How Saakshvili feeds farmers in the army

Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

A tragedy occured recently in the Afghan province of Gilmend: seven Georgian soldiers of ISAF were killed in a terrorist attack. A vehicle which carried one ton of explosives was blown up near a Georgian military base.

About 1 700 Georgian military men are taking part in the Afghan operation of NATO. According to this factor, Georgia surpasses many full members of the alliance. Tbilisi hopes that by this step the country will bring closer its membership in NATO, or at least makes the West think about the security of the Caucasus republic when Russian tanks are located 35 km from its capital. Many experts believe these accounts are fruitless, stating that in recent 3-4 years none of Western leaders has mentioned Georgia or its security at meetings with the Russian President or Premier.

However, the story is different: Georgian TV-channels demonstrated photos of guys who died in Gilmend. I used to see such “official” or “memorial” photos on Pentagon’s walls. Firm assurance and steel resolution are in the eyes of dead warriors. But now, unlike American colleagues, media workers used natural photos: plain farmer guys are depicted on them. Emptiness and detachment are in their eyes. And something else which seems to be absolutely impossible. Recently information agencies have reported that the Defense Ministry broke up four tenders on providing the military forces with food. The reason was “dissatisfaction of soldiers by a shift to a scheduled dietary regime from the non-scheduled regime.”

Of course, the non-scheduled dietary regime demands absolutely different conditions of the tender. But it’s not the point. The presentation of the question is shocking: in what army is a soldier cut from seconds? There is no such army in the world.

Saakashvili cannot be blamed for this: food in the Georgian army is excellent, various and tasty. But once in 2005 Saakashvili said a strange phrase: “We have overdone, and many our soldiers got gastric diseases.” Of course it was a reaction of an organism on uncommon food, first of all, meat.

From 22 Georgian soldiers who died in Afghanistan during 3 years there are no city residents – all are residents of villages, i.e. plain farmers who dreamed of eating to repletion. It is hard to believe but undernutrition in Georgian villages, especially in such poor regions as Imereti and Guria, is a common thing. Of course, nobody starves to death there. The South Caucasus has no such winters as Ukraine does, for instance, when woods are empty. At the same time, deep depression, complete unemployment and desperation conquer Georgian villages. Social and cultural features are reflected here. In cities and