by: http://www.comedonchisciotte.org
OF: * LIRA TSKHOVREBOVA
I accuse the Georgian leader
Tskhinvali, South Ossetia - In a speech to the UN last month, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili implored world leaders to create an international investigation to find out the truth about South Ossetia War I could not agree more. But I believe that the results of honest investigation would reveal a truth very different from what President Saakashvili claims. I know this because I was in Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia on Aug. 7 when Georgian troops marched into the city and killed my friends and my neighbors. I squeezed with my family in terror for three nights while rockets and tanks Saakhashvili destroyed hundreds of our homes, desecrated cemeteries and gut our homes and hospitals. I also have good reasons not to trust what Saakashvili says. I received calls from many of my Georgian friends for three days before the attack, telling me to go all that way, that Saakashvili was planning an attack. Most of the Georgians living in South Ossetia left because they knew what was coming. During the night of August 7 Saakashvili went on television and assured the frightened civilian population of South Ossetia that would attack us. Saakashvili now claims that the Russians have started to "invade" Georgia. Ossetians went to bed that night with great relief and grateful for a quiet night. Less than two hours later, according to various credible international accounts, three infantry brigades with its artillery and its bombers unleashed what I can only describe as a hell on our city. At the time we felt only our fear as we hid. Then I spoke with centiaia Ossetians about what was done that night. The elderly father of a friend of mine tried to extinguish the flames that the fire had set the Georgian house that he built with his bare hands. His leg was torn to splinters dale the Georgian weapons. Bled to death while his invalid wife crawled out of their burning house. Of Ossetians saw Georgian tanks firing into basements where women and children to shield themselves, and saw families that were given to the escape killed by Georgian snipers. We discovered then that the Georgian army also used Grad rocket launchers [BM-21 rocket launcher, ndt] and cluster bombs against Tskhinvali. Yes, I would like very much that an international commission of inquiry seeing the truth about what happened. When I came out from hiding, thanking God that the Russians had saved my life, I was totally demoralized by the reaction of the international media to what had happened. There was nothing about Ossetian deaths and the horrors inflicted by Saakashvili's free. It breaks my heart. The truth has been suppressed by the powerful public relations machine as mercilessly as Georgian tanks Georgians passed over the helpless citizens of Tskhinvali. I know that Americans are a generous people and loyal. But the Americans have not been told the truth about what happened to us. The Americans do not understand that Ossetians Orthodox Christians are a people with an independent long history in our land. The world speaks only of the freedom of Georgia. But the freedom of my people? They do not want our voices mean nothing and our suffering? Do not blame the Georgians for what we have success, most of the Ossetians and Georgians want to live in peace, I prosecute the leaders of Georgia. Saakashvili has persuaded the world that is a beacon of democracy and openness, but does not want to tell the truth even to his people. My Georgian friends were not able to see any Russian site during the conflict because all those sites were blocked by Saakashvili's government. I know we are a people not numerous, and do not claim to understand the experts in geopolitics with their theories and statements to the great powers, but I fought for women's rights in Ossetia for 12 years and I believe in truth. In a recent article, Saakashvili cynically ignored Ossetian suffering and deaths because he claimed that Russia "told lies" about how many of my people were really killed by the Georgian. It breaks my heart just the idea to argue about this. No-one knows how many Ossetians, Saakashvili included-have been killed by his army. I have friends who have buried their loved ones in their backyards because there were no alternatives. Many still have not been found. Saakashvili believe his vicious attack on a city of civilians was justified by the fact that he killed only hundreds instead of thousands of civilians? Americans realize that an army trained and equipped they attacked a civilian while he slept in his bed? They could never justify sending another billion dollars to Georgia and do nothing for those Georgia attacked?
un'appello I ran the world for humanitarian aid for our people to the site www.helpossetianow.org .
pray that the United States and the world to discover the truth.
Please hear our voices.
* Lira Tskhovrebova is the founder of Women For Democraziea Ossetians and Human Rights [Association of South Ossetian Women for Democracy and an Human Rights] and worked for more than a decade to improve relations between the Georgian and Ossetian peoples of descent in the Caucasus.
Original title: "I Survived the Georgian war. Here's what I saw."
Source: http://www.csmonitor.com/ Link 08.10.2008
Translation for www.comedonchisciotte.org by CARLO CASALE
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