Russian Bomb Blitz Hits Georgian Capital

Overwhelmed By Escalating Russian Offensive, Georgia Pushes For Truce, Says It's Pulling Troops Out Of South Ossetia

(CBS/AP)  Russia expanded its bombing blitz to the Georgian capital, deployed ships off the coast and, a Georgian official said, sent tanks from the separatist region of South Ossetia into Georgian territory, heading toward a border city before being turned back.

Russia also claimed its forces sank a Georgian missile boat that was trying to attack Russian ships in the Black Sea, news agencies reported.

The Russian Defense Ministry refused to comment to The Associated Press on the reports of the sinking and Georgian officials could not immediately be reached. If confirmed, it could mark a serious escalation of the fighting that has raged between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia.

Georgia called a cease-fire and said its troops were retreating Sunday from the disputed province of South Ossetia in the face of Russia's far superior firepower, but Russia said the soldiers were "not withdrawing but regrouping" and refused to recognize a truce.

International envoys headed in to try to end the fighting between Russia and its small U.S.-allied neighbor that erupted last week in the Russian-backed separatist region.

The announcement of a retreat came after Russia expanded its bombing blitz Sunday - targeting the area around the Georgian capital's international airport. Russia also deployed a naval squadron off another of Georgia's separatist regions, Abkhazia, and according to Georgia landed thousands of troops.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said one of the Russian raids on the airport came a half hour before the arrival of the foreign ministers of France and Finland - in the country to try to mediate.

Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Temur Yakobashvili said Russian tanks tried to cross from South Ossetia into the territory of Georgia proper, but were turned back by Georgian forces. He said the tanks apparently were trying to approach Gori, but did not fire on the city of about 50,000.

Russia also sent naval vessels to patrol off Georgia's Black Sea coast, but denied Sunday that the move was aimed at establishing a blockade.

The ITAR-Tass news agency quoted a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman as saying that Georgian missile boats twice tried to attack Russian ships, which fired back and sank one of the Georgian vessels.

Georgia's Foreign Ministry said its soldiers were observing a cease-fire on orders of the president and declared the move in a note handed over to Russia's envoy to Tbilisi.

"Georgia expresses its readiness to immediately start negotiations with the Russian Federation on cease-fire and termination of hostilities," the ministry said in a statement.

During a Security Council meeting today, Russia's ambassador said his country is "ready to put an end to the war."

The U.N. Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs, Lynne Pascoe, told the council that Georgian officials are "ready for immediate talks" with Russia. He also said Georgia's offer to create a safe travel zone - or "humanitarian corridor" - for civilians, refugees and troops would help the negotiations.

But British Deputy Ambassador Karen Pierce questioned why Russia is unwilling to agree to an immediate cease-fire. And U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad accused Russia of resisting attempts to make peace.

Georgia, whose troops have been trained by American soldiers, began an offensive to regain control over South Ossetia overnight Friday, launching heavy rocket and artillery fire and air strikes that pounded the provincial capital, Tskhinvali.

In response, Russia, which has granted passports to most South Ossetians, launched overwhelming artillery shelling and air attacks on Georgian troops.

"The Georgian gambit of trying to push the Russians out of its breakaway border territories seems to have had the opposite effect of consolidating Russian control," reported CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips. "And it's still unclear whether this crisis can be contained with only the destruction and loss of life it has caused so far."

Russia has demanded that Georgia pull out its troops from South Ossetia as a condition to negotiate a cease-fire. It also urged Georgia to sign a pledge not to use force against South Ossetia as another condition for ending hostilities.

On Sunday, Russian jets raided a plant on the eastern outskirts of Tbilisi that builds Su-25 ground jets. The attack damaged runways but caused no casualties, said Georgia's Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili.

"We heard a plane go over and then a big explosion," said Malkhaz Chachanidze, a 41-year old ceramics artist whose house is located just outside the fence of the factory, which has been running since the Soviet era. "It woke us up, everything shook."

