"I Survived the Georgian War -- Here's What I Saw"

News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
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[It's good to see that this distinguishes between the Georgian people
and the Georgian government. It seems that the government of both
Georgia and Russia deserve blame in this affair, as the Georgian
government initiated it with its invasion of South Ossetia, and the
Russian government responded with a counterattack against Georgia that
went much further than defending South Ossetia. It is also worth noting
how American politicians have responded, with (e.g.) McCain saying that
we are all Georgians now, and even more remarkably that "In the 21st
century nations don't invade other nations." As if he was unaware that
the US invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, not to mention Ethiopia's US-backed
invasion of Somalia, which has resulted in yet another
Vietnam/Iraq-style quagmire, or Israel's attack on Lebanon.--DC]

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20974.htm
I Survived the Georgian War. Here's What I Saw.
I blame Georgia's leaders.
By Lira Tskhovrebova

08/10/08 "CSM" -- -Tskhinvali, South Ossetia - In a speech before the
United Nations last month, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili
implored world leaders to set up an international investigation to find
out the truth about the war in South Ossetia.

I couldn't agree more. But I think the results of an honest
investigation would reveal a very different "truth" than what President
Saakashvili claims.

I know this because I was in Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia,
on Aug. 7 when Georgian troops marched into the city and killed my
friends and neighbors. I huddled with my family in terror for three
nights while Saakashvili's tanks and rockets destroyed hundreds of our
homes, desecrated cemeteries, gutted schools and hospitals.

I also have good reason not to trust what Saakashvili says. For three
days before the attack I had been getting calls from many Georgian
friends warning me to get out. They said Saakashvili was planning an
attack. Most of the Georgians living in South Ossetia left because they
knew what was coming.

On the night of Aug. 7, Saakashvili went on television and assured the
frightened civilian population of South Ossetia that he would not attack
us. This was long after the time Saakashvili now claims Russians had
begun "invading" Georgia.

Ossetians went to bed relieved and thankful for a peaceful night.

Less than two hours later, according to credible international accounts,
his artillery, bombers, and three brigades of ground troops unleashed
what I can only describe as a fierce hell on our city. In the moment, we
knew only our fear as we hid. Afterward I spoke with hundreds of
Ossetians to find out what was done to us.

My friend's elderly father tried to douse the flames set by Georgian
fire on the home he had built with his hands. His leg was severed by
shrapnel from Georgian weapons. He bled to death while his disabled wife
crawled from their burning home.

Ossetians saw Georgian tanks firing into basements where women and
children hid for safety They saw fleeing families shot down by Georgian
snipers. We learned that the Georgian military had used Grad rocket
systems and cluster bombs against Tskhinvali.

Yes, I would very much like to see an international commission
investigate the truth of what happened.

When I came out from hiding, thanking God that the Russians had saved
our lives, I was dismayed by the reaction of the international media to
what had happened. There was nothing about Ossetian deaths and the
unprovoked horrors inflicted by Saakashvili's military. It made my heart
sick.

The truth has been crushed by Georgia's powerful public relations
machine as mercilessly as Georgian tanks rolled over the defenseless
civilians of Tskhinvali.

I know that Americans are a generous and fair people. But Americans
haven't been told the truth about what happened to us. Americans don't
understand that Ossetians are an independent, Christian Orthodox people
with a deep history in our land. The world talks only about Georgian
freedom. What of freedom for my people? Does our suffering, do our
voices, mean nothing?

I don't blame the Georgian people for what happened to us. The vast
number of Ossetians and Georgians want to live in peace. I blame
Georgia's leaders.

Saakashvili has persuaded the world that he is a "beacon" of democracy
and openness. But he won't even tell his own people the truth. My
Georgian friends weren't allowed to see any Russian news sites during
the conflict because all of those sites were blocked by Saakashvili's
government.

I know we are a small people, and I make no claim to understanding the
experts in geopolitics with their theories and pronouncements about the
great powers. But I have fought for women's rights in Ossetia for 12
years and I believe in the truth.

In a recent article, Saakashvili cynically dismissed Ossetian suffering
and deaths because, he said, Russia had "lied" about how many of my
people were killed by the Georgian military.

It breaks my heart to even engage in this discussion. No one – including
Saakashvili – knows how many Ossetians were killed by his Army. I have
friends who buried loved ones in their backyards because there were no
alternatives. Many people are still missing.

Does Saakashvili believe his vicious attack on a civilian city was
justified if he only killed a few hundred rather than a few thousand? Do
Americans realize that a military trained and equipped by the US
government attacked a civilian population as they slept in their beds?
Can they justify sending another billion dollars to Georgia and nothing
for those Georgia attacked?

I have made an urgent appeal to the world for humanitarian relief for
our people at the website http://helpossetianow.org . I beg the United
States and the world to find out the truth. Please hear our voices.

• Lira Tskhovrebova is the founder of the Association of South Ossetian
Women for Democracy and Human Rights and has worked for more than a
decade to improve relations between people of Georgian and Ossetian
descent in the Caucasus.

--
Dan Clore

My collected fiction: _The Unspeakable and Others_
http://tinyurl.com/2gcoqt
Lord Weÿrdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
http://tinyurl.com/292yz9
News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
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Skipper: Professor, will you tell these people who is
in charge on this island?
Professor: Why, no one.
Skipper: No one?
Thurston Howell III: No one? Good heavens, this is anarchy!
-- _Gilligan's Island_, episode #6, "President Gilligan"
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Fred (09.10.2008 12:43)