It took the New York Times three month, four reporters and lots of expenses to provide news that I provided here within hours after the war over South Ossetia started.
One wonders why the Times needed so long.
Who gave the orders to hold the truth back and who allowed it to be printed today?
The New York Times sells this news today, November 7 2008:
Newly available accounts by independent military observers of the beginning of the war between Georgia and Russia this summer call into question the longstanding Georgian assertion that it was acting defensively against separatist and Russian aggression.
Instead, the accounts suggest that Georgia’s inexperienced military attacked the isolated separatist capital of Tskhinvali on Aug. 7 with indiscriminate artillery and rocket fire, exposing civilians, Russian peacekeepers and unarmed monitors to harm.
Moon of Alabama provided this news for free on August 8 2008, 8:00am est:
Despite yesterday’s announced ceasefire, the government of Georgia today launched an all out military attack on the breakaway South Ossetia region in northern Georgia.
NYT on Nov 7:
Two senior Western military officers stationed in Georgia, speaking on condition of anonymity because they work with Georgia’s military, said that whatever Russia’s behavior in or intentions for the enclave, once Georgia’s artillery or rockets struck Russian positions, conflict with Russia was all but inevitable. This clear risk, they said, made Georgia’s attack dangerous and unwise.
MoA on Aug 8, 8:00am est (headlined: Saakashvili Wants War – He Will Get It)
For internal reasons as much as on foreign policy ground Russia will
not allow Saakashvili to take over South Ossetia. It will either support the Ossetians with weapons which may lead to a prolonged guerrilla war, or it may even invade on its own.
NYT on Nov 7:
[A]ccording to observations of the
[O.S.C.E] monitors, documented Aug. 7 and Aug. 8, Georgian artillery
rounds and rockets were falling throughout the city at intervals of 15
to 20 seconds between explosions, and within the first hour of the
bombardment at least 48 rounds landed in a civilian area. The monitors
have also said they were unable to verify that ethnic Georgian villages
were under heavy bombardment that evening, calling to question one of
Mr. Saakashvili’s main justifications for the attack.
MoA analysis on Aug 12:
On
the evening of August 7 the Georgian President Saakashvili went on TV
and announced a cease-fire. This came after some small tit for tat fire
exchanges on the border between Georgia and South Ossetia. A few hours
later Georgia launched a massive artillery barrage against the South
Ossetian city of Tskhinvali. It used Grad multiple-launch rocket
systems. Such weapons are effective against area targets, like large
infantry clusters, not against pinpoint aims.
NYT on Nov 7:
Civilians repeatedly reported resting at home after the cease-fire
broadcast by Mr. Saakashvili. Emeliya B. Dzhoyeva, 68, was home with
her husband, Felix, 70, when the bombardment began. He lost his left
arm below the elbow and suffered burns to his right arm and torso.
“Saakashvili told us that nothing would happen,” she said. “So we all
just went to bed.”
MoA on Aug 12:
The attack hit people at sleep in their homes.
NYT on Nov 7:
At 12:15 a.m. on Aug. 8, Gen. Maj. Marat M. Kulakhmetov, commander of
Russian peacekeepers in the enclave, reported to the monitors that his
unit had casualties, indicating that Russian soldiers had come under
fire.
…
Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, a spokesman for the Russian Defense
Ministry, said that by morning on Aug. 8 two Russian soldiers had been
killed and five wounded.
MoA on Aug 12:
The
Russian peacekeepers in South Osssetia had less than a battalion of
mechanized infantry between the border and Tskhinvali. This batallion
was attacked by a multi battalion Georgian tank and armored infantry
forces.
and so on …
