Georgia fired first shot, say UK monitors

Jon Swain


Two former British military officers are expected to give crucial evidence against Georgia when an international inquiry is convened to establish who started the country’s bloody five-day war with Russia in August.


Ryan Grist, a former British Army captain, and Stephen Young, a former RAF wing commander, are said to have concluded that, before the Russian bombardment began, Georgian rockets and artillery were hitting civilian areas in the breakaway region of South Ossetia every 15 or 20 seconds.


Their accounts seem likely to undermine the American-backed claims of President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia that his little country was the innocent victim of Russian aggression and acted solely in self-defence.
During the war both Grist and Young were senior figures in the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The organisation had deployed teams of unarmed monitors to try to reduce tension over South Ossetia, which had split from Georgia in a separatist struggle in the early 1990s with Russia’s support.
On the night war broke out, Grist was the senior OSCE official in Georgia. He was in charge of unarmed monitors who became trapped by the fighting. Based on their observations, Grist briefed European Union diplomats in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, with his assessment of the conflict.


Grist, who resigned from the OSCE shortly afterwards, has told The New York Times it was Georgia that launched the first military strikes against Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital.
“It was clear to me that the [Georgian] attack was completely indiscriminate and disproportionate to any, if indeed there had been any, provocation,” he said. “The attack was clearly, in my mind, an indiscriminate attack on the town, as a town.”


Last month Young gave a similar briefing to visiting military attachés, in which he reportedly supported the monitors’ assessment that there had been little or no shelling of Georgian villages on the night Saakashvili’s troops mounted an onslaught on Tskhinvali in which scores of civilians and Russian peacekeepers died.


“If there had been heavy shelling in areas that Georgia claimed were shelled, then our people would have heard it, and they didn’t,” Young reportedly said. “They heard only occasional small-arms fire.”


Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister who helped broker the ceasefire that ended the war and has been a fierce critic of the Russian invasion of Georgia, is tomorrow due to announce a commission of inquiry into the conflict at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.


The inquiry will be chaired by a Swiss expert as a mark of independence and will try to establish who was to blame for the conflict. European and OSCE sources say it is likely to seek evidence from the two former British officers.


The inquiry comes as the EU softens its hardline position towards Russia amid mounting European scepticism about Saakashvili’s judgment.


Europe is preparing to resume negotiations with Moscow this month on a new partnership and cooperation agreement, which it froze when Russia invaded Georgia, routed its army and recognised the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway region.


Although Grist and Young know only part of the picture, their evidence appears to support Russia’s claim that the Georgian attack was well underway by the time their troops and armour crossed the border in a huge counter-strike.


Georgia attacked South Ossetia on the night of August 7-8. In the afternoon an OSCE patrol had seen Georgian artillery and Grad rocket launchers massing just outside the enclave. At 6pm the monitors were told of suspected Georgian shelling of a village.


Georgia declared a unilateral ceasefire. But at 11pm it announced that Georgian villages were being shelled and began a military operation to “restore constitutional order” in South Ossetia.


Soon afterwards the Georgian bombardment of Tskhinvali began. By 12.35am the OSCE monitors had recorded more than 100 rockets or shells exploding in Tskhinvali.


Russia sent in troops and armour, saying they were there to protect its peacekeepers and the civilian population. The invasion attracted worldwide condemnation and led to a deterioration in relations between Moscow and the West.


Many western leaders depicted Russia as an expansionist giant determined to crush its tiny neighbour. They rallied to Georgia’s defence amid calls for it to be rapidly admitted to Nato, Saakashvili’s most fervent wish.
The president argued that Russia had attacked Georgia because “we want to be free” and that his country was fighting a defensive war.


Critical to his argument was his claim that he had ordered the Georgian army to attack South Ossetia in self-defence after mobile telephone intercepts from the Russian border revealed that Russian army vehicles were entering Georgian territory through the Roki tunnel.


“We wanted to stop the Russian troops before they could reach Georgian villages,” Saakashvili said. “When our tanks moved toward Tskhinvali, the Russians bombed the city. They were the ones – not us – who reduced it to rubble.”


