Legion of Angels News Archive

MOSCOW - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin insisted Thursday that Russia has no intention of encroaching on the sovereignty of Georgia after a brief war that left Russian troops in firm control of two breakaway regions.

Putin also aggressively defended the decision to invade Georgia, saying Russia had to act when Georgia attacked South Ossetia on Aug. 7.

“In this situation were we supposed to just wipe away bloody snot and hang our heads?” he asked a visiting group of Western scholars and journalists over lunch.

Striking out at the West for questioning Russia’s use of overwhelming force, he said Russia could not have been expected to use a “pocket knife” or “sling shot” to counter Georgia’s U.S.-trained army.

“When tanks, multiple rocket launchers and heavy artillery are used against us, are we supposed to fire with sling shots?” Putin asked his Western visitors. “What is an adequate use of force?”

But his comments came as an international human rights group said that Georgia’s assault was far less deadly than had been asserted.

Disputed death toll
Fewer than 100 civilians died in South Ossetia during last month’s war, Human Rights Watch said Thursday. Russia and its South Ossetian allies have contended that about 1,500 civilians were killed in the region.

Putin also said the West was wrong to claim that Russia has imperial ambitions. Russia has “no wish or grounds to encroach on the sovereignty of former Soviet republics,” he said.

Putin spoke Thursday as Russia jumped to counter claims that it intended to annex South Ossetia.

Speaking to the same group of Western experts earlier in the day, South Ossetia’s leader said that union with Russia was his region’s goal, a statement that threatened to undermine part of Russia’s justification for military intervention.

Eduard Kokoity quickly reversed himself.

“I have probably been misunderstood,” he was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying. “We are not going to relinquish our independence, which we won at the cost of colossal sacrifices, and South Ossetia is not going to become part of Russia.”

Breakaway regions
Russia recognized South Ossetia as an independent nation, along with another separatist region, Abkhazia, after last month’s war with Georgia over the regions. Both have had de-facto independence for more than a decade since breaking away from Georgian control in the early 1990s.

Many have expected that Russia would ultimately seek to absorb South Ossetia and unite its residents with their ethnic brethren in North Ossetia. Kokoity acknowledged as much Thursday.

“Yes, many in South Ossetia are talking about reunification with North Ossetia within Russia, and nobody can ban expressing such ideas,” he was quoted as saying.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was quick to counter Kokoity’s initial statement.

“South Ossetia is not intending to link up with anybody,” he told reporters in Warsaw, Poland. “They have understood that without a declaration of independence, they cannot ensure their own security.”

Conflict in South Ossetia
War broke out after Georgian forces launched an offensive to retake South Ossetia. Russian forces then routed Georgia’s military and drove deep into Georgia.

Russia has agreed to withdraw all its forces from positions outside Abkhazia and South Ossetia within about a month, but has said it will keep 7,600 troops inside the two regions.

Russian annexation of South Ossetia would infuriate the Georgians, who remain determined to bring both regions under government control.

It would also weaken Russia’s arguments for invading South Ossetia, by giving the impression that Russia had been seeking to absorb South Ossetia all along.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday he is considering setting up peacekeeping missions in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The possibility, Ban said, comes after “almost daily contact with world leaders” on the Russian occupation of Georgian territory weeks after last month’s five-day war.

Saakashvili warns NATO
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili urged NATO not to let Russia’s military campaign scare the alliance away from incorporating his nation.

Saakashvili has told The Associated Press that showing weakness in the face of Moscow would start what he called a “never-ending story” of Russian aggression.

He spoke in an interview late Thursday before a visit from the NATO secretary-general and other alliance officials next week.

Saakashvili has angered Moscow by seeking NATO membership for Georgia, and he said Russia’s invasion last month was aimed to scare NATO away.

He suggested keeping Georgia out of NATO because of Russian control over two separatist regions could encourage Russia to use force in Ukraine.

Source — MSNBC

FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin left open the option Thursday of waging war with Russia if it were to invade neighboring Georgia and the former Soviet republic were a NATO ally. “We will not repeat a Cold War,” Palin said in her first television interview since becoming Republican John McCain’s vice presidential running mate two weeks ago.

Palin told Charles Gibson of ABC News that she’d favor including Georgia and Ukraine, both former Soviet republics, in NATO despite opposition by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Asked whether the United States would have to go to war with Russia if it invaded Georgia, and the country was part of NATO, Palin said: “Perhaps so.”

“I mean, that is the agreement when you are a NATO ally, is if another country is attacked, you’re going to be expected to be called upon and help,” she said.

Pressed on the question, Palin responded: “What I think is that smaller democratic countries that are invaded by a larger power is something for us to be vigilant against … We have got to show the support, in this case, for Georgia. The support that we can show is economic sanctions perhaps against Russia, if this is what it leads to.”

She added: “It doesn’t have to lead to war and it doesn’t have to lead, as I said, to a Cold War, but economic sanctions, diplomatic pressure, again, counting on our allies to help us do that in this mission of keeping our eye on Russia and Putin and some of his desire to control and to control much more than smaller democratic countries.”

Palin spoke the same day Putin insisted that Russia has no intention of encroaching on the sovereignty of Georgia, following a brief war that left Russian troops in firm control of two breakaway regions. Putin also aggressively defended the decision to send troops to Georgia, saying Russia had to act after Georgia attacked South Ossetia last month.

