BEIJING (AP) - August 10, 2008 The crisis over a breakaway province, South Ossetia, appeared to
ebb as Georgian troops began retreating and honoring a cease-fire,
a claim Russia disputed. U.S. officials said Moscow was only
broadening its retaliation against Georgia for trying to take
control of the region.
The sheer scope of Russia's military response has the Bush
administration deeply worried. Russia on Sunday expanded its
bombing blitz in areas of Georgia not central to the fighting.
Vice President Dick Cheney spoke Sunday afternoon with Georgian
President Mikhail Saakashvili, Cheney press secretary Lee Ann
McBride said. "The vice president expressed the United States'
solidarity with the Georgian people and their democratically
elected government in the face of this threat to Georgia's
sovereignty and territorial integrity," McBride said.
Cheney told Saakashvili that "Russian aggression must not go
unanswered, and that its continuation would have serious
consequences for its relations with the United States, as well as
the broader international community," McBride said.
A Russian official said more than 2,000 people had been killed
in South Ossetia since Friday; the figure could not be confirmed
independently.
The president was to end his weeklong stay to Asia by attending
a baseball game and other events Monday at the Beijing Olympics.
The trip was meant mostly for fun and games - there have been
plenty of both. But the fast-moving conflict in Georgia has grabbed
his attention.
Bush, pressing international mediation, reached out Sunday to
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who heads the European Union. The
two agreed on the need for a cease-fire and a respect for Georgia's
integrity, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
In Washington, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services
Committee said the United States must work closely with Europe in
condemning Russia's actions.
"We cannot just go out alone on this and talk and act
unilaterally. We don't have much impact, I believe, in terms of our
unilateral declarations anymore with the administration's approach
to the world," said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. "We've got to stand
together with European allies."
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 launched overwhelming artillery shelling and air attacks on
Georgian troops.
"We're alarmed by this entire situation, and every escalatory
step is a further problem," deputy national security adviser Jim
Jeffrey told reporters.
The U.S. military began flying 2,000 Georgian troops home from
Iraq after Georgia recalled the soldiers following the outbreak of
fighting with Russia. The decision was a timely payback for the
former Soviet republic that has been a staunch U.S. supporter and
agreed to send troops to Iraq as part of the U.S.-led coalition.
Georgia was the third-largest contributor of coalition forces after
the U.S. and Britain, and most of its troops were stationed near
the Iranian border in southeastern Iraq.
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.
Also, Ukraine warned Russia it could bar Russian navy ships from
returning to their base in the Crimea because of their deployment
to Georgia's coast.
"If those Russian ships leave that port in the Black Sea and if
Ukraine decides that it is not going to allow those ships back into
that port ... that is a potentially much greater conflagration
involving a wider regional area," Levin said.
The White House sought to reassure that the administration -
including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Joint Chiefs of
Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen - were talking to parties on both
sides and trying for a diplomatic solution.
"We hope that there is no further bloodshed. There has been too
much bloodshed already," Jeffrey said.
Asked about the possibility of sending the U.S. military or
other aid to Georgia, Jeffrey said, "Right now our focus is on
working with both sides, with the Europeans and with a whole
variety of international institutions and organizations to get the
fighting to stop."
Levin, too, did not see the chance of U.S. military involvement,
though he said the U.S. needs to make clear to Russia that its
action "is way out of line."
"It has to be condemned and the world needs to stand against
it," Levin said.
Bush also tended to relations with China, again raising raised
concerns to President Hu Jintao about how the host of the summer
Olympics treats its own people.
Bush worshipped at a Beijing church and declared China has
nothing to fear from expressions of faith. The message had the
added punch of coming on China's turf, as Bush has done before.
He managed time for a couple of marquee sporting events. With
first lady Laura Bush, daughter Barbara and former President George
H.W. Bush, he cheered from the stands of the Water Cube Olympic
swimming venue. American Michael Phelps claimed the first of an
expected string of gold medals by smashing his own world record in
the 400-meter individual medley.
"God, what a thrill to cheer for you!" Bush told Phelps
afterward.
At night, Bush watched the eagerly anticipated U.S.-China men's
basketball game.
Before the contest, he huddled with U.S. players in a corridor
of the Olympic arena, putting his hand in with theirs and joining
in a cheer, "One, two, three, U.S.A, go!"
---
Associated Press writers Mark S. Smith and Paul Alexander
contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2024 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.