russians are not going to do that."

The Georgian president said Russia's "well planned invasion" is on a larger scale than the first days of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001." He also said he feared Georgia is just the first nation to be subjected to Russia's resurging territorial ambitions.

Saakashvili denied Georgia had provoked the conflict in South Ossetia as Russia has claimed.

"I'm sickened by speculation that Georgia started anything," he said, noting how he had to return to his country while on his way to the Olympics because Georgia had no choice but to "respond or to surrender."

The U.S.-educated Saakashvili credited Republican presidential candidate John McCain with predicting Russia's real intent, but did not make an endorsement in the U.S. presidential campaign.

FOX News' Anne McGinn, Nina Donaghey and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,402982,00.html

[82Rigger]

"We expect Russia to insure that all lines of communication and transport, including seaports, airports, roads and airspace, remain open for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and for civilian transit," Bush said.

The Russians will probably comply with this, but the Georgian separatists may not...and they're using Russian weapons.

This could get REAL interesting.