On other matters, Palin said she “didn’t hesitate” when McCain asked her to be his running mate, a surprise selection that shook up the presidential race.

“I answered him ‘yes’ because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can’t blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we’re on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can’t blink. So I didn’t blink then even when asked to run as his running mate,” said the 44-year-old Palin, who has been in office less than two years.

Questioned about whether she felt ready to step in as vice president or perhaps even president if something happened to the 72-year-old McCain, Palin said: “I do, Charlie, and on January 20, when John McCain and I are sworn in, if we are so privileged to be elected to serve this country, we’ll be ready. I’m ready.”

Gibson also read Palin a comment she made in her former church — “Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God” — and asked whether she thought the United States was fighting a holy war.

Palin said she was recalling Abraham Lincoln’s words when she made the comment and said: “I would never presume to know God’s will or to speak God’s words.”

She said she didn’t know if her son Track who is headed to Iraq was on a mission from God.

“What I know is that my son has made a decision. I am so proud of his independent and strong decision he has made, what he decided to do and serving for the right reasons and serving something greater than himself and not choosing a real easy path where he could be more comfortable and certainly safer,” Palin said.

Source — Yahoo!

WASHINGTON (CNN) – President Bush gave an upbeat assessment Thursday of security strides in Iraq as U.S. troop deaths headed for their lowest monthly total since early in the war.

“Violence is down to its lowest level since the spring of 2004, and we’re now in our third consecutive month with reduced violence levels holding steady,” Bush said.

Troop reductions this year could continue if security holds, he said, and he announced that Army troops newly deployed to Iraq would serve 12 months instead of 15, starting Friday.

The deployment decision, which applies to new soldiers heading to Iraq, was first announced in April.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said separately Thursday that conditions in Iraq have improved “dramatically.”

“There is a real possibility of some additional drawdowns as we look forward,” Gates told reporters.

The new tour policy “relieves the burden on our forces, and it will make life easier for our wonderful military families,” Bush said during brief remarks at the White House.

Tours will not be reduced for currently deployed troops.

Bush said there’s a “degree of durability” to the gains made in reducing violence in Iraq. He credited last year’s increase in U.S. troop strength and the rising competency of Iraqi security forces.

A CNN-Opinion Research Corp. poll of 1,041 adults conducted on July 27-29 found 62 percent favor a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, while 37 percent oppose setting deadlines. The results had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The same poll found 52 percent consider the troop surge a success and 41 percent consider it a failure. The error margin on that question was plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

Overall, 37 percent think the United States is winning the war in Iraq, 6 percent think the insurgents are winning, and a majority, 57 percent, say no one is winning. That question also had a 4.5 percent error margin.

Sixty-six percent of those polled oppose the war in Iraq, while 33 percent favor it. The war in Afghanistan is opposed by 52 percent, but 56 percent say troop levels there should be increased as levels in Iraq are reduced.

The margin of error on those questions was 3 percentage points.

The president Thursday praised Iraqi forces for purging Shiite extremists from Basra, Amarra and Baghdad’s Sadr City neighborhood.

As a result of these successes, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker was able to walk through Sadr City last week, he said.

“That’s something that would not have been possible just a few months ago,” Bush said.

He also noted political progress in Iraq, as the Parliament has advanced legislation and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki recently completed a diplomatic trip to Europe.

Ten U.S. troop deaths have been reported this month. Four were killed in hostilities and six died from nonbattle-related causes, according to the Pentagon.

Two other soldiers who have been missing since May 2007 were found dead this month, but it is not known when they died.

The lowest monthly toll had been in May, when 19 were killed.

U.S. casualties have been lower in 2008 than last year. There were 40 deaths in January, 29 in February, 38 in March, 52 in April, 19 in May, and 29 in June.

Last year, there were 83 deaths in January, 81 in February, 81 in March, 104 in April, 128 in May, 101 in June, 80 in July, 84 in August, 65 in September, 38 in October, 37 in November, and 23 in December.

“We now have brought home all five of the combat brigades and the three Marine units that were sent to Iraq as part of the surge. The last of these surge brigades return home this month,” Bush said.

The number of monthly Iraqi civilian deaths in Iraq also is declining, according to the Iraqi government. In July, 387 Iraqi civilians were killed in conflict-related violence, compared with 448 in June and 504 in May.

However, the number of Iraqi police and soldier casualties in July was higher than June’s figure.

In July, 45 Iraqi police officers were killed and 83 were wounded. In June, 41 police were killed and 110 were wounded.

Thirty-three Iraqi soldiers were killed and 63 were wounded in July. In June, 21 soldiers were killed and 47 were wounded.

Bush said later in the year, Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, will provide “recommendations on future troop levels, including further reductions in our combat forces as conditions permit.”

Still, “we remain a nation at war,” Bush said. “Al Qaeda is on the run in Iraq, but the terrorists remain dangerous and they are determined to strike our country and our allies again.”

Bush said the United States is “making progress” in its discussions with Iraq “on a strategic framework agreement,” which would “serve as the foundation for America’s presence in Iraq” once a U.N. mandate authorizing multinational forces expires at the end of the year.

The administration had hoped to forge an agreement by the end of July but both sides continue to negotiate.

Source — CNN