Pentagon Flies Aid, Survey Team into Georgia

In a move that could embroil the United States deeper into the still simmering conflict between Russia and the former Soviet republic of Georgia, the Pentagon has flown in a team of military experts to determine the extent of Russian military control over Georgia's roads, sea ports and airports and to assess how deep of a humanitarian crisis the nearly week-long war has created. On August 13, the day Russian president Dmitri Medvedev claimed his troops had been ordered to halt military action in Georgia, an Air Force C-17 Globemasters laden with $1 million-worth of humanitarian cargo landed in the capital city of Tbilisi. As the massive transport took off from its German base, press reports indicated a convoy of Russian troops in armored vehicles had penetrated Georgian territory, occupying the town of Gori, just 60 miles... [read full story]