Did the U.S. Prep Georgia for War with Russia?

[tannybogus]

Georgia and Russia are careening towards war. And the U.S. isn't exactly a detached observer in the fight. The American military has been training and equipping Georgian troops for years.

The news thus far: Georgia, which has been locked in a drone war over the separatist enclave of Abkhazia, has launched an offensive to reclaim another breakaway territory, South Ossetia. Latest reports indicate that Georgian forces are laying siege to Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital. And Russia, which has backed the separatists, is sending in the tanks.

So why should we care? Oh, just the prospect of a larger regional war that could drag in Russia – and involve the United States as well. Since early 2002, the U.S. government has given a healthy amount of military aid to Georgia. When I last visited South Ossetia, Georgian troops manned a checkpoint outside Tskhinvali -- decked out in surplus U.S. Army uniforms and new body armor.

The first U.S. aid came under the rubric of the Georgia Train and Equip Program (ostensibly to counter alleged Al Qaeda influence in the Pankisi Gorge); then, under the Sustainment and Stability Operations Program. Georgia returned the favor, committing thousands of troops to the multi-national coalition in Iraq. Last fall, the Georgians doubled their contingent, making them the third-largest contributor to the coalition. Not bad for a nation of 4.6 million people.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/08/did-us-military.html

"Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition." Did we give them vehicles without enough armor and oooooooooooooooold ammunition from the Boer war or whatever?
:yoiks:

[Warpy]

1. No, not directly

although the weapons and training meant for Islamic guerrillas probably gave them the hubris to take South Ossetia because that area was part of Georgia a hundred and some years ago, never mind 75% of the population is Russian and wants to stay that way.

Had we not aided their military so handsomely so they'd fight people we hated but they didn't, likely they wouldn't have tried to take the territory. It's just one in a very long line of unintended consequences of hamfisted foreign policy.

[bushmeister0]

2. It's all our fault.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3753380&mesg_id=3753380

"In early 2002 the United States launched a two-year, $64 million program, 'Train and Equip,' to create three battalions and one motorized company meeting NATO standards. Following the successful conclusion of that program in 2004, a follow-on initiative was launched with comparable funding to train a further 4,000 Georgian servicemen . . .

Observers suggested that the rationale for reversing the downsizing of recent years was to launch a new military offensive to bring the unrecognized breakaway Republic of South Ossetia back under the control of the Georgian government.

In addition to upping manpower, Georgia greatly increased its defense spending, from 79 million laris ($43 million) in 2004 to 317 million laris in 2005. The increase was consistent with the requirement that countries aspiring to NATO membership spend at least 2 percent of GDP on defense.

The weaponry purchased reportedly includes armored personnel carriers, self-propelled artillery, helicopters, and T-72 tanks. The latter three items called into question earlier statements that Georgia has no aggressive intentions and plans to strengthen its armed forces exclusively for defensive purposes, to repel any external invasion. These weapons are well suited for an offensive against the Ossetians. From mid-June to mid-July 2005, some 800 Georgian troops conducted large-scale tank exercises using some 170 battle tanks. One year earlier, Georgia had only 76 T-55 and T-72 tanks.

Georgia had succeeded, with assistance of the United States, Turkey, and other allies, in transforming the paramilitary National Guard into a trained, disciplined, and well-equipped fighting force qualified for NATO membership."

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/georgia/ar...