The risk of the conflict setting off a wider war increased when Russian-supported separatists in another breakaway region of Georgia, Abkhazia, launched air and artillery strikes on Georgian troops to drive them out of a small part of the province they control. Fifteen U.N. military observers were told to evacuate.

Both South Ossetia and Abkhazia have run their own affairs without international recognition since splitting from Georgia in the early 1990s and have built up ties with Moscow. Russia has granted its passports to most of their residents.

At the core of this conflict is Russian mistrust of Georgia's western leanings and its desire to join NATO, reports CBS News' Phillips.

President Bush called for an end to the Russian bombings and an immediate halt to the violence.

"The attacks are occurring in regions of Georgia far from the zone of conflict in South Ossetia. They mark a dangerous escalation in the crisis," Bush said in a statement to reporters while attending the Olympic Games in Beijing.

"President Bush has talked with French President Sarkozy, who's also the head of the EU right now, and officials say that the two men are on the same page, and that sort of gives us a sense of the parameters of what they expect to have happen," reports CBS News White House correspondent Jim Axelrod. "They say that what they must see in Georgia right now is a cease-fire, a de-escalation on the part of the Russians, and respect for Georgia's territorial integrity. So that gives you some sense of what the US and the West's position will be as they start to engage with the Russians."

In Brussels, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Russia has violated Georgia's "territorial integrity" in South Ossetia using excessive force.

The NATO chief urges Russia and Georgia to agree to an "immediate cease-fire," said NATO spokeswoman Carmen Romero.

De Hoop Scheffer is calling for talks to restore Georgia's control over its breakaway province.

In yet another sign that the conflict could widen, Ukraine warned Russia on Sunday it could bar Russian navy ships from returning to their base in the Crimea because of their deployment to Georgia's coast.

Karasin said the ships were sent toward Abkhazia as a deterrent.

"The deployment is quite natural. We don't want a repeat of what happened in South Ossetia," he said at a news conference.

The foreign ministers of France and Finland were to arrive in Georgia Sunday to discuss ways to end the conflict.

Russian jets have been roaming Georgia's skies since Friday. They raided several air bases and bombed the Black Sea port city of Poti, which has a sizable oil shipment facility. The Russian warplanes also struck near the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline which carries Caspian crude to the West, but no supply interruptions have been reported.

Georgia President Mikhail Saakashvili called it an "unprovoked brutal Russian invasion."

Jim Jeffrey, Bush's deputy national security adviser, warned "if the disproportionate and dangerous escalation on the Russian side continues, that this will have a significant long-term impact on U.S.-Russian relations."

(Left: Russian heavy armoured vehicles in the Ardon Valley, Russia, heading towards the Georgian border and South Ossetia on, Aug. 9, 2008.)

A Russian raid on Gori near South Ossetia Saturday which apparently targeted a military base on the town's outskirts left numerous civilian casualties.

An Associated Press reporter who visited the town shortly after the strike saw several apartment buildings in ruins, some still on fire, and scores of dead bodies and bloodied civilians. The elderly, women and children were among the victims.

Russian officials said they weren't targeting civilians, but Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Georgia brought the airstrikes upon itself by bombing civilians and Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia. He warned that the small Caucasus country should expect more attacks.

"Whatever side is used to bomb civilians and the positions of peacekeepers, this side is not safe and they should know this," Lavrov said.

The U.N. Security Council planned to meet Sunday for the fourth time in four days to try to resolved the situation.

Karasin, Russia's deputy foreign minister, said more than 2,000 people had been killed in South Ossetia since Friday, most of them Ossetians with Russian passports. The figures could not be independently confirmed.

But residents of the provincial capital Tskhinvali who survived the bombardment by hiding in basements and later fled the city estimated that hundreds of civilians had died. They said bodies were lying everywhere.

"The reports from people is that it's an absolute nightmare. [Two kids] delivering food … made it out of South Ossetia but their parents didn't and they don't know if they are alive or dead because phones are down," David Womble of Worldvision told CBS News.

