Georgia admits military failings, lobbies for US pact (News Feature)

By Alissa de Carbonnel Dec 19, 2008, 16:44 GMT

Tbilisi/Moscow - Georgia was hailed by the West as a beacon of democracy and growth in the Caucasus. It had the third largest contingent of troops in Iraq and seemed on a steady track for NATO membership - before its war with Russia.

But two reports emerging this week, by the Pentagon and a Georgian parliamentary comission, tell of severe failings in the Georgian military, which was easily routed by Russian troops during the five- day conflict in August. The United States and Russia compete for influence in the strategic region over oil and gas supplies lines from Central Asia to Europe.

 The Georgian parliamentary probe charged the government and military leadership, despite having good intelligence, with being ill-prepared for the conflict that saw Russian forces advance to within 45 kilometers of the capital Tbilisi.

The Georgian authorities failed 'to properly analyze the scales of the expected threat,' it said.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who rose to power on the back of the popular 2003 Rose Revolution, has come under increasing criticism from domestic opposition, who accuse him of igniting a war the small post-Soviet state could not hope to win.

The commission's assessment, however, supported Saakashvili's decision to launch an assault on pro-Russian separatists fighters in South Ossetia, citing months border skirmishes and provocations by the Moscow.

Its release Thursday coincided with the publishing by the New York Times of a confidential Pentagon report detailing a widespread discipline and cronyism in the military leadership.

The Georgian army of about 30,000 troops, despite participating in US-led missions in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, lacks sweeping reform to modernize its army, the paper cited the Pentagon report as saying.

News also leaked this week that the United States and Georgia were in talks for a bilateral security pact as US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza visited Tbilisi.

Bryza denied such an agreement existed, but hinted it was under discussion, saying talks had focused on 'US-Georgian cooperation on security and strategic partnership.'

'We are still working through how to reflect the beautiful words 'strategic partnership' in our actual actions,' he was quoted by local media as saying.

Bryza added the US goal was to aide Georgia on the track to meeting NATO9s requirements on military-security and democratic reforms.

But ahead of Bryza's comments Georgian officials cited a draft document already in the works.

In televised comments former defence minister Batu Kutelia, Georgia's new ambassador to Washington, said a pact with the United States would guarantee Georgia's 'security and territorial integrity.'

Georgian officials also expressed hope a bilateral pact with the US could unfreeze its NATO bid.

Moscow, meanwhile, has called for arms sanctions on Georgia and protested against any move by the United States to re-equip Georgia's armed forces.

Analysts say US-Georgian bilateral agreement would put the United States closer to a direct confrontation with Russia in the Caucasus, where tensions are already running high as Russia bolsters its presence.

Moscow is deploying new bases in Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and plans to host near 8,000 soldiers in the two regions.

The United States in turn bolstered its naval presence in the Black Sea, angering Moscow with its use of warships to deliver aide to Georgia.

Georgia and Ukraine's US-backed aspirations to join NATO fed into spiraling relations between Moscow and Tbilisi before the war in August with Moscow protesting against the expansion the foreign military bloc's along its borders.

But Georgia's Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs pointed a precedent in the Baltic states in comments to Rustavi-2 television this week.

The former Soviet nations - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - first sign a pact with the United States in the late 1990s before acceding to NATO in 2004.

That agreement pledged US help among other things in modernizing the three state's military to meet western standards.

US President George Bush's administration has promised 1 billion dollars in humanitarian and economic aide to Georgia, which president- elect Barack Obama has pledged to uphold.

But it is unclear whether such US-Georgian negotiations on a bilateral partnership would continued under the new US administration.