U.S. personnel responsible for training members of the Georgian military remain stationed inside the volatile country, where fighting erupted Friday between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway province of South Ossetia.
The U.S. European Command said on Monday that there were no plans at this time to withdraw the U.S. military trainers from the country. There are still 127 U.S. trainers in Georgia, where the American forces had been preparing the Georgian army for operations in Iraq.
Meanwhile, U.S. civilians started to make their way out of the country over the weekend, according to the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi.
Convoys carrying family members of diplomats, government workers and ordinary citizens bound for the embassy in neighboring Armenia continued on Monday.
Tom Mittnacht, a spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Armenia, said the office was not releasing the number of evacuees it has received so far. But the numbers do not seem to be exceptionally large.
"We’re working on a few convoys," Mittnacht said.
Upon arrival in Armenia, families are taking up residence in hotels while they wait things out.
"We’re here to provide them with any assistance we can," Mittnacht said.
Regarding the military personnel, EUCOM stated that they are not engaged in the conflict and are removed from where the fighting is happening.
In addition to the trainers, 1,000 soldiers from the Vicenza, Italy-based Southern European Task Force (Airborne) and the Kaiserslautern-based 21st Theater Sustainment Command, along with Marine reservists with the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines out of Ohio, and the state of Georgia’s Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry recently participated in "Immediate Response 2008."
That exercise, which had the U.S. troops operating from Vaziani, concluded on Thursday. That base, near the capital of Tbilisi, was bombed by Russian aircraft over the weekend, Georgian officials said.
As for the roughly 2,000 Georgians currently deployed to Iraq, they are now being redeployed to their home country for support. The first of those soldiers departed Iraq over the weekend, according to the military.
The Georgians had made up the third-largest contingent of foreign troops in Iraq.
-
- groups:
- News, News and Politics, Politics, Random
-
-
-
-
- Vierotchka
- added this
-
forget iraq get us out of georgia!
-
-
-
-
- Chuck_st_chuck
- 1 year ago
-
-
Considering that Georgia is a strategic location for the US (...for a variety of reasons), and depending on how well the cease fire holds over the next few days (...cross your fingers people, although personally I'm not all that optimistic considering the players involved), it is unlikely that our troops will completely withdraw from the region anytime soon.
That said, I think the S&S article is underestimating troop strengths by about 15 - 20%. "Redeploying" two-thousand Georgian troops, and all their stuff (...vehicles, weapons, and other assorted toys), from point "A" to point "B" implies pilots, load crews, and other support personnel to make such a mission run smoothly. Call it between one-hundred to one-hundred and fifty from the active Air Force or Air Force Reserves.
And, let us not forget those who aren't there on an "official" basis. Numbers here could, realistically, be between two and two hundred depending on your personal levels of cynicism and paranoia.
-
I hope the US can mobilize and get enough contractors so Georgia can better protect itself, get better trained and learn from this to become a much stronger ally.
-
Because of Iraq, there is not much we can do now.
-
Putin has worn his speedos with impunity for far too long .
-
Poor Georgia.
The US owns them and there's nothing they can do about it. They sold their souls and their people will pay for it.
It looks like Russia will hold to their end of the cease fire, but with America pretty much controlling Georgia, I won't be surprised if hell breaks loose again.
-
The US denies that their troops are fighting in Georgia.
-
-
-
-
- joshuaheller
- 1 year ago
-
-
Also, to virggie, the georgians only have 2000 troops in Iraq, from a country of over 5 million, that's not unreasonable. A lot of larger European nations have refused to send troops. That statistic, the third largest contingent, should be checked. I'm pretty sure Britian, Germany and Poland all have more than 2000 troops in Iraq
-
Millerke, you're right, there the UK still has thousands of troops in iraq and Poland has 900 (which they will withdraw by the end of the year) But germany has none.
About the american's involvement: They can deny their troops are fighting all they want, but they don't have much credibility in my opinion.
-
We must stop this horrible Russian aggression now. When Nazi Germany went invaded it neighboring countries, the world made the wrong choice by doing nothing. We, the free World, can not afford to throw our hands up in the air and say our hands are tied. This attack and invasion of our democratic ally Georgia, needs a quick and forceful response. Appeasement to Russian aggression is the absolute worst course of action. History proves this.
-
With troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the American military is strained. If we do, however, decide to get in the middle of this, World War III is imminent.
-
Excellent videos about the conflict in Georgia:
http://current.com/items/89197641_who_s_to_blame_for_the_russian_georgian_confli...
http://current.com/items/89197663_the_geopolitics_of_georgia
-
-
-
-
- Vierotchka
- 1 year ago
-
-
How the Georgians fool the world with actors posing as wounded, same actors in military uniforms, etc. Click on the link to see all the photos.
http://ossetians.com/eng/news.php?newsid=479&f=36&PHPSESSID=604bb1ec9b02...
-
-
-
-
- Vierotchka
- 1 year ago
-
-
WE ALL NEED TO REALIZE THAT GEORGIA COMMITTED GENOCIDE AGAINST SOUTH OSSETIA, AND RUSSIA IS JUST DOING WHAT WE DID FOR KUWAIT, EXCEPT RUSSIA HAS MORE REASON, CONSIDERING THEY HAVE RUSSIAN PEOPLE MAKING A LARGE PART OF SOUTH OSSETIA POPULATION!
-
-
-
-
- saveplanetearth
- 1 year ago
-
