 merrie says: Condoleezza Rice rushed to the former Soviet republic with a new cease-fire plan offering concessions to Moscow. The new document would allow Russian peacekeepers who were in the disputed South Ossetia region before the fighting broke out a week ago to stay, and they would now be permitted to patrol in a strip up to six miles outside the area, [...] the officials said. "The United States spent 45 years working very hard to avoid a military confrontation with Russia. I see no reason to change that approach today," Gates said at the Pentagon. Standing alongside, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. James Cartwright, said it appeared Russia was "generally complying" with the truce. But then Georgian leaders said a convoy of more than 100 Russian tanks and other vehicles had moved from the western city of Zugdidi deeper into their nation before stopping. Cartwright had said Russian forces appeared to be forming up in Georgia in preparation for withdrawal. The United Nations estimates 100,000 people have been uprooted by the conflict, while estimates of the dead range from scores to thousands. Gates described a broad humanitarian effort for Georgians displaced or harmed by the fighting. He said there was no need for U.S. fighting forces there, although the relief effort is being run by the American military. The Pentagon says there are fewer than 100 U.S. military personnel on the ground in Georgia now, including about 60 U.S. Special Forces and Marines who've been there for a while to train local troops on their way to deployment in Iraq. Now that the Georgian contingent has been called home from Iraq and the training mission suspended, the ... |
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