Saakashvili Testifies Before War Commission

Original: Saakashvili Testifies Before War Commission

President Saakashvili testified before the parliamentary commission studying the August war on November 28. He told the commission that his decision on August 7 to launch a military operation was “inevitable” because the Russian troops were already advancing into breakaway South Ossetia and because the Georgian-controlled villages inside the breakaway region were under heavy shelling.
Saakashvili said that the August war to a certain extend had “complicated” restoration of the Georgia’s territorial integrity, but on the other hand, he said, it made the process even “easier” because the war demonstrated that Russia was not at all “peacekeeper” but “an aggressor.”
Foreign diplomats accredited in Tbilisi were invited by the Georgian authorities to attend the hearings.
Below are k Georgia is whether Tbilisi carried out military actions in early August with an aim to regain control over Tskhinvali and other areas which were not under our control; you know that this question is in the center of debates; Russia is spending huge amount of money for information campaign to discredit Georgia…; this campaign has achieved certain results;
In fact this question is an attempt to distract attention from major issues:
I want to tell in respect of this question – did we carried out military actions in the begiing of August with an aim to regain control over Tskhinvali and those areas which were not under our control in South Ossetia? – I was saying it openly previously and I state it now, that yes we decided to carry out military actions in the Tskhinvali region; it was a difficult decision, which would have been taken by any responsible democratic government to protect the security of its citizens;
This decision was unavoidable for two reas the German Foreign Minister&rsq