Russia counters that the war began at 11.30pm, when Saakashvili ordered an attack, well before any Russian combat troops and armour crossed the border through the tunnel.
HOW FIGHTING BROKE OUT
  
August 7, 3pm: OSCE monitors see build-up of Georgian artillery on roads to South Ossetia.


6.10pm: Russian peacekeepers inform OSCE of suspected Georgian artillery fire on Khetagurovo, a South Ossetian village.


7pm: Georgia declares a unilateral ceasefire.


11pm: Georgia announces that its villages are being shelled and launches attack in South Ossetia.


11.30pm: Georgian forces bombard Tskhinvali.


11.45pm: OSCE monitors report shells falling on Tskhinvali every 15-20 seconds.


August 8, 12.15am: Commander of Russian peacekeepers reports that his unit has taken casualties. Russia later announces that it has invaded Georgia to protect civilians and Russian peacekeepers.

What really happened in South Ossetia, on Aug. 7 2008.

I survived the Georgian war. Here’s what I saw.

Lira Tskhovrebova
Christian Science Monitor
October 8, 2008

In a speech before the United Nations last month, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili implored world leaders to set up an international investigation to find out the truth about the war in South Ossetia.

I couldn’t agree more. But I think the results of an honest investigation would reveal a very different “truth” than what President Saakashvili claims.

I know this because I was in Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, on Aug. 7 when Georgian troops marched into the city and killed my friends and neighbors. I huddled with my family in terror for three nights while Saakashvili’s tanks and rockets destroyed hundreds of our homes, desecrated cemeteries, gutted schools and hospitals.

I also have good reason not to trust what Saakashvili says. For three days before the attack I had been getting calls from many Georgian friends warning me to get out. They said Saakashvili was planning an attack. Most of the Georgians living in South Ossetia left because they knew what was coming.

On the night of Aug. 7, Saakashvili went on television and assured the frightened civilian population of South Ossetia that he would not attack us. This was long after the time Saakashvili now claims Russians had begun “invading” Georgia.

Ossetians went to bed relieved and thankful for a peaceful night.

Less than two hours later, according to credible international accounts, his artillery, bombers, and three brigades of ground troops unleashed what I can only describe as a fierce hell on our city. In the moment, we knew only our fear as we hid. Afterward I spoke with hundreds of Ossetians to find out what was done to us.

My friend’s elderly father tried to douse the flames set by Georgian fire on the home he had built with his hands. His leg was severed by shrapnel from Georgian weapons. He bled to death while his disabled wife crawled from their burning home.

Ossetians saw Georgian tanks firing into basements where women and children hid for safety They saw fleeing families shot down by Georgian snipers. We learned that the Georgian military had used Grad rocket systems and cluster bombs against Tskhinvali.

Yes, I would very much like to see an international commission investigate the truth of what happened.

When I came out from hiding, thanking God that the Russians had saved our lives, I was dismayed by the reaction of the international media to what had happened. There was nothing about Ossetian deaths and the unprovoked horrors inflicted by Saakashvili’s military. It made my heart sick.

The truth has been crushed by Georgia’s powerful public relations machine as mercilessly as Georgian tanks rolled over the defenseless civilians of Tskhinvali.

I know that Americans are a generous and fair people. But Americans haven’t been told the truth about what happened to us. Americans don’t understand that Ossetians are an independent, Christian Orthodox people with a deep history in our land. The world talks only about Georgian freedom. What of freedom for my people? Does our suffering, do our voices, mean nothing?

I don’t blame the Georgian people for what happened to us. The vast number of Ossetians and Georgians want to live in peace. I blame Georgia’s leaders.

Saakashvili has persuaded the world that he is a “beacon” of democracy and openness. But he won’t even tell his own people the truth. My Georgian friends weren’t allowed to see any Russian news sites during the conflict because all of those sites were blocked by Saakashvili’s government.

I know we are a small people, and I make no claim to understanding the experts in geopolitics with their theories and pronouncements about the great powers. But I have fought for women’s rights in Ossetia for 12 years and I believe in the truth.

In a recent article, Saakashvili cynically dismissed Ossetian suffering and deaths because, he said, Russia had “lied” about how many of my people were killed by the Georgian military.

