He met with the "Rose" triumvirate of then-Georgian Interim President Nino Burjanadze, State Minister Zurab Zhvania (whose family accuses Saakashvili over his death in 2005) and presidential candidate Mikheil Saakashvili as well as inspecting the Krtsanisi National Training Centre near the capital where the U.S. had been training Georgian troops since the preceding year (and have been doing so since).
Even at that early date Rumsfeld advocated, although acknowledging that Georgia was a member of NATO's Partnership for Peace program, it needed to advance further toward NATO integration, including full membership. With characteristic bluntness, he demanded Moscow "withdraw Russian forces from Georgia," meaning small contingents of peacekeepers in Adjara and South Ossetia.
Nino Burjanadze, now in the anti-Saakashvili opposition, said of the meeting with the Pentagon chief: "We stressed that relations with the U.S. are of main importance for us. We also stressed that our foreign policy remains unchanged and accession to the NATO remains a priority. We thanked Mr. Rumsfeld for providing assistance to Georgia..."
Rumsfeld in turn said: "Georgia made a decision to work closely with NATO. This was a good decision. The decision was reaffirmed by the new leadership. We look towards the political, economic as well as military reforms that move Georgia's approach closer to the democracies of the West."
Making the most of his time in Tbilisi and not unrelated to the above, Rumsfeld also inspected a pipeline that was later incorporated into the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey) oil transport project, described as the world's most politicized pipeline.
Six days after his arrival in Tbilisi, Georgian special forces entered into breakaway South Ossetia, in the word's of Britain's Daily Telegraph, "inflaming tensions in a country already facing the threat of civil war."
A week after his departure the first of four Georgian battalions trained by U.S. military personnel under the Georgia Train and Equip Program graduated.
In May 2004 Adjara fell into by then President Saakashvili's clutches following large-scale Georgian military exercises conducted on its borders, with Saakashvili immediately threatening that Abkhazia would be next. Four years later Saakashvili attempted just that against South Ossetia and Abkhazia, but was thwarted by Russian military intervention.
In May 2005 Rumsfeld's commander-in-chief, George W. Bush, became the first and to date only American head of state to visit the Caucasus when he arrived in the Georgia capital with a 700-person delegation and spoke at a rally with Saakashvili.
His comments at the time, a clear attempt to replicate President John F. Kennedy's Berlin Wall speech of 1963, included the following, well worth recalling in regard to what has transpired in the interim:
"Your courage is inspiring democratic reformers and sending a message that echoes across the world. Now, across the Caucasus, in Central Asia and the broader Middle East, we see the same desire for liberty burning in the hearts of young people.
"In recent months, the world has marveled at the hopeful changes taking place from Baghdad to Beirut to Bishkek. But before there was a Purple Revolution in Iraq, or an Orange Revolution in Ukraine, or a Cedar Revolution in Lebanon, there was the Rose Revolution in Georgia."
The reference to Bishkek is an allusion to the so-called Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan March 2005.
When Rumsfeld returned to Georgia late last month he was greeted by Defense Minister Bacho Akhalaia, who briefed him on the transformation and upgrading of his nation's military under the auspices of the U.S. and NATO.
According to the Georgian Defense Ministry's website, during the meeting between Rumsfeld and Akhalaia "focus was placed on the enhancement of Georgia's defence capabilities and military education."
The two sides "also referred to Georgia's involvement in the ISAF mission and NATO integration perspectives." Georgia's defense chief "extended his gratitude to the former Secretary of Defence for his contribution to deeper US-Georgia relations in the defence and security spheres."
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