George in Georgia

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• Reader Comments (6)

  Page 1 of 1 pages

  ***While Bush dances in Freedom Square, human rights abuses continue in Georgia.***
  I guess making progress in the right direction is unacceptable to you.  I think what you are advocating is a country living under tyranny is better than a country making progress in moving forward with democracy and freedom.

  ***“it is very difficult to believe” that al Qaeda is in the Gorge, because they would need to “cross at least six or seven countries.” ***
  Brilliant observation.  How much territory did al Qaeda cross to get into a flight school in Oklahoma before killing 3,000 Americans?

  *** are these things too valuable to risk alienating Georgian leaders by pushing hard for real democratic reform and respect for human rights? It seems so.***
  Progressives are constantly screaming we need to stop forcing ourselves and our brand of Democracy down the throats of sovereign nations, except in this case I guess.  Isn’t it the beloved UN that is supposed to be working with countries needing help in improving their human rights issues?

  Does the hypocrisy of the left have no boundaries?

  Posted by U Scare Me on May 23, 2005 at 5:43 PM

  Bush does nothing that is not designed to put money in his pocket, no matter what the cost is to others.  Damn soviet made hand grenade.

  Posted by Lefty on May 24, 2005 at 2:40 AM

  Georgia,
  it has almost become a idyilic paradise where the righteous live the tranquil life and the sun always shines.Hey,get real tell it to the millions who got out and the reasons they got out.There is an oil pipeline and the US needs oil,so sit back and watch the show,it will get interesting.

            Regards,
            Thomas Keegan

  Posted by Thomas Keegan on May 24, 2005 at 11:38 AM

  “The Bush administration’s rhetorical embrace of freedom and democracy is undermined by washington’s >policies of arming and training repressive regimes<”.This is a true statement,this is how we operate in the world.The very definition of hiprocricy.And yet,when it is pointed out,the brain dead ‘right’ call the ‘left’ hipocrites.  Unbelievable.

  Posted by mike on May 24, 2005 at 3:38 PM

  It won’t be long before Georgian bullets and bombs supplied by the US are killing civilians, NGO personnel and Americans.  You reap what you sow.

  Posted by theloneous on May 24, 2005 at 7:37 PM

  Before US aid, Georgia’s military was in a deplorable state, it couldn’t feed or clothe itself. Conscripts had no bullets in their guns. The Georgian militia who fought in the South Ossetian and Abkhazian conflicts were essentially bands of criminals following orders under an ambiguous chain of command, which is largely why so many crimes against humanity occurred. If you’re going to have an army, you might as well have a trained, disciplined one.

  The danger of new Georgian military is that it threatens the de-facto sovereignty of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. A fact overlooked by Ms. Berrignan is that Saakashvili has made restoring Georgia’s territorial integrity his main goal and that Bush’s visit supported this aim.

  Yes, Georgia has much work before it can fully consider itself a democratic nation. Ms. Berrignan appears to have done little research for her article. Human rights is only one of several areas under-developed here. The first thing Saakashvili did as president was amend the constitution, removing checks and balances and giving himself more power. Governors and mayors of regional cities including Tbilisi are not freely elected by the people, they are appointed by the president. The press practices self-censorship under government threat. It was freer under Shevardnadze. Furthermore, judges are now under direct authority of the Prosecutor-General’s office, therefore they cannot investigate allegations of police torture.

  Ms. Berrignan also fails to acknowledge that while Georgia suffers from a corrupt system, one of Saakashvili’s greatest achievements in the past year was a successful campaign against corruption, as unconventional as it was - great strides were made.

  As for the elusive and mysterious al-Qaeda in Pankisi, the story is that it was Georgia who first reported their presence and suddenly recieved western assistance and “anti-terrorist” training. Tevsadze denied their existence because of the Russian threat of pre-emptive strikes in Georgian territory. But the fact remains that it has never been proven that they were or were not there. Wahabists, yes, but if al Qaeda is what you call any Islamic fundamentalist, then there you go.

  Posted by misha on May 29, 2005 at 7:20 AM

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