It breaks my heart to even engage in this discussion. No one – including Saakashvili – knows how many Ossetians were killed by his Army. I have friends who buried loved ones in their backyards because there were no alternatives. Many people are still missing.

Does Saakashvili believe his vicious attack on a civilian city was justified if he only killed a few hundred rather than a few thousand? Do Americans realize that a military trained and equipped by the US government attacked a civilian population as they slept in their beds? Can they justify sending another billion dollars to Georgia and nothing for those Georgia attacked?

I have made an urgent appeal to the world for humanitarian relief for our people at the website helpossetianow.org. I beg the United States and the world to find out the truth. Please hear our voices.

Lira Tskhovrebova is the founder of the Association of South Ossetian Women for Democracy and Human Rights and has worked for more than a decade to improve relations between people of Georgian and Ossetian descent in the Caucasus.

Russia Never Wanted a War

By MIKHAIL GORBACHEV

Published: August 19, 2008

THE acute phase of the crisis provoked by the Georgian forces’ assault on Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, is now behind us. But how can one erase from memory the horrifying scenes of the nighttime rocket attack on a peaceful town, the razing of entire city blocks, the deaths of people taking cover in basements, the destruction of ancient monuments and ancestral graves?

Russia did not want this crisis. The Russian leadership is in a strong enough position domestically; it did not need a little victorious war. Russia was dragged into the fray by the recklessness of the Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili. He would not have dared to attack without outside support. Once he did, Russia could not afford inaction.

The decision by the Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev, to now cease hostilities was the right move by a responsible leader. The Russian president acted calmly, confidently and firmly. Anyone who expected confusion in Moscow was disappointed.

The planners of this campaign clearly wanted to make sure that, whatever the outcome, Russia would be blamed for worsening the situation. The West then mounted a propaganda attack against Russia, with the American news media leading the way.

The news coverage has been far from fair and balanced, especially during the first days of the crisis. Tskhinvali was in smoking ruins and thousands of people were fleeing — before any Russian troops arrived. Yet Russia was already being accused of aggression; news reports were often an embarrassing recitation of the Georgian leader’s deceptive statements.

It is still not quite clear whether the West was aware of Mr. Saakashvili’s plans to invade South Ossetia, and this is a serious matter. What is clear is that Western assistance in training Georgian troops and shipping large supplies of arms had been pushing the region toward war rather than peace.

If this military misadventure was a surprise for the Georgian leader’s foreign patrons, so much the worse. It looks like a classic wag-the-dog story.

Mr. Saakashvili had been lavished with praise for being a staunch American ally and a real democrat — and for helping out in Iraq. Now America’s friend has wrought disorder, and all of us — the Europeans and, most important, the region’s innocent civilians — must pick up the pieces.

Those who rush to judgment on what’s happening in the Caucasus, or those who seek influence there, should first have at least some idea of this region’s complexities. The Ossetians live both in Georgia and in Russia. The region is a patchwork of ethnic groups living in close proximity. Therefore, all talk of “this is our land,” “we are liberating our land,” is meaningless. We must think about the people who live on the land.

The problems of the Caucasus region cannot be solved by force. That has been tried more than once in the past two decades, and it has always boomeranged.

What is needed is a legally binding agreement not to use force. Mr. Saakashvili has repeatedly refused to sign such an agreement, for reasons that have now become abundantly clear.

The West would be wise to help achieve such an agreement now. If, instead, it chooses to blame Russia and re-arm Georgia, as American officials are suggesting, a new crisis will be inevitable. In that case, expect the worst.

In recent days, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and President Bush have been promising to isolate Russia. Some American politicians have threatened to expel it from the Group of 8 industrialized nations, to abolish the NATO-Russia Council and to keep Russia out of the World Trade Organization.

These are empty threats. For some time now, Russians have been wondering: If our opinion counts for nothing in those institutions, do we really need them? Just to sit at the nicely set dinner table and listen to lectures?

Indeed, Russia has long been told to simply accept the facts. Here’s the independence of Kosovo for you. Here’s the abrogation of the Antiballistic Missile Treaty, and the American decision to place missile defenses in neighboring countries. Here’s the unending expansion of NATO. All of these moves have been set against the backdrop of sweet talk about partnership. Why would anyone put up with such a charade?

