That’s a relief!  Hey guys….  we can go home now!

Iraqi troops have taken over the checkpoints guarded by Georgian soldiers who pulled out of Iraq to rush home for the conflict with Russia, the US military said on Friday.

The US military transported the 2,000-strong Georgian contingent back home because of the conflict with Russia over the separatist region of South Ossetia which erupted last week.

The Georgians — until their departure the biggest foreign contingent in Iraq after the United States and Britain — were mainly deployed in Iraq’s southern Wasit province, manning checkpoints near the border with Iran.

‘Right now, the Iraqi soldiers have taken over the responsibility of the traffic control point,’ 2nd Lieutenant Charlie Hines, US military liaison with Iraqi forces at the base in the area, said in a report released by the military.

‘We are going to train them to be able to take over the entire patrol base, go and do presence patrols and set up temporary traffic control points in our area.’

Georgia had a small force in Iraq since the invasion in 2003, but expanded it significantly last year as part of an effort to support its bid for NATO membership. Five Georgian soldiers died in Iraq, all in the last two years.

I’m not quite sure who we should trust more at the Iranian border: Georgia or Iraq?

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…. or more specifically, blames one Israeli. But of course, the Arab world has problems distinguishing between singular and plural; one jooo means all jooos.  What a shock.

In a speech marking the two-year anniversary of the Second Lebanon War, Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah mocked Israel’s political and military leadership.

“The entire front line of the army’s brass stepped down because of the war. Gal Hirsch, who was defeated in Lebanon, went to Georgia and they too lost because of him,” laughed Nasrallah.

Hirsch, a brigadier-general in the reserves, served as commander of the IDF’s Galilee Division during the war and resigned in its wake. In recent years he consulted the Georgian army on the establishment of elite units and rearmament, and gave various courses in the fields of combat intelligence and fighting in built-up areas.

If Hirsch is to blame for whispering sweet nothings into the ear of Georgia’s commanders, then the United States is the blame for it too.  Remember the photo of the Georgian army decked out in spiffy American army uniforms?  Hell, the Dept. of Defense created it’s own “Georgian Training and Equipment Program“.  Me thinks more than one hand is in the Georgian pot, Mr. Nasrallah.

Plus, let’s not ignore that Russia’s military far out numbers Georgia… and most importantly, Russia has a far more advanced vodka supply line than both the Israelis and Americans combined. Za Vas!

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…or is there something us little people don’t know?

First order of business are the weapons Israel had previously been supplying to Georgia. There’s no hush-hush operation about this. Israel is a leading exporter of weapons to many countries, including Georgia. The International Herald Tribune reported that Israel halted sales of defensive weapons last week after Russia and Georgia bumped heads.

What it god’s name is Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili blathering about then?

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili denied on Wednesday night that Israel has suspended its military aid to the country. “I haven’t heard anything about that, and I haven’t had time to think about that issue for some days,” he told Haaretz.

Saakashvili said he is aware of problems with supplying the pilotless drones that his army ordered from Israeli companies, but not of the stopping of any other shipments of military aid.

He hasn’t had time to think about if his military is receiving supplies or not??

Regarding Israelies who fled from Georgia after Russia invaded:

“We have two Israeli cabinet ministers, one deals with war [Defense Minister David Kezerashvili], and the other with negotiations [State Minister for Territorial Integration Temur Yakobashvili], and that is the Israeli involvement here: Both war and peace are in the hands of Israeli Jews.”

Yakobashvili is actually not an Israeli citizen.

What does Yaobashvili (the non-Israeli, Israeli) have to say about the halt of Israeli military supplies?

Yakobashvili blasted Israel’s decision to suspend defense aid to Georgia: “Israel did it at the Russians’ behest. It aided the terrorists, the Russians. It’s a disgrace. I don’t know what it received in return, I only see that Hezbollah continues to get Russian arms, and plenty of it.”

“Israel should protect the interests it has here,” he continued. “There are many Israeli businesspeople who invested money, and a country should protect its citizens’ investments.“

I’m sorry but I gotta pull the reigns in on this one.  Because Israel stopped military aid to Georgia, they’re subsequently supporting a terrorist organization….  Russia?  He just poured Hezbollah and Russia into the same group.  Believe me, I’m no fan of Russia either, but how far does the ‘terrorism rhetoric’ have to go before it simply becomes a blanket word for all militaristic aggression?

Not to mention, pulling Israel into a war for the reason of a few million dollars of investment is irrational and irresponsible considering the consequences.

What about the United States?

During the briefing, Saakashvili noted that he is in constant contact with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. He promised that U.S. warships would be docking in Georgian ports within a few days to make sure they remain open.

I hate to break it to ya buddy but:

…the Pentagon denied a suggestion by Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian president, that the US military would take control of the country’s seaports and airports.

Geoff Morrell, a Pentagon press secretary, said on Wednesday that “we do not need nor do we intend to take over any air or seaports in order to deliver humanitarian assistance to those caught in this conflict”.

“It is simply not a requirement of this mission and it is not something we are seeking to do.”

Don’t hold your breath for those warships.

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Israeli military maneuvers yesterday near the Golan Heights (which borders Syria) has made the Syrian leadership tense.

I can understand the concern, I suppose, considering the history of aggression in the Middle East.

But it’s the Syrian explanation for the maneuvers that has me spitting coffee outa my nose:

“The risk of such drills lies in the fact that they take place near the ceasefire line with Syria and also because Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi came to supervise them personally,” the officials said.

Furthermore, a former Syrian advisor to the regime, George Jabour, said there was a connection between the IDF maneuvers and the conflict between Russia and Georgia. Jabour claimed that the American administration might attempt to “heat up” the Golan front as an indirect response to Russia’s attack on Georgia. “The exercise is a provocation against Syria’s peaceful intentions,” Jabour said.

So, the Syrians rationalize that the reason Israel is practicing near the Golan Heights is because the United States wants to punish the Syrians for the Russian-Georgian war??

Someone poor me another vodka, please.

Syrian President Assad: The Dorktator Hard at Work

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They may have lost the war, but irony prevails at the Olympics.

In the Men’s 90 kg Judo match, Georgian Irakli Tsirekidze beats Russian Ivan Pershin to continue and win the gold medal today.

Stick your tongue out. You know you wanna….

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