U.S. Navy Arrives With Aid For Georgia

Russian Forces Blamed After Oil Train Explodes, Reportedly From Hitting Land Mine

(AP)  A U.S. Navy warship carrying humanitarian aid anchored at the Georgian port of Batumi on Sunday, sending a strong signal of support to an embattled ally. In central Georgia, an oil train exploded and caught fire, sending plumes of black smoke into the air.

A Georgian official said the train hit a land mine and blamed the explosion on Russian forces, who withdrew from the area Friday. The Russian Defense Ministry declined to comment.

The blast came amid persistent tensions in Georgia. Russia pulled the bulk of its troops and tanks from its small southern neighbor Friday after a brief but intense war, but built up its forces in and around two separatist regions - South Ossetia and Abkhazia - and left other military posts deep inside Georgia.

The guided missile destroyer USS McFaul, loaded with 72 pallets of humanitarian aid, is the first of five American ships scheduled to arrive this week.

The much-needed aid and the damaged train were a stark reminder that it will take substantial amounts of aid and many months of rebuilding before Georgia can recover from the war with Russia. Five days of fighting damaged cities and towns across the country and displaced tens of thousands of Georgians.

West of Gori, an Associated Press reporter saw 12 derailed tanker cars, some askew on the railway line and others flipped onto their sides. Firefighters hosed down the wreckage.

Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said the train hit a mine. He said there were no casualties, but the blast had also set off explosions at an abandoned munitions dump nearby.

Utiashvili blamed the incident on the Russians. Georgian officials say Russian forces have deliberately damaged infrastructure to weaken Georgia, and accused them of blowing up a train bridge last week.

Georgian Public Television, which showed massive clouds of billowing black smoke rising from the fire, said another 20 train cars had been uncoupled and pulled away to prevent the fire from spreading.

The director of Georgia's railways, Irakli Ezugbaia, agreed the blast was probably caused by a mine. He said an investigation was under way and other mines had been found on the tracks.

Georgian forces removed a large artillery shell that had been jammed under the tracks and covered with stones.

Ezugbaia said the train was carrying crude oil from Kazakhstan to a Georgian Black Sea port.

Georgia straddles a key westward route for oil from Azerbaijan and other Caspian Sea nations including Kazakhstan, giving it added strategic importance as the U.S. and the European Union seek to decrease Russia's dominance of oil and gas exports from the former Soviet Union.

The conflict between Russia and Georgia, a small ex-Soviet republic whose pro-Western leaders have tried to shed Moscow's influence and sought NATO membership, has brought Russian-U.S. relations to a post-Cold War low.

A U.S. official said the American ship anchored in Batumi, Georgia's main oil port on the Black Sea, because of concerns about the state of Georgian port of Poti.

Russian troops still hold positions near Poti, and AP journalists there have reported on Russians looting the area. Georgian port officials say radar, Coast Guard ships and other port facilities were extensively damaged by Russian troops.

At dockside in Batumi, with the McFaul anchored offshore, U.S. Navy officials in crisp white uniforms were met Sunday by Georgian officials, including Defense Minister David Kezerashvili.

Local children gave the Americans wine and flowers.

Speaking to The Associated Press on the aft missile deck of the McFaul, anchored a mile offshore, Kezerashvili said that "the population of Georgia will feel more safe from today from the Russian aggression."

"They will feel safe not because the destroyer is here but because they will feel they are not alone facing the Russian aggression," he said.

The commander of the five-ship U.S. task force, Navy Capt. John Moore, downplayed the significance of a destroyer bringing aid. "We really are here on a humanitarian mission," he said.

The McFaul, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, is also outfitted with an array of weaponry, including Tomahawk cruise missiles, which can carry either conventional or nuclear warheads, and a sophisticated radar system. For security reasons the Navy does not say if ships are carrying nuclear weapons, but they usually do not.

The deputy chief of Russia's general staff suggested that the arrival of the McFaul and other NATO members ships would increase tensions in the Black Sea. Russia shares the sea with NATO members Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria as well as Georgia and Ukraine, whose pro-Western president also is leading a drive for NATO membership.

"I don't think such a buildup will foster the stabilization of the atmosphere in the region," Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency quoted Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn as saying Saturday.

An Associated Press television cameraman and his Georgian driver were treated roughly and briefly detained by Russian troops outside Poti on Sunday as he shot video of Russian positions outside the port. A soldier smashed his microphone with a rifle butt, shoved him to the ground, then marched him to an armored vehicle and detained him and his driver. They were later handed over to Georgian police, who released them.

Hundreds of Georgians flocked back to Gori on Saturday, one day after the Russians withdrew, to begin the Herculean task of rebuilding their lives. Their homecoming was laced with despair, disbelief and anger.

"Barbarians, that's what they are. They kill innocent people here ... how many kilometers (miles) outside the battlefield? They bombed all over Georgia," Zurab Gvarientashvili, a 31-year-old engineer, said as he viewed his apartment, destroyed by a Russian bomb.

Gori is 30 kilometers south of the capital of the separatist region South Ossetia, where Georgian forces launched an assault on Aug. 7, sparking the war and an international crisis.

