Bush's Risky Move

"The White House, in essence, is employing mercy missions to Georgia -- with echoes of the 1948 Berlin airlift -- to reassert its security interests in the Caucasus, daring Russia to block the U.S. diplomatic and relief efforts. . . .

"Some experts said the U.S. hasn't gone far enough. 'I strongly doubt that [Russian Prime Minister Vladimir] Putin is going to be deterred by the prospect of a U.S. humanitarian effort,' said Frederick Kagan of the conservative American Enterprise Institute."

The Journal reporters write that "[a]ny move to rebuild the Georgian army would set the U.S. on a collision course with Russia, which has objected to such U.S. military assistance. Russian forces have targeted key Georgian military assets, ranging from Poti to the military base of Senaki, the first base built explicitly to NATO standards."

But according to Spiegel and Barnes of the LA Times, that "collision course" is precisely the course we are on.

"The Pentagon emphasized that its initial concern would be providing relief supplies, but announced Wednesday that it would also begin efforts to rebuild the Georgian military," they write.

"'Our focus right now is on delivering humanitarian aid and taking care of the immediate needs of those who are caught in this conflict,' said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell. 'When the dust settles, I am sure that we will help this sovereign nation and ally rebuild its military.' . . .

"Since 1997, the U.S. military has spent approximately $277 million in military aid to Georgia on uniforms, ammunition, communications equipment and vehicles.

"A senior military officer involved in planning the mission said the new military assistance under consideration for Georgia could include more joint exercises, stepped-up military training, closer ties to the Georgian military command, and sales of equipment to replace vehicles and weapons destroyed in the five days of fighting before the cease-fire agreement.

"The official acknowledged that there were risks to sending additional U.S. military equipment and personnel into the war-torn region. But the official said U.S. European Command, the Belgium-based headquarters responsible for organizing the mission, had determined that because Russia acquiesced to U.S. military flights bringing Georgian troops back to Tbilisi from Iraq, the chances of conflict were minimal.

"'It's never zero risk, but I think it will be OK,' said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the mission."

At a morning press conference, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that "the mission the president has given us at this point is humanitarian." And he declared: "I don't see any prospect of the use of military force by the United States on this mission."

Richard Beeston writes in a Times of London commentary: "Sending US forces into Georgia, albeit to deliver humanitarian supplies, represents the most serious military escalation between Washington and Moscow since the end of the Cold War.