United for Peace of Pierce County, WA - We nonviolently oppose the reliance on unilateral military actions rather than cooperative diplomacy.

On Sunday, the Times of London reported that a Georgian colonel in Iraq said that "The U.S. will provide us with the transportation" to move back to Georgia the country's 2,000 troops currently serving in Iraq.[1] -- "The U.S. military said that all transportation options were being explored, without confirming that it would provide the aircraft," Deborah Haynes added. -- AFP also cited the Georgian colonel, who is chief of Georgia's military operations in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, as saying that "[t]he U.S. military has agreed to help with the logistics of the Georgian redeployment."[2] -- ABC News reported that "The Bush administration is balancing, on the one hand, its delicate relationship with Russia, and on the other, its relationship with Georgia, an ally that sent troops to Iraq."[3] -- The Los Angeles Times reported that a U.S. military spokesman, Army Maj. John C. Hall, said "all transportation options" for returning the troops to Georgia were being considered.[4] -- In an analysis, Deutsche Welle said that "Russia can destroy [Georgia's military], but it will be neither quick nor easy, regional observers say."[5] -- Thanks to U.S. training and equipment, "The infantry force the Georgians have fielded in Ossetia, as a result, is by most accounts at least as competent as Russian army elements opposing it, and by some standards (combat experience and field training) possibly even superior, observers said." -- However, reports from Georgia midday Sunday (local time) indicated that Georgian troops were withdrawing from South Ossetia.[6] ...

BAGHDAD -- Half of Georgia’s 2,000 troops in Iraq plan to leave the country by Monday to join the fight against separatists in the breakaway province of South Ossetia, with the rest following as soon as possible, their commander said.

“First of all we need to remove 1,000 guys from here within 96 hours, after that the rest of the guys,” Colonel Bondo Maisuradze told the *Times* this morning.

Georgia had said initially that it planned to withdraw just half of its contingent in Iraq.

The U.S. military said that all transportation options were being explored, without confirming that it would provide the aircraft.

It also said that the sudden departure of the soldiers would impact operations in the short-term.

The Georgian contingent has been taking part in an operation with U.S. and Iraqi forces to clear the south-eastern corner of Diyala province, north of Baghdad, a known al-Qaeda stronghold.

Some 150 Georgian soldiers also guard the Iraqi Parliament building as well as other key structures inside Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone.

In addition, one battalion is helping to support the Iraqi security forces in Wasit province, south of the capital, near the Iranian border.

Asked about the impact on operations, the U.S. military said: “The unplanned redeployment of Georgian forces will have some impact in the near term, however, as with any change in force structure, we will make adjustments to ensure sustainment of coalition operations.”

It continued in a statement: “We do not anticipate their departure will result in a significant long-term impact on the overall security situation in Iraq.”

Colonel Maisuradze said that his men were anxious to get home after seeing images on television of the unrest in South Ossetia as Russian forces support separatist militias under assault from Georgian troops.

“They want to go home as soon as possible and help,” he said, noting that the experience that Georgian troops have gained of fighting an insurgency in Iraq would benefit them as they tackle the problems in their own country.

“We have the same situation in our home as here, though the territory is different, we have no desert,” Colonel Maisuradze said.

Last year, the Georgians raised the number of troops in Iraq from 850 to 2,000 at a time when most non-American contingents were cutting back -- a move that won them points with U.S. commanders.

KUT, Iraq -- Georgia will withdraw its entire 2,000-strong military contingent from Iraq within three days to help battle South Ossetian separatist rebels, a senior Georgian military official said on Saturday.

"We were ready to leave today, we are ready to leave immediately but we are waiting for the green light from Tbilisi," said Emzar Svanidze, a major with the Georgian military operation in Kut, where 1,700 troops are based.

"For the moment they are asking us to wait," he told AFP, adding that 300 soldiers based in Baghdad as well as those in "another location" had yet to arrive in Kut.

Colonel Bondo Maisuradze, chief of Georgia's military operations in the Iraqi capital, said: "We are discussing with the Americans the conditions of our departure which may take place tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."

The U.S. military has agreed to help with the logistics of the Georgian redeployment, Maisuradze added.

