Many Americans feel confused about the current conflict in Georgia, with hysterical charges of genocide arising from South Ossetians and their Russian sponsors, as well as from Georgians. The Russian government even demands that the pro-American President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, must be removed from office and tried for war crimes.Whatever the nature of long-ago abuses, however, there’s no doubt real doubt about which side is guilty of aggression and ethnic cleansing in the current struggle. Even a Major General with the invading Russian troops described the Georgians as victims, not villains. “Now Ossetians are running around and killing poor Georgians in their enclaves,” says Vyacheslav Borisov, commander in charge of the occupied city of Gori. A Russian lieutenant with an armored transport division made similar observations to the New York Times: “We have to be honest. The Ossetians are marauding.” On Thursday, Human Rights Watch issued a report that documented attacks by Ossetian militias, allied with the Russians. A South Ossetian intelligence officer said his forces burn down the houses of fleeing Georgians "to make sure" that they couldn't come back. When soldiers of Putin’s own army certify that their allies are committing atrocities, and when those allies proudly boast of those atrocities, the need for Western support for Georgia’s democratic government becomes even more obvious.

Iraqis feel for the position of the United States.  In an interview with an interpreter for the U.S. Marine unit, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, one Iraqi says that the US is in a “bad situation, no matter what route they take.”  Nick, the name the interpreter uses because he doesn’t want the terrorist to know his real name, tells a different story about Iraq.  “If the US stays, the Americans will hate their own government.  If the US leaves, they (the terrorist) will kill us.” 
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