|
Georgia becomes an unlikely U.S. ally in Iraq
KUT, Iraq: The United States has found an unlikely ally in the struggle to block what U.S. commanders contend is Iranian weapons smuggling in this rural agricultural region south and east of Baghdad: soldiers from the former Soviet republic of Georgia. At a time when other countries are pulling troops out, Georgia has more than doubled the level of its forces here, from 850 to 2,000 soldiers, and redeployed them from the Green Zone in the capital to a region along the Iranian border.After a ceremony to mark the formal start of their mission Monday, during which Georgian soldiers knelt and were sprinkled with holy water by their Eastern Orthodox priest, the tiny Caucasus Mountain nation has become the United States's second-largest ally in Iraq, behind Britain. But it is hardly fear of Iran that is impelling the Georgians to contribute so significantly to the war, even as other nations pull out. As the United States is searching for allies, so is Georgia, a country that aspires to NATO membership as a security guarantee against a resurgent, oil-enriched Russia. "As soldiers here, we help the American soldiers," Corporal Georgi Zedguidze said, peering out past the sun-scorched checkpoint he was guarding at a bridge over the Tigris River. "Then America as a country will help our country."
Posted by: 2007-10-09 |
|
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=201831 |