Posted on 08/13/2008 11:52:34 AM PDT by MNJohnnie
President Bush has directed the U.S. military to lead a humanitarian mission to Georgia where tens of thousands have been forced out of their homes following a Russian invasion last week that has been described by Georgia's president as an "ethnic cleansing."
A U.S. C-17 aircraft with humanitarian supplies already has arrived in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi and another C-17 will arrive there Thursday with additional medical and humanitarian aid, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said after the president's announcement.
Speaking from the White House Rose Garden with Defense Secretary Bob Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Bush said the aid mission will be "vigorous and ongoing." He warned Russia not to interfere.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Amen to that.
Wonder how long before Mother Russia sees this as “U.S. Aggression?”
I’ll add a, “God Bless Our Military” as well.
I think we should do the same to Tibet as well. I don't know why everyone chants "Free Tibet"... a better slogan is "Arm Tibet".
I think we should do the same to Tibet as well. I don't know why everyone chants "Free Tibet"... a better slogan is "Arm Tibet".
OK, so if it is so vigorous, why does it take a day to get a second flight in? And, why in the heck should we have to pay for supplies to patch up people and things that the bear damaged?
Now this is an improvement. We should have did this days ago.
Anyone seen any aid from the EU or UN yet?
You mean you don’t see air quotes around the word humanitarian? I do.
Probably cause we don’t have an C-17 anywhere near there and it takes time to gather, load and fly the supplies in.
Oh, I see the air quotes. I said on another thread that I wish we were sending in our “humanitarian” marines.
So do I, God Help Us.
Does anyone else think that we encouraged Georgia to undertake a suicide mission by attacking S. Ossetia, just so that we'd have an excuse to go to war with Russia?
Onward!
Because nobody else will.
military aid destined for Israel
Israeli lobby? Sometime, someplace a wacko liberals is gonna say this is a war for Israel.
Good! He should send military aid.
He is being tested by Putin and his responses are being closely watched by our enemies.
Anyone watch a guy by the name of Tracy Dove on cspan the other morning? He is a “russian expert” and a “professor”. He said that, following Bush’s initial statement on the situation, we will not here any more from Bush. Guess the expert was wrong.
No
Of course not. IMHO, that’s like saying we bombed the Towers to start a war with Iraq.
Russia has done things like this all throughout its history. My Dad lived through World War II and has been telling me for years that Russia was just biding its time until it started trying to take over Europe again.
Gotcha. I should not breeze over logistical challenges. Logistics: probably the most important, and least appreciated part of any military.
That said, it seems like 24 hours is a long time before getting another flight going, especially since this one seemed to go in lickety split.
One can imagine, though, that the President’s hand may have been forced a bit in terms of the timing of this announcement out of a desire to forestall the bear from overrunning the whole country. IOW, he might have rather waited until the logistical train was more firmly lined up, Condi was in the air, etc.
Or, hopefully, Doleeza. Cedric the Entertainer had a comedy bit about Condi, the good girl, the class president, and her dark side, Doleeza, who would rip your head off and spit down your neck.
/johnny
“And the Devil went down to Georgia...”
They've been saying that for days, based on the fact that Israel is sending aid and has supported Georgia with arms and training in the past.
I don't know what to believe. I just read today that Saakashii, mentored by the US and Europe, was advised to play it cool with the Russians -- but he didn't and became reckless or overly confident. Putin probably thinks that the US is more interested in the threat of Iran, where Putin is suppose to help the US, but now at the price of giving up on Georgia.
“And the Devil went down to Georgia...”
Who gets to be Johnny?
No. That just flat doesn’t make sense.
lets help the Georgians do some BEAR HUNTING!!! (see my tagline!!)
Putin is evil!
BTTT!
The proper way to end a comment like yours is “/sarcasm”. Otherwise people are dumbfounded thinking you’re serious.
God bless then and protect them.
Ditto! Godspeed!
ras-Putin is a reptile.
hard to get a carrier thru the straits, I don’t think anyone has ever done it. The Black sea has been Russia’s personal playground for so long, they would raise the defcon status if we put any major combatants in there.
It's the only way to set up a proper trip wire and force them to back out or risk a real serious confrontation.
You know how dumb the air force logistics guys can be. Oops, how did this ammo and javelins and stuff get in with the HUMRATS. at least it’s not an ICBM warhead.
How come Georgia isn’t complaining like New Orleans was cuz the response is so slow?
- oh wait...nevermind
It would nice to see them drop candies for the children.
Those are the exact words I uttered when I heard about this.
God, please keep them all safe.
Absolutely not.
Plus, Georgia is 9 hours ahead of us. It’s almost tomorrow there now.
Sorry, nothing personal but that's like comparing apples and oranges.
Facts are that S. Ossetia has been relatively stable since the early 1990's until the last few years when there have been clashes. But Georgia was the one launch the attack on S. Ossetia that spurred Russia to act in response -- and that was completely predictable -- like a Chihuahua set loose on a Rottweiler, everyone knew what the outcome would be.
Georgia is so far into our pocket that doesn't burp without US permission, so why would we allow (or encourage) such a move, knowing that it would mean one of our allies getting mauled?
I know that Russia is militarily a real bastard. That's not a question mark. It's one of the few things about them that is predictable. But I have yet to figure out why Georgia would throw itself in front of the Russian bus, for no good reason -- because S. Ossetia and Abkhasia doesn't really mean that much to Georgia, socially, religiously or economically. So why would Georgia subject itself to such punishment for no good reason?
Yeah, I see your point. Perhaps a carrier group off the coast of Greece, with a few fly overs or something.
Personally, I don’t think air lifts alone will do much to get the attention of the Bear. And I don’t think Europe can or will do anything much.
Tinfoil hat, drugs, lots of beer. Step away from the computer, radio, tv for a while. These all might help.
I have a wild imagination, but I think your theory is nuts.
That’s one of the problems with this situation. We can’t get an aircraft carrier into the black sea. We don’t have any clear path for our planes to fly through except maybe Turkey and that might be dicey to get permission to fly through their airspace.
If we wanted to do air support type of stuff (for combat missions), we would have to get their permission to fly through their airspace and probably do it out of Incirlick. Of course, if Georgia was a part of NATO, Turkey (a member of NATO) would have to give us permission.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.