There is much talk now in the United States about rethinking relations with Russia. One thing that should definitely be rethought: the habit of talking to Russia in a condescending way, without regard for its positions and interests.

Our two countries could develop a serious agenda for genuine, rather than token, cooperation. Many Americans, as well as Russians, understand the need for this. But is the same true of the political leaders?

A bipartisan commission led by Senator Chuck Hagel and former Senator Gary Hart has recently been established at Harvard to report on American-Russian relations to Congress and the next president. It includes serious people, and, judging by the commission’s early statements, its members understand the importance of Russia and the importance of constructive bilateral relations.

But the members of this commission should be careful. Their mandate is to present “policy recommendations for a new administration to advance America’s national interests in relations with Russia.” If that alone is the goal, then I doubt that much good will come out of it. If, however, the commission is ready to also consider the interests of the other side and of common security, it may actually help rebuild trust between Russia and the United States and allow them to start doing useful work together.

Mikhail Gorbachev is the former president of the Soviet Union. This article was translated by Pavel Palazhchenko from the Russian.

Attacking Iran via South Ossetia

An editor I once worked for told me that when his parents and grandparents discussed the day’s news over dinner, they would inevitably finish by asking each other: “Is it good for the Jews?”

“Whether it was a war or an earthquake or men landing on the moon, it would always come down to that,” he recalled. “They saw everything through that lens.”

This year, I’ve developed a comparable pathology. I am terrified that the Bush administration is going to attack Iran sometime before it leaves office on January 20. Whenever there is a new tremor in Washington or the wider world, I ask myself: Does this make an American strike against Iran more or less likely?

So it is with the recent dustup in Georgia. I fear it has increased the chances that the United States will bomb Iran.

Read article

Paul Craig Roberts on Russia Today: Washington Sanctioned Assault on S. Ossetia

FLASHBACK: Solzhenitsyn accused U.S., NATO of encircling Russia in 2006

FLASHBACK

Pravda | April 27, 2006

Nobel laureate and former Soviet dissident Aleksander Solzhenitsyn in a newspaper interview accused the United States and NATO of seeking to encircle Russia, and praised President Vladimir Putin for working to restore a strong state.

In a rare interview, the reclusive 87-year-old author, who rose to prominence for his accounts of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s repression and labor camps, told the liberal weekly Moscow News that NATO’s ultimate aim was the loss of Russia’s sovereignty, according to a full text of the interview posted on its Web site edition Thursday.

“Though it is clear that present-day Russia poses no threat to it, NATO is methodically and persistently building up its military machine into the east of Europe and surrounding Russia from the south,” Solzhenitsyn was quoted as saying.

“This involves open material and ideological support for ‘color revolutions’ and the paraxodical forcing of North Atlantic interests on Central Asia,” he reportedly said, adding that there was “little substantial difference” between the actions of the U.S. and NATO.

“All this leaves no doubt that they are preparing to completely encircle Russia and deprive it of its sovereignty,” Solzhenitsyn was quoted as saying.

Russia was furious at what it saw as Western encroachment on its home turf after a series of peaceful revolutions brought opposition leaders to power in the former Soviet republics Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.

Solzhenitsyn lashed out at the pro-Western government in Ukraine for its drive to obtain NATO membership, and said Russia would “never betray in any way the multimillion Russian population in Ukraine and renounce our unity with it,” according to report.

The author, known for his conservative Slavic views, accused former reformist Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev of capitulating to the West, and Russia’s first post-Communist president, Boris Yeltsin, of pursuing the same policy as well as presiding over the massive theft of state resources and a descent into chaos.

But he said in the interview with Moscow News that Putin, a former KGB career intelligence officer who was elected in 2000, was making efforts to restore Russia’s shattered statehood.

“Foreign policy, considering our current situation and possibilities, is being conducted sensibly and ever more forward-thinking,” Solzhenitsyn said.