The move came as Georgian and Russian forces were locked in combat on Saturday over the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia and President Mikheil Saakashvili of the small Caucasus nation declared a "state of war."

The departure of the brigade from Georgia -- the third largest contributor to coalition forces in Iraq after the United States and Britain -- will mean some slight changes, the U.S. military said.

"We'll face structural changes, so we'll have to make changes. Fortunately, they are in a stable area of Iraq," military spokesman Major John Hall said.

The majority of Georgian soldiers are deployed near Kut, 175 kilometers (109 miles) south of Baghdad in the province of Wasit, a hotbed of smuggling near the Iranian border.

"They are setting up checkpoints with the border with Iran, and controlling entry and exit," said Siraj al-Samach, a member of Wasit provincial council.

"Their departure will not cause a vacuum or have any effect, because Wasit province is stable and Iraqi forces were about to take over security of the province," he added.

U.S. forces have so far transferred control of security in 10 of 18 provinces to the Iraqi army.

The Georgians have also been involved in operations northeast of Baghdad in Diyala province, an Al-Qaeda stronghold that has seen repeated Iraqi and US assaults.

The Georgian soldiers also have a small presence in the Green Zone, the heavily fortified sector of Baghdad that houses the U.S. embassy and Iraqi government institutions.

A staunch U.S. ally that seeks NATO membership, Georgia last year more than doubled the number of its soldiers serving with the American-led mission in Iraq, scoring plaudits from U.S. officials just when other countries in the coalition were reducing their presence.

But their force was to have been reduced to 300 by the end of summer anyway and eventually withdrawn entirely by the end of 2008, leaving troops from 20 countries serving in the coalition alongside U.S. forces.

Since Georgia's deployment to Iraq in August 2003, about 4,000 of their soldiers have passed through Iraq.

They have suffered five deaths, according to an independent count by the website icasualties.org. Three of the five were killed this year in combat-related incidents.

** Georgian troops have been serving as part of the "coalition of the willing" **

The Georgian government has requested the U.S. government airlift roughly 2,000 Georgian soldiers out of Iraq and back to defend their homeland, an intelligence officer tells ABC News.

The intelligence official asked not be identified because he is not authorized to speak about the diplomatic situation.

The immediacy of the situation for the Georgians is this: They are significantly overpowered by the Russian military and there is fear the Georgians can be defeated as soon as this weekend.

The Bush administration is balancing, on the one hand, its delicate relationship with Russia, and on the other, its relationship with Georgia, an ally that sent troops to Iraq.

Georgian troops have been serving in Iraq as part of the "coalition of the willing." The military presence has been part of Georgia's attempt to align itself with the West as it tries to become a member of the NATO.

Georgia's strengthening of its ties with the United States has created tensions with its powerful neighbor, Russia, with which it is now engaged in combat.

** The commander says the troops will return to Georgia to fight Russia's troops in clashes over breakaway republic South Ossetia. **

BAGHDAD -- The commander of the 2,000 Georgian troops in Iraq said Saturday that his soldiers would leave the country to join the fight against Russia over a separatist Georgian republic.

Though relatively small in number, the Georgians have made up the third-largest force of foreign troops in Iraq, behind the United States and Britain. They mostly have been deployed to bolster security along the border with Iran, where U.S. officials say bombs that cause most American troop deaths are smuggled into the country.

Georgia, which is a U.S. ally, launched an operation Friday to assert authority over breakaway South Ossetia, prompting clashes with troops sent in from Russia, which backs the republic's drive for independence.

"Because of this, we are forced to redeploy our troops to defend our country," said Col. Bondo Maisuradze, chief of Georgia's military operations in Iraq. "If you see the pictures on TV, you will know we are in a hurry to get home as soon as possible."

But the contingent will need U.S. logistical support to withdraw, and there was no indication how quickly the redeployment would happen. Georgia has had troops in Iraq since 2004.

A U.S. military spokesman, Army Maj. John C. Hall, said "all transportation options" for getting the Georgian troops home were being considered. Hall said the unplanned redeployment would have some effect on the operation but adjustments would be made to compensate.

"We do not anticipate their departure will result in a significant long-term impact on the overall security situation in Iraq," he said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military reported Saturday that a soldier was killed by a bomb blast Friday night, bringing the total of U.S. troop deaths since the war began in 2003 to at least 4,137, according to the independent icasualties.org. Two soldiers were wounded in the attack in Baghdad.