Alexander Lomaia, Georgia's security council chief, estimated that Russia sent 2,500 troops into Georgia.

In Saturday's meeting with refugees in the city of Vladikavkaz across the border, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin described Georgia's actions as "complete genocide." Putin also said Georgia had effectively lost the right to rule the breakaway province - an indication Moscow could be preparing to fulfill South Ossetians' wish to be absorbed into Russia.

Georgia borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia and was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the breakup of the Soviet Union. Today, Russia has approximately 30 times more people than Georgia and 240 times the area.

Russia also laid much of the responsibility for ending the fighting on Washington, which has trained Georgian troops. Washington, in turned, blamed Russia.

Georgia said it has shot down 10 Russian planes, including four brought down Saturday, according to Lomaia. It also claimed to have captured two Russian pilots, who were shown on Georgian television.

Russian Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the General Staff, confirmed Saturday that two Russian planes had been shot down, but did not say where or when.

Russian military commanders said 15 peacekeepers have been killed and about 150 wounded in South Ossetia, accusing Georgian troops of killing and wounding Russian peacekeepers when they seized Russian checkpoints. The allegations couldn't be independently confirmed.

In Abkhazia, the separatist government said it intended to push Georgian forces out of the Kodori Gorge. The northern part of the gorge is the only area of Abkhazia that has remained under Georgian government control.

Separatist forces also were concentrating on the border with Georgia's Zugdidi region, and Russia's NTV television reported that additional Russian troops landed in Abkhazia Sunday, heading in the same direction.

A senior U.S. military official says the Americans have begun flying Georgian troops home from Iraq after they requested help with transportation.

Georgia has called its 2,000 troops home from Iraq to help in the fighting against Russia.

The official says that the U.S. military has agreed to their request and "some flights have already begun."

The official spoke on condition of anonymity Sunday because he was releasing the information ahead of a formal announcement.

[smurfcrusher]

Who do these people think they are, Bush?

Only The Decider should be able to invade soverign countries.

[usmcvn1]

We are fighting the "War" in Iraq for Jesus. Ask any Serviceman or Women.


"More Than 1,500 Reported Dead; U.S. Calls For End To Russian Bombings"

All righty than, let send in some "Troops", murder some old people, women and children and spred democracy, for Jayzzzeeesss of course!! How ''bout an RRRRMMMMEEEENNNN!!!

[generey]

Just go grease some bearings on one of your oil rigs George; what Russia does is none of our concern, or more so, BUSINESS!

[obama441]

BEAR on the loose..YAIKES!!

[vnveteran72]

Meanwhile, back at Reich Headquarters.....

Thirty-four years ago today, Richard Nixon was forced from office as a result of mounting public anger, which in turn fueled the bipartisan intent of Congress to impeach him, due to his involvement in the relatively minor Watergate crimes. Accountability of that sort for our highest political leaders is today inconceivable.

Rather than investigate and punish violations of the Constitution and other laws, our political class conceals those crimes for as long as it can, endorses them when they are disclosed, and then acts to protect the lawbreakers. Public opinion is steadfastly ignored, rendered virtually irrelevant. Congress has deliberately made itself completely impotent, while the sprawling Executive enjoys virtual omnipotence and freedom from any real accountability. Laws are written not just for, but literally by, the largest corporations and their lobbyists -- even including, as we recently witnessed, laws that have no purpose other than to immunize them from consequences when they are caught deliberately breaking our laws.

[andylance1]

Czar Vladimir II has Georgia on his mind. The empire strikes back. The Czar is protecting a handful of pro-Russian provocateurs that attacked and killed Georgian police in the province of South Ossetia.

He sent over 100 tanks and warplanes to attack the former Soviet puppet of Georgia. Deja vu all over again.

[usmcvn1]

vnveteran72 ......

Very Good. Well stated. So true. And so sad.