South Ossetian officials accused Georgia on Sunday of building up military forces along the edge of South Ossetia and claimed a Georgian unit had fired sporadically at villages overnight. There were no reports of casualties, but South Ossetian spokeswoman Irina Gagloyeva said residents were asking to be evacuated.

Georgian Security Council chief Alexander Lomaia denied that Georgian forces had fired any shots but said existing agreements oblige Russian forces to leave positions in the area, which is in Georgia.

"We are waiting for the Russians to withdraw and to take the area under our control. We do not intend to do this by force," he said.

Lomaia also said Russian forces were still holding 12 of 22 Georgian servicemen taken prisoner in Poti last week.

Next to one bomb crater in Gori, Merdiko Peredze's goats grazed on burnt grass.

Peredze said he was refugee twice over - once after fleeing his home amid fighting in the early 1990s in Abkhazia and now again, with his house in Gori in tatters.

"I'm an old man but I will return to Abkhazia," he vowed. "Russian, Georgians, Ossetians - we should all be living in peace together, like we did under Stalin."

[martublade]

http://niconotnow.blogspot.com/

[catalink-2009]

Russia has just said US Navy presence in the Black Sea could lead to confrontation. Hmm, let''s see.

An interesting suggestion from Steve Levine. He writes that the Russians have a big weakness and that Bush, Cheney, and the two presidential candidates should keep in mind Russia''s Achilles Heel as they deal with Putin and Medvedev. Levine knows this area, having covered wars in Chechnya, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Tajikistan as well as the Soviet-Afghan war: http://oilandglory.com/2008/08/russias-achilles-heel.html

[intheshade-2009]

The US navy used to be the good guys. Now they support mass murder and ethnic cleansing.

[pirmin3]

" Now the government is spending billions proping up a corrupt and immoral foriegn government.
Posted by InTheShade"

That''s what the US does best!! Look at our track record since 1950. Disgusting

[mcapek]

"Wow! Look what%u2019s happened. George Bush attacked Ossetia using the Olympics as cover," That''s an interesting, but rather paranoid theory; of course you are entitled to it. Same goes for the gentleman that thinks we should pull out of world affairs, just because our economy is not doing well. Similar sentiments were voiced until the day of Pearl Harbor attack.

[mcapek]

I think the Bush is doing the right thing, showing backbone and leadership. This "show of American force" will, in my opinion, eventually result in a Russian pullout. If on the other hand USA and major European countries did nothing to oppose the brazen Russian landgrab, and just squabled about punishment in NATO, it would only encourage further Russian military attacks on satellite countries, and ultimately increase the risk of WWIII.

[intheshade-2009]

We can''t even feed our own people, fix our own roads and bridges, or rebuild our own flood damaged areas. Now the government is spending billions proping up a corrupt and immoral foriegn government.

[tommygun083]

Wow! Look what%u2019s happened. George Bush attacked Ossetia using the Olympics as cover, thinking he was going to ethnic cleans %u201Call those Ossetians%u201D out of the country. Instead, Russian intelligence must have caught wind of his sneak attack and were silently waiting. Now Russia is in full control of both Ossetia and Abkhazia, they have moved massive troops and missile batteries to both states as a deterrent, the so called Georgian peace keepers have been excluded and the borders of both states have been extended back to their original 1992 positions and beyond. The tie eating Georgia surrogate that Bush used has suffered a severe political blow and the peasants are revolting. They are blaming Saakashwili for this fiasco, and for their suffering. Rebels are already blowing up trains and bridges using improvised explosives.

[metsobitso]

Georgia attacked the people of Ossetia and Abkhazia in an unprovoked and calculated grab for their territory. They thought that by acting with stealth and duplicity and by using the Olympic games as a diversion, that they could ruthlessly kill and ethnically cleanse these people and gain control of all the territories south of the Caucasus Mountain Range. They managed to draw in the support of the US because the US needs access through their country to the oil fields in Azerbaijan, and the US is always eager to take part in adventures that discredit their Russian rivals. However, even with all the best military advise and support from the US, the Georgians still managed to loose their military conquest and now they face international condemnation for crimes against humanity. As the losers, the Georgians find that the only real interest the US has in them is in the oil, and not necessarily in helping them take possession of small boarder territories. We will see the US withdraw their expansionist support and focus on keeping control of the oil.

[jmurrieta1]

"For security reasons the Navy does not say if ships are carrying nuclear weapons, but they usually do not. "


Really? Seems likely that they usually do?

If WW3 breaks out, are they going to sail home to pick up their nukes?

[whitemale08]

The Looney Tunes Liberal Isolationists posting believe we can put toothpaste back in the tube. Their uninformed rhetoric makes one thing perfectly clear. They are eager to ABANDON our allies at the first sign of a SHOWDOWN! It is this SELFISH COWARDICE that will make it easier for the Russians to pull this *** in the future


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

Posted by mydiatribe at 06:06 PM : Aug 24, 2008--

It''s the "Republican Suicide Bomber" that thinks that once you start a nuclear war with Russia that then you can stop it.

