By Lennox Samuels
Scores of soldiers loiter on one side of the expansive grounds of Baghdad's Al-Sijud Palace, some in full uniform and others wearing brown T-shirts tucked into their camouflage pants. Nearby, dozens of backpacks stuffed with gear stand upright, as if at attention. The troops smoke and chat in small groups, the talk mostly about the violent drama unfolding back home. These are members of the Georgian Army, waiting to be re-deployed to their country in the Caucasus to join the battle against a historical foe they believe is trying to re-conquer their nation. "We look on TV and see the Russians bombing our country and we know what we have to do," says one sergeant who does not want to give his name. "We have to go back and fight."
Russia's military campaign may be designed to eject Georgia from the secessionist republic of South Ossetia, but it also is forcing Georgia to drastically reduce its presence in Iraq. A longtime stalwart of the American-led coalition in Iraq, the small European/Asian nation will send back at least half of its 2,000 Iraq-based troops to help on the home front. Georgia, a small nation of only 4.5 million people, currently supplies the third-largest contingent of forces in Iraq, after the United States and Britain. "The Georgians are redeploying the majority of their troops," says Rear Admiral Patrick Driscoll, a spokesman for the Multi-National Force in Iraq. "We wish them well."
The Georgians, who have been in Iraq since 2004, currently spend much of their time providing security and medical services to Coalition personnel. They have been a familiar sight around Baghdad's Green Zone, manning checkpoints. Many have served on security details along the Iranian border, trying to help prevent smuggling and reduce the flow of potential insurgents into Iraq. Most recently, some companies have been working alongside American and Iraqi troops in their latest drive to kill or expel Al Qaeda in Iraq from Diyala Province. "In the near term their [departure] will have some impact as we adjust operations," Driscoll concedes without elaborating.
For the soldiers waiting on the compound of the massive, blue-domed Al-Sijud, the change of fronts is not only sensible; it is essential. They mill around the compound, which is now called Forward Operating Base Sakartvelo (Georgia's name in the native Kartuli language) and where the distinctive red-and-white, five-cross Georgian flag is mounted at the entrance. As they wait for the Americans to arrange their transport out of Iraq, the troops talk about what they see as Russia's long-held desire to rule Georgia, a former Soviet republic that became independent in 1991, 70 years after it was absorbed into the U.S.S.R. They know that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has tried to navigate a careful course between establishing closer relations with the U.S. and European Union and expanding cooperation with Russia, the nation's powerful—and suspicious—neighbor to the north and east of the Caucasus Mountains. "They've always wanted South Ossetia and Abkhazia [another separatist region in Georgia]," says another soldier, getting up and stamping away.
The men figure that they can employ the battlefield skills picked up from fighting terrorists and insurgents in Iraq to battle the Russians. One lieutenant says the Iraq contingent can play an important role among Georgia's 32,000-strong armed forces, given its Mideast experience. But for now, they must wait to hear when the U.S. will expedite their departure for home. "We have orders to pack but no firm deployment orders yet," says 1st Lt. Nukri Rezesidze, commander of Bravo Company. "It all depends on the Americans." A bearded Georgian Orthodox priest in a black cassock nods as he listens. He's heading home as well, he says. But as Moscow announces that it will send reinforcements into South Ossetia and rejects a ceasefire offer from Tbilisi, many of the troops are hoping they don't fly out too late.
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