Georgia launches offensive against breakaway province; Russia sends in tanks

[unhappycamper]

Georgia launches offensive against breakaway province; Russia sends in tanks
By Musa Sadulayev, The Associated Press
Pacific edition, Sunday, August 10, 2008

DZHAVA, Georgia — Russia sent columns of tanks and reportedly bombed Georgian air bases after Georgia launched a major military offensive Friday to retake the breakaway province of South Ossetia, threatening to ignite a broader conflict.

Hundreds of civilians were reported dead in the worst outbreak of hostilities since the province won de facto independence in a war against Georgia that ended in 1992. Witnesses said the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali was devastated.

"I saw bodies lying on the streets, around ruined buildings, in cars," said Lyudmila Ostayeva, 50, who had fled with her family to Dzhava, a village near the border with Russia. "It’s impossible to count them now. There is hardly a single building left undamaged."

There are 127 U.S. military trainers in Georgia, of whom about 35 are civilian contractors, according to Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

All are safe and accounted for, according to United States European Command.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=56656

[Glorfindel]

1. The USA set the precedent in Kosovo

How can we object if Russia shows the same tender concern for the Ossetians that we showed for the citizens of Kosovo? :shrug: