Newly available accounts by independent military observers of the beginning of the war between Georgia and Russia this summer call into question the longstanding Georgian assertion that it was acting defensively against separatist and Russian aggression, writes C. J. Chivers and Ellen Barry in the Herald Tribune.
The accounts are neither fully conclusive nor broad enough to settle the many lingering disputes over blame in a war that hardened relations between the Kremlin and the West. But they raise questions about the accuracy and honesty of Georgia's insistence that its shelling of Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway region of South Ossetia, was a precise operation. Georgia has variously defended the shelling as necessary to stop heavy Ossetian shelling of Georgian villages, bring order to the region or counter a Russian invasion.
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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?
The New York Times' conclusion is not ambiguous: "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."
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.
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.
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