No ally, let me repeat myself, no ally is worth the deaths of all 300,000,000 Americans. If you love the Georgians so much then do what you told blacks to do back in the 80''s to "Go back to Africa then if you don''t like it here".

So go back to Georgia if want to be Georgian and not American first. If Georgia was part of N.A.T.O. already we would already be dead from WWIII.

Thank goodness that hasn''t happened yet.

It amazes me that I watched and listened to Putin all year tell Condoleeza Con to "BACK THE FU** UP" and her and Bush refused to adhere the warning even as the Russians were moving military equipment accross the mountains in the lead up to this crisis.

Again do us a favor and stop your boy Darth Cheney and Condoleeza Con before they get us all killed!!!!

[whitemale08]

How do you feel about spending millions to rebuild Georgia after a Russian army destroyed much of the country?

That is what we get for two yellow bellied and very stupid Bushes in the *** House.


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

Posted by geneonlbk at 06:29 PM : Aug 24, 2008--

First of all it''s was British Margaret Thatcher who wanted Bush Senior to start that war in Iraq. His ambassador to Iraq said "We dont get involved in Arab disputes".

It was Bush Senior who finally wised up into not going all the way to Baghdad like his stupid son did. Now look at us. We''re in a failed war "surge" that has our troops "bogged" down so that even if we wanted to help anyone militarily we couldn''t.

That''s why British Tony Blair urged the naive and inexperienced Bush Jr. to invade Iraq on false pretenses and unlike his father, went all the way to Iraq.

Now you might think that the Georgians are in no way to blame in all of this because it has been reported that the Georgians killed a bunch of Russian peace-keepers for no reason, but a bunch of us are not that stupid. We don''t give blank checks for our allies to do whatever the hell they want.

So if you want to go fight a nuclear war so bad, then joing the jihadists and strap on a nuclear warhead and blow up your own kind, we in the civilized world have enough of "blustering idiots" like you. Enough is enough!

[geneonlbk]

First Bush senior promised the Shiites in south Iraq that we would stand behind them if the rose up against Hussein after Bush senior was too yellow bellied to get Hussein at the end of his Desert Storm. Tens of thousands were slaughtered by Hussein while Bush senior went to the bathroom so to speak.

Now Bust junior has done it again. He promised the Georgian government we would use US smart weapons to stop Russian tanks in South Assetia. Instead Putin moves in two missile batteries with tactical nuke warheads and Bush can do nothing but watch the Georgians slaughtered by the Russian army and go to the bathroom, so to spesak.

Now you see why Bush is so eager to give overwhelming aid to the Georgians. Its hush money.

How do you feel about spending millions to rebuild Georgia after a Russian army destroyed much of the country?

That is what we get for two yellow bellied and very stupid Bushes in the *** House.

[mydiatribe]

The Looney Tunes Liberal Isolationists posting believe we can put toothpaste back in the tube. Their uninformed rhetoric makes one thing perfectly clear. They are eager to ABANDON our allies at the first sign of a SHOWDOWN! It is this SELFISH COWARDICE that will make it easier for the Russians to pull this *** in the future

[eddom949]

Great... The Navy took wine and flowers? Why weren''t they drinking the wine when starving, or with their Nutricia? Were they breaking the wine across the bow to christen the ships?

[vietnam21]

All foreign aid is theft from American citizens. Foreign aid needs to be cut off. Screw Georgia and the rest of the world. The U.S. financial disaster has put four million U.S. families on the street in the past two years. The victims of the mid-west floods have received very little help. And the refugees from Hurricane Katrina have not all been re-housed. The U.S. needs to use its resources for American citizens.

Posted by stevador39 at 04:39

Here are the partial list of the countries received aid from US:
ISRAEL=40 BIL
PALESTIAN=2 BIL
COMLUMBIA=6 BIL
PAKISTAN= 6 BIL AND 263 MIL RECENTLY
EGYP=3 BIL
AND ALOT MORE ANUALLY...

[vietnam21]

The USS McFaul is a Guided Missile Destroyer......I thought the US Navy had actual freighters they would use for delivering aid ?....Hmmmmm.....How much "aid" can be stored on a cruiser anyway?....With all those rockets and missiles on board, it must be a tight squeeze for all of the ice cream, snickers bars and water they brought for the peace loving people of Georgia...

[vietnam21]

You and everybody in the United States will DIE if were attacked by Russia with thermo-nuclear weapons.

FYI.. RUSSIA NUKE IS A JOKE...TRY US THEN U SHALL SEE...SEAWOLF ARE ALSO IN AREA...SCREW YUOR TYPHOON....

[stevador39]

All foreign aid is theft from American citizens. Foreign aid needs to be cut off. Screw Georgia and the rest of the world. The U.S. financial disaster has put four million U.S. families on the street in the past two years. The victims of the mid-west floods have received very little help. And the refugees from Hurricane Katrina have not all been re-housed. The U.S. needs to use its resources for American citizens.

[hamiltongrad]

To Russia : Your EVIL EMPIRE is DEAD. Get used to it.