Many Americans feel confused about the current conflict in Georgia, with hysterical charges of genocide arising from South Ossetians and their Russian sponsors, as well as from Georgians. The Russian government even demands that the pro-American President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, must be removed from office and tried for war crimes.Whatever the nature of long-ago abuses, however, there’s no doubt real doubt about which side is guilty of aggression and ethnic cleansing in the current struggle. Even a Major General with the invading Russian troops described the Georgians as victims, not villains. “Now Ossetians are running around and killing poor Georgians in their enclaves,” says Vyacheslav Borisov, commander in charge of the occupied city of Gori. A Russian lieutenant with an armored transport division made similar observations to the New York Times: “We have to be honest. The Ossetians are marauding.” On Thursday, Human Rights Watch issued a report that documented attacks by Ossetian militias, allied with the Russians. A South Ossetian intelligence officer said his forces burn down the houses of fleeing Georgians "to make sure" that they couldn't come back. When soldiers of Putin’s own army certify that their allies are committing atrocities, and when those allies proudly boast of those atrocities, the need for Western support for Georgia’s democratic government becomes even more obvious.

Iraqis feel for the position of the United States.  In an interview with an interpreter for the U.S. Marine unit, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, one Iraqi says that the US is in a “bad situation, no matter what route they take.”  Nick, the name the interpreter uses because he doesn’t want the terrorist to know his real name, tells a different story about Iraq.  “If the US stays, the Americans will hate their own government.  If the US leaves, they (the terrorist) will kill us.” 
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1. Suspend the NATO-Russia Council established in 2002 to help bring Russia closer to the West. Make clear that dissolution will follow suspension. The council gives Russia a seat at the NATO table. Message: Invading neighboring democracies forfeits the seat.

2. Bar Russian entry to the World Trade Organization.

3. Dissolve the G-8. Putin's dictatorial presence long made it a farce but no one wanted to upset the bear by expelling it. No need to. The seven democracies simply withdraw. Then immediately announce the reconstitution of the original G-7.

4. Announce a U.S.-European boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics at Sochi. To do otherwise would be obscene. Sochi is 15 miles from Abkhazia, the other Georgian province just invaded by Russia. The Games will become a riveting contest between the Russian, Belarusian and Jamaican bobsled teams.

All of these steps (except dissolution of the G-8, which should be irreversible) would be subject to reconsideration depending upon Russian action -- most importantly and minimally, its withdrawal of troops from Georgia proper to South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The most crucial and unconditional measure, however, is this: Reaffirm support for the Saakashvili government and declare that its removal by the Russians would lead to recognition of a government-in-exile. This would instantly be understood as providing us the legal basis for supplying and supporting a Georgian resistance to any Russian-installed regime.

I am leery of Olympic boycotts because they don't work and they don't work while injuring the athletes, but in this instance a push to have the IOCC remove the Games from Russia would make sense.  All of the other measures make obvious sense.

What matters most is speed.  History is full of loud denunciations followed by...less frequent denunciations, followed by acceptance of the status quo until the gangster regime makes another grab.  State will want to move slowly.  The president should push hard now for all of the sanctions available to him.

And Obama might want to come back from vacation and bone up on Russia --a state unlikely to listen to much less allow a U.N. mediator (does Obama know Russia has  a Security Council veto?) a recognition that might end Obama's silly talk of a U.N. mediator being the answer here.  As Lindsey Graham said yesterday: "The thing about Sen. Obama, he's playing catch-up here. His initial statements, quite frankly, didn't appreciate how bold a move this was from Russia."

As Rudy Giuliani put it on my show yesterday:

Senator Obama is, and I think this is clearly true, the most inexperienced candidate to run for president in the last hundred years. And his reaction to Georgia is the perfect example of that. First, he talks about a moral equivalent between Russia and Georgia, then he talks about going to the U.N. Well, somebody’s got to remind him that the Soviet Union, or the Soviet Union originally, and now Russia, has a veto power in the U.N.  

This is not 1968 and the invasion of Czechoslovakia where Russia can threaten its neighbors, occupy a capitol, overthrow a government and get away with it.  Things have changed.

While security continues to be a focus of priority across Iraq, a substantial shift has occurred in the agenda of doing so. Whereas coalition forces were subject to swinging from modes of both attack, and defense, part in effort to better counter the strategic styles of terrorist warfare, we now operate with greater depth. 2nd Platoon showed me just that as the sun rose this morning. Armed with intelligence gathered from locals, and our own intuitions of notable area suspects, we patrolled through Bennezaid seeking out men of ‘military age.’ Not surprisingly, there were none to be found, so onward we went with raiding several homes. I am proud to say that not only was I too, able to lend a sharp eye in uncovering contraband (a hidden letter from Al Qaida to be specific), but how adept those I embed with are! These professionals know the drill. They know what should be where and why. They know both from past experiences, and also from the tips of surrounding Iraqis no longer willing to jeopardize themselves in account of their neighbors.  These established relationships prove to be fundamental in winning the war. After uncovering fake ID’s, hidden pistols and AK-47’s, potential detonators for IED’S as well as wired battery packs ready to be packed with C4 explosive material, we packed up and headed home. This may not have been a big hit on a large cache, but it’s shakedowns like these that continue to quietly remove the weapons and their owners from the street. Just another typical day on the job…

Making it happen,

Kate

Samarra, Iraq — “You were an American soldier here in 2006?” asks Abu Saif.

“Yes,” I reply.

“Then you remember the Al Bazzi tribe,” he slyly posits. “We were one of the groups shooting at you,” he winks.

“Oh, yes, I remember,” I recall, now wearing my own grin. “And we shot back.”

He nods.
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Good ole ‘Castle Gate’… hearing of or passing through it again was never something I considered since my last visit in ’04.  But after winding through checkpoints along a route all too familiar from before, I was back.  Welcome to Taji! All of the sights and sounds of a place I had once feared to call home for several months of my deployment in OIF, bounded me once again. This time though, after shaking off some of the initial jitters stemming from the realization that I was in fact back, I came across a sense of relief.  After taking in several accounts from those currently serving in Taji, I discovered the general mood towards their mission to be positive.  Referring not only to the benefits of handling operations through a camp the size of Taji, but also the reports of significant wane in morter and RPG attacks, the general consensus expressed feeling productive.  With all that said, the temperature reached 130 degrees and wiped me out big time.  Will be pushing out early again tomorrow, so more highlights from Taji to follow.

Driving on,

Kate