FULL ARTICLE

Cheney’s Dark Hand Behind Georgia Attack of South Ossetia

Allen L Roland’s Radio Weblog
August 14, 2008

Make no mistake about it, to Dick Cheney and his neocon co-conspirators, the cold war never ended and continues to this day. This is truly a Cheney/Bush Administration where Bush is the oblivious stooge / cheerleader while Cheney positions and moves all the pieces on the grand global chess board.

Note the timing of their separate responses to the recent Georgia / Russia conflict as reported by By Tom Lasseter and Jonathan S Landry of the McClatchy-Tribune on August 10th.

" Tensions between the United States and Russia sharpened as the Bush administration suggested that Russia’s objective is the ousting of President Mikhail Saakashvili, who has close ties to the United States and is seeking admission to NATO.

President Bush, in an interview with NBC, said, "I’ve expressed my grave concern about the disproportionate response of Russia and that we strongly condemn the bombing outside of South Ossetia."

Here’s Salon’s Scott Bateman’s take on Bush’s comments — Bateman: George W. Bush on the invasion of Georgia

Earlier, Vice President Dick Cheney’s spokeswoman Lea Ann McBride described Cheney’s talk with Georgia’s president, in which he said "Russian aggression must not go unanswered, and that its continuation would have serious consequences for its relations with the United States."

Note the difference in tone — it’s classic good cop, bad cop and guess who’s the bad cop and in charge at the White House.

It’s obvious that the Lord of War, Dick Cheney, is in the bunker, just like he was on 9/11, making the moves while Bush makes meaningless noise from his bully pulpit while being seemingly unconscious — like reading My Pet Goat upside down on 9/11 in a classroom in Florida while planes and perhaps a missile were striking the World Trade Center and the Pentagon or falling down in a drunken stupor at the Olympics while war breaks out between Georgia and Russia.

Why do you think Putin shook his finger at Bush when he left the Olympics to return to Moscow during this crisis — He knew what Cheney was up to and Putin responded quickly and decisively . You don’t want to needlessly provoke the Russian bear — no wonder Bush went off the wagon in Beijing.

As such, Russia has sent a sharp message to the West that they will take whatever measures necessary to defend their commercial, strategic and sovereign interests, particularly in the regions abutting its extensive frontiers — which is a huge setback to Cheney’s imperialistic and arrogant approach to the global politics and energy positioning.

More importantly, Russia has also clearly demonstrated to the world the reality of its military and economic power in comparison to the floundering Cheney/Bush administration’s failed Iraq debacle and current economic woes.

So whose in charge here ? Obviously it’s not Bush — so it must be Darth Vader himself , Dick Cheney, who once pronounced " The natural state of man is war ."

Here’s the Georgia / Russian War in a nutshell, verifying the Cheney presence, as reported by F William Engdahl in ICH, on August 8th — " As far as the Georgians are concerned, South Ossetia and Abkhazia are simply part of their national territory, to be recovered at all costs. Promises by NATO leaders to bring Georgia into the alliance, and ostentatious declarations of support from Washington, have emboldened Saakashvili to launch his military offensive against the two provinces, South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Saakashvili and likely, Dick Cheney’s office in Washington appear to have miscalculated very badly. Russia has made it clear that it has no intention of ceding its support for South Ossetia or Abkhazia." http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20489.htm

On top of that we have yesterday’s comments by Russian Ambassador to the UN , Vitaly Churkin all but saying that Georgia’s preemptive attack on Ossetia was orchestrated by the Cheney/Bush administration — "It is hard to imagine that (Georgian President Mikheil) Saakashvili embarked on this risky venture without some sort of approval from the side of the United States," Churkin told Russian NTV television on Wednesday.

Meanwhile former Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said that Georgia made a "grave mistake" by advancing into the pro Russian breakaway province of South Ossetia. Shevardnadze, who is a former Soviet foreign minister, also said the issue of Georgia in itself would not cause a new Cold War, as "the new Cold War has long since been instigated by the USA, through the Americans’ so-called missile defence shield in the Czech Republic and Poland." http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=96083

So there you have it — If the Lord of War, Dick Cheney, can’t get his war with Iran — he’ll settle for a resumption of the Cold war with Russia and will do anything to accomplish that — like the recent U.S. backed Georgia preemptive attack of South Ossetia.