[tbweb]

This is only the beginning of what the World can expect from a Russia with money! Russia was always aggressive this way, Russia just never had the money before their recent oil and natural gas boom to be this way! A Russia with money to fuel its agenda is extremely dangerous, and Russia has a lot of old scores to settle, the World just might as well get ready!

[usmcvn1]

Well, I hope Russia puts off taking over the world ''till after Football Season!!

[timdgrim]

Well, I hope Russia puts off taking over the world ''''till after Football Season!!

Posted by usmcvn1
************
Amen to that!! Go Cowboys!

[obama441]

"We are dealing with absolutely criminal and crazy acts of irresponsible and reckless decision makers, which is on the ground producing dramatic and tragic consequences," Saakashvili said.

The "puppet" president looked grim and addressed the reporters without an introduction. He left the room without taking any questions.

[usmcvn1]

timdgrim ....

Go Bears! LOL

[bozworth4]

Correct me if i''m wrong, but I think russia said it was a bad deal for the u s to go into Iraq. I''m sure i''ll be corrected. King George II says do as I say not as I do. Sure wouldn''t want to destabalize this region would we. Can you spell hyprocrite??? No democrats or republicans, only politicians that would pimp their mother for a dollar, yen or euro.

[nextgenman]

"We are dealing with absolutely criminal and crazy acts of irresponsible and reckless decision makers, which is on the ground producing dramatic and tragic consequences," Saakashvili said.

The "puppet" president looked grim and addressed the reporters without an introduction. He left the room without taking any questions.

Posted by obama441 at 09:42 AM : Aug 09, 2008
-------------

Sounds like Bush and McLame.

[coco0331]

There is nothing the U.S. is capable of doing about it, financially or militarily. Not only that but this is probably a ploy to deter the attention of the world puppet anyway. Its none of your business George.

[monkeyman1140]

Another Bush puppet falls!

Once Tbilisi goes down, freedom is victorious and the Bush Regime once again has to lick its wounds. The neocons suck.

[nextgenman]

How laughable. Bush talking about unnecessary war....

[hotpaulie]

Hey Mr. Bush, nobody outside the 30% of american republicans takes you seriously. You have plenty of reasons of your own to look "grim."

[nextgenman]

Posted by darkmeat4 at 10:07 AM : Aug 09, 2008
-------

Yawn.

[nextgenman]

Condi Gaptooth said, "Only the US is allowed to make war on other nations for no reason!" She stamped her little foot in hopes somebody, anybody, would take her seriously.

[nextgenman]

Posted by darkmeat4 at 10:15 AM : Aug 09, 2008
------

Yawn with nap.

[obama441]

darkmeat4 g.ay? and you user name is darkmeat? what''s really going on?

[shoebox119]

George AWOL Bush is jealous... the Russians are fighting a REAL war. You know the kind, where the other side has uniforms and lots of military equipment, too.

[trishab4]

Public opinion is steadfastly ignored, rendered virtually irrelevant. Congress has deliberately made itself completely impotent, while the sprawling Executive enjoys virtual omnipotence and freedom from any real accountability. Laws are written not just for, but literally by, the largest corporations and their lobbyists -- even including, as we recently witnessed, laws that have no purpose other than to immunize them from consequences when they are caught deliberately breaking our laws.
--------------------------
Posted by vnveteran72 at 09:23 AM : Aug 09, 2008

-Until we take to the street...

[obama441]

Bush: remember "shock and awe"? have a taste of your own medicine....

[vnveteran72]

Our basic Constitutional framework is being continuously assaulted while the lawless Surveillance State expands without limits, all justified by a condition of permanent War. A massive Surveillance State that functions in the dark, with no oversight, and without the slightest concern for Constitutional limits. Torture, rendition, military commissions, Guantanamo, secret CIA black sites, the abolition of habeas corpus. Endless, unconditional funding for "the War." Rampant lawbreaking without the slightest consequences. An Executive that has shielded itself completely from any limits, investigation or oversight while seizing greater and greater power in virtually every area and spouting full-scale falsehoods about the most serious matters as a matter of course. Political leaders who have assessed that they are best served by ignoring all of this when they aren''t eagerly enabling it.

