Posted on 08/21/2008 1:45:04 PM PDT by lizol
US may help Georgia rebuild military
Aug 21, 2008 10:27 PM
The United States expects to help Georgia rebuild its military following the conflict with Russia over breakaway South Ossetia, a top US general said on Thursday.
"One would assume ... we would have to help them rebuild because they are a partner in the war on terror, they've been helpful. They are going to ask us, I am sure, to replace and rebuild," General John Craddock, who is in charge of the US European Command, told reporters during a trip to Georgia.
Craddock said he would assess Georgia's needs during his visit, due to end on Friday, and report back to the Pentagon.
"I think that (assistance) is probably going to happen. It's a matter of how much and how fast," he added.
Conflict between Georgia and Russia erupted when Georgia tried to reimpose control over its breakaway, pro-Russian South Ossetia region on August 7-8.
Russia responded with a strong counter-attack that overwhelmed much smaller Georgian forces. It sent its troops deep inside Georgia proper, well beyond South Ossetia and a second separatist region, Abkhazia.
Craddock said the Russian withdrawal from Georgia appeared "slower than it ought to be" under the terms of a French-brokered peace accord, and it was unclear if they would have pulled out completely by Friday as Moscow has promised.
Analysts say Russia has used the conflict to deal a firm blow to the military capacity of aspiring NATO-member Georgia, which has been upgrading its resources with a view to joining the US-dominated military alliance.
In what was seen as a clear message to NATO, the Russian army destroyed in the past week a hoard of Georgian arms and ammunition at the Senaki base in western Georgia, a showpiece built to NATO standards under President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Craddock, who is also NATO's top operational commander, did not make any recommendations about NATO's response but said the South Ossetia conflict showed NATO allies they should pursue efforts to make their armies "agile, flexible and deployable".
"We need to take a look at the strategic picture now and we need NATO, the European Union to discuss that fact that many assumptions we have made may have changed and we need to take a hard look at this new reality," he said.
"It's bigger than military, it's economic, it's energy flows," he said. Georgia is a strategic energy transit state because it hosts the only pipelines pumping gas and oil from the Caspian Sea to world markets without going through Russia.
One thought that crossed my mind is this entire escapade was just one way for Putin and CCCP to retrieve their military hardware! They might be needing the spare parts after all these years.
Considering that the Georgian Army’s overall personnel casualties were relatively light, it looks to me like the most obvious plan is to reorganize it into smaller, faster units, with lots of tank hunters and anti-aircraft teams, that can operate better in a mountainous environment. Armor on armor fights will always end in the Russians’ favor, so they need to avoid more tanks. The loss of their old Soviet equipment is not big deal either, and we can certainly take the opportunity to upgrade the Georgians’ weaponry to U.S. standards.
Sure! Let’s do it!
They will probably adopt West Germany’s old “Sponge” tactics.
There's a lot the Georgian government could do to make their nation basically un-holdable by any invader. It could be done fairly quickly and fairly cheaply.
Although I'll willingly admit that the Georgian Army could use a ****load of MANPADS and JAVELINS.
L
got my support!
Should we wait until the Russians leave? I mean, if they are in the way on the target practice range, maybe we could just go ahead and give the command to fire.
I wish the US government would spend more time worrying about the people in THIS country and less about what’s going on in other countries.
Why should the US government worry about this country? The concerns about this country are in the hands of its people. We have ample opportunity to correct what’s wrong every two years.
Yeah, because what happens in other countries can NEVER affect us here. Ever.
Multiculturalism is poison, but we're Americans...we can multitask.
Anyway, if the U.S. supplies and trains the Georgians they can probably take care of the Ruskies. Also, all of the former satellite countries are probably not eager to become part of Soviet Union II.
Warthogs, aircover, AT missiles and a sh*tload of Stingers. Plus a few Abrams, etc.
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