The war in the Caucasian province Ossetia may seem like an uneven contest between giant Russia and tiny Georgia -- but on the battlefront things are a bit different.

Georgia's President President Mikheil Saakashvili, coming to office in the 2003 pro-democracy Rose Revolution, has with some help from the United States built up the region's toughest little military. Russia can destroy it, but it will be neither quick nor easy, regional observers say.

U.S. Special Forces troops, and later US Marines replacing them, have for the last half decade been systematically training selected Georgian units to NATO standards. Gone are the Soviet traditions of soldiers' never firing their weapons until the war breaks out, or tanks too valuable to drive out of the motor pool.

Using standard training plans familiar to the average U.S. Army or Marine recruit, the U.S. educators have focused on basics: teaching Georgian soldiers small unit tactics, marksmanship, and individual initiative.

The U.S. trainers also took the Georgian officer corps to school, pushing lessons and buzz words learned by America in its recent wars.

Among these, are making the air force and army work together (inter-service cooperation), trying to surprise the opponent and possess lots of information about him (the information battle), getting beans and bullets to the troops (logistics), and enforcing the bog-standard rule that good officers lead from the front.

Saakashvili has fully backed up the American trainers: In high-unemployment Georgia, the best-paid job available to an active young Georgian man is within the ranks of the military.

Today, roughly one-quarter of Georgia's functional land forces are U.S.-trained. The backbone of the Georgian army is seven infantry battalions raised from scratch and brought by the U.S. Green Berets from boot camp to something quite close to NATO-standard combat readiness over the years, a mass of some 5,000 men.

Georgia since 2003 has been among the U.S.'s most enthusiastic supporters of international forces in Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Iraq.

Currently Georgia, once a minor Soviet republic of some 4.5 million inhabitants, fields the third-largest foreign force in Iraq, after the U.S. and Britain.

Georgia's government on Saturday called on those desert-hardened veterans, requesting the Pentagon release the élite 13th battalion to return home from the Middle East, to fight Russians in Ossetia.

Saakashvili's Defense Ministry, according to officials in Tbilisi, spends some $930 million (620 million euros) a year on its military, a drop in the bucket compared to Russia, but a massive spike from $30 million spent in 1991 when Georgia became independent.

Perhaps tellingly, a lion's share of Georgia's defense budget has gone to field training and soldier personal kit.

First-line Georgian soldiers wear NATO uniforms, kevlar helmets, and body armor matching U.S. issue, and carry the U.S.-manufactured M-16 automatic rifle -- a dramatic turn away from the way most former Soviet republics outfit troops, with a mix of Soviet-era hand-me-downs and more recent Russian or Chinese gear.

Georgia has, however, not thrown out every last Kalashnikov, and most of Georgia's reserves and second-line troops are not as well equipped, and trained marginally, similar to Russian reserves that might be sent to the region.

But Georgia at the same time has according to military observers spent its limited money on a few well-chosen big ticket items: modern Czech self-propelled howitzers and rocket launchers (of which some now are bombarding Tskhinvali), Turkish armored cars, and even a French missile boat.

The infantry force the Georgians have fielded in Ossetia, as a result, is by most accounts at least as competent as Russian army elements opposing it, and by some standards (combat experience and field training) possibly even superior, observers said.

Russia as a regional power, however, enjoys overall superiority over the Georgians, in the short term with a much stronger air force, and in the longer term with the Kremlin's potential ability to mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops and conquer Georgia -- provided the Kremlin has the will to take the losses needed to eliminate their doughty opponents.

A second and probably more critical question is, therefore, whether it is Saakashvili or the Kremlin that is more willing to spend soldier lives in what by all accounts promises to be more bloody fighting.

ERGNETI, Georgia -- A large convoy of Georgian military vehicles carrying soldiers and towing heavy artillery pulled out of South Ossetia on Sunday, a Reuters correspondent reported.

The convoy was seen travelling south through the village of Ergneti, just inside Georgian-controlled territory south of the separatist capital Tskhinvali. Tbilisi said earlier it had withdrawn all its troops from the breakaway region.