Our own Government is broken, incapable of oversight and action to prevent the Treason and Subversion of those that now have Complete Control over us.
Time for another Revolution people, to remind those who think of themselves as Untouchable Royalty, like those who our Founding Fathers, that it is "We the People" who have the Authority to remove them, and remove them we must.
Vote out EVERY Incumbent Congressman and Senator from BOTH Parties, and replace them with Citizens who remember what our Nation, Constitution, and Rule of Law were designed for.
It is our ONLY hope.

[obama441]

Time for another Revolution people, Posted by vnveteran72 what are you smoking? old timer?

[ajaxtheleast]

The question now is will Russia show us

the good old fashioned way to win a war

by stomping the opponent into the ground

or will it be another Bush-in-Iraq-side show?

Some are asking "What did BUSH have
to do with THIS?"

First it''s too obvious what he had to
do with this in, for instance, supplying
Suckassvili with anti-aircraft artillary
able to shoot down a nuclear-powered
neighbor''s airplanes with.

Plus training and hypeing up a forth-class
army enough that they run off and
attack a nuclear-powered country.

Second, a little less obvious what Bush
had to do with THIS is his elevating to
almost acceptability a country up and
invading another country with no
immediate threat from that country.

The real shame though, the really tragic part
of this is for the product of Bozo''s own
doing upsetting his quality-time act of
just being one of the gang laughing,
glad-handing and scarfing down the
goodies at the China Olympics.,,,,

So sad.

[vnveteran72]

Time for another Revolution people, Posted by vnveteran72 what are you smoking? old timer?


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by obama441 at 10:43 AM : Aug 09, 2008
+ report abuse

Home Grown, but that''s beside the point. Voting out ALL incumbents, a complete Purge of the Criminals presently in Power, is the last remedy available to the People before Armed Revolt. I would prefer to remove them in a Peaceful manner, but if that doesn''t work, the Constitution gives the People the Authority to remove them by Force.

[obama441]

Also Saturday, the commander of Georgian troops stationed in Iraq said the 2,000 soldiers there will be withdrawn from Iraq "very soon."Colonel Bondo Maisuradze said the United States would provide the transport to get them out of Iraq. He said he had no time frame for the move.(CNN)
GET READY FOR WW3 folks!!

[mr2258]

I hope some of you Idiots like glass.

[mr2258]

I hope some of you Idiots like glass.

[rob416]

I think we all should take the conflict between Russia and Georgia very seriously. Georgia is a gateway for some of the oil that ends up in the US. Also, if Georgia was already a member of NATO as they want to be, the US under the NATO charter would be obligated to defend them. Bottom line the US is in no position to be involved in anothe war.

[vnveteran72]

The Final War is at hand and the anti-Christ(Obama) is set to over. Let there be no doubt among you so called progressives!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by linymo at 10:51 AM : Aug 09, 2008
+ report abuse

No such thing, dimbulb, but Shrub does a pretty good impression of your Fictitious Entity.....LMMFAO

Yes ajaxtheleast, President Bush is the cause of everything bad, Right? He probably even planned the whole thing start to finish. You refer to our President as Bozo. Yet by your words, you also claim he''s a mastermind. Sounds to me like you%u2019re a bit confused. He cannot be a "Bozo" and a Mastermind. Perhaps you''re twisted and incapable of analyzing your way out of a corn maze. Liberal Left-Wing ID10ts like you are the ones who voted in favor of the war, in favor of funding the troops, in favor of additional intelligence gathering and then claim that Bush did it all and claim that he''s at fault for doing so. Like I said before, you Liberal Left-Wing Wing Nuts are simply twisted. Heaven help us if people like you ever control both executive and legislative branches. It will take decades to unscrew one term of such an arrangement.

VOTE ObamaNation in 2008
Progressives %u2013 Liberal Left-Wing WingNuts of America
Ascribing Advancement to Decay!!!!!

[riddelup-2009]

Let me see;Bush vows to put missiles in Georgia, Russia vows to stop this from happening militarily if need be. Russia attacks Georgia. Wow, I totally did not see that coming.

[obama441]

all of a sudden Cabo San Lucas looks good to me he,he.

[obama441]

onemoretim dude jamesm12341 is a 19yr old girl..

"and take that to the bank liberal idiots who oppose drilling."

Drilling in the USA is an absolute necessity. It''s only Liberal Left Wing twisted ID10ts that don''t realize this. What a shame. We have all the resources to resolve this energy crisis, but ID10ts in this Country prevent us from doing so. Wake up America. Stop drinking Democrat Kool-Aid and begin voting the issues. Start electing people who care about the future of this Nation and not people pushing far left social agendas.
VOTE ObamaNation in 2008

"Let me see;Bush vows to put missiles in Georgia, Russia vows to stop this from happening militarily if need be. Russia attacks Georgia. Wow, I totally did not see that coming."

Let me see; ObamaNation wants to invade Pakistan. Vows to use military force to enter another country and Obama hunt Osama. Pakistan responds with nuclear weapons against a superpower and starts the first Nuclear exchange in history. Wow, I totally did not see that coming.

VOTE ObamaNation in 2008
Change we can believe in!!!!!

[samsel3]

This is about protection and control of oil & gas pipelines from the Caspian Sea to the seaport in Ceyran, Turkey.

The source of the oil is the BTC pipeline from the Caspian Sea Region. Shareholders in the BTC pipeline are: British Petroleum, AzBTC, Chevron, Statoil, TPAO, ENI, Total, Itochu, INPEX, ConocoPhillips & Amerada Hess. The US armed Georgia.

Georgia is the agressor in this action. they want control over south ossetia where the pipelines pass through. However the Russian''s are looking after their own interests and will not be co-erced.

[mr2258]

It would be nice if the world could live in peace.If the United States is pushed into it.We have the means to stop the world from turning.I hope it doesn''t come to that.

[Diamonddavej]

Russia is in the same role as NATO was in 1999:

In 1999, NATO bombed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FYR) after FYR (like Georgia) sent its troops into Kosovo. After 3 months of NATO air raids, FYR capitulated and removed its troops from Kosovo.

There is an interesting similarity between the two conflicts.

"1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" - on Wikipedia

[obama441]

The president looked grim and addressed the reporters without an introduction. He left the room without taking any questions. "shock and awe" "the surge is working"....

[factsearcher]

Again, about oil!
And we are in the middle of it, again!
I want to see those electric cars and electric stations in the US...tomorrow!
If you are a traveler, you will see in other countries already building the electric stations and getting ready for the arrival of the electric cars...
US is falling way behind! why?
oil special interests...again!

[ubrew12]

''Oh, Ossetia can you Seetia!
By the dawns early light!''

If the U.S. or NATO enters a war over ''South Ossetia'' (did we know this place existed two days ago?), then we deserve WWIII.

After Iraq, I would say anything is possible with THIS administration.

[samsel3]

Drilling in the USA is an absolPosted by pilgrimsprog at 11:06 AM : Aug 09, 2008
ute necessity.

Their are still 68 million acres of oil reserve land & offshore sites leased by Big Oil that can be immediately drilled. 33 million acres are offshore sites. Big Oil does not want to lower their profits by adding these sites to their production fields. That''s the problem here. They want additional sites for future exploitation. The congress is trying to pressure Big Oil to use the 68 million acres leased but not used. It is not in Big Oil''s interest to drill those sites now. They are enjoying their high profits and could care less about you or me........

[obama441]

Neocons get your kids ready for the draft...

[obama441]

factsearcher just ride your bike made in China and stfUP!!

[factsearcher]

Obama441,
ur comments don''t make sense so as a popular petition..
you! shfup!
reality hurts dumbarse