U.S. Soldiers In Georgia During The Georgian - Russian War

Georgian Soldiers Training

U.S. Troops’ “Ringside Seat” at South Ossetia War
-- War Is Boring

A small group of U.S. military personnel had a “ringside seat” at an air base near Tbilisi during last month’s South Ossetia war, World Politics Review’s “Corridors of Power” column reports.

Military spokesmen in the Pentagon and in Europe told Corridors that the American troops had been involved in a just-completed large-scale joint U.S.-Georgian exercise but had remained behind when the fighting erupted.

That exercise, “Immediate Response 2008,” was supposed to “improve cooperation in combat situations between American and Georgian forces,” according to WPR. Fat lot of good that did Georgia, when the U.S. and NATO resisted Tbilisi’s attempts to sucker them into joining the fighting.

The U.S. troops were apparently never directly threatened by Russian attacks, although the air base where they apparently were staying, Vaziani, was reportedly bombed by Russian planes.