US military trained Georgian commandos

Source: Financial Times

The US military provided combat training to 80 Georgian special forces commandos only months prior to Georgia’s army assault in South Ossetia in August.

The revelation, based on recruitment documents and interviews with US military trainers obtained by the Financial Times, could add fuel to accusations by Vlad­imir Putin, Russian prime minister, last month that the US had “orchestrated” the war in the Georgian enclave.

-snip-

The contractors – MPRI and American Systems, both based in Virginia – recruited a 15-man team of former special forces soldiers to train the Georgians at the Vashlijvari special forces base on the outskirts of Tbilisi, part of a programme run by the US defence department.

-snip-

While the programme is not classified, there is a lack of transparency surrounding it, though US military officials said the lack of publicity was not part of an effort to keep the programme secret. Other US military training programmes in Georgia have their own websites and photo galleries.

Read more: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bdffd9a6-7b71-11dd-b839-000077b07658.html

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Alternative link:
http://georgiandaily.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7315&Itemid=130

Imagine that you are Assistant Secretary for European Affairs and you are told, perhaps by these military trainers, that your ally is about to start a war with Russia.

What do you do?

Do you inform the Vice President (who happens to be in charge because the President is in Beijing)? Somebody should ask Dan Fried (who allegedly told the Russians that "everything was fine" and later stopped answering the phone).

What did the Vice President know and when did he know it?

Did he talk to Saakashvili? Did he try to stop the attack?

We don't know.

What we do know is that he tried to send more arms to Georgia during the conflict:

"Observers in Washington suspect that he may have helped provoke the conflict that he now claims to be solving. One of his most experienced advisors, Joseph R. Wood, was in Tbilisi shortly before the Georgian army launched its military operation.

This was only confirmed by Cheney’s office last week. Government sources say that after the conflict erupted, Cheney urged the White House to respond by sending arms to Georgia."
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,575581,00.html

the news links are from the UK and Germany wherever but NOT the USA.

with lots of bright shiny hi-tech toys. They skeedaddled after Putin made overtures to Syria.

Makes you wonder what the MPRI and the American Systems trainers knew.

As far as I know, they may still be in the region.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=3&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwikileaks.org%2Fwiki%2F1000_US_Soldiers_in_Georgia_from_Jul_15_to_Aug_8_2008&ei=W_LCSMbbAYK2sQOm5dnrBw&usg=AFQjCNEuov9g6G8rzaUcgLY6nPEBf9ND0A&sig2=nTnnGs0AtXzUT3BAZSGfbw

So what's the problem? Crony profits for republicon corporations are good aren't they?

Ptoooey.

Do unto others what you want done to you.

Give 'em a friggin chance, at least.

This "They're the same" shit is stupid.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Yall notice that Cheney just took a BILLION of our dollars to Georgia? Methinks that Iraq is now off the table and so, Cheney wants to poke the bear to get something else going. O-B would be fine leaving the bear alone. Not anywhere near the same.

But they deserve a chance. Most of that is pandering to the warmongering Americans. Let them get in office and then start slinging shit. K? They are not the same. Not even close.

And that's all it amounts too.

everyone has one.

Good luck

from russia. we blew it up with....gps guided bombs...(cobra II)

This is not abnormal.

who knew?
and for what reason?

Standard cooperation between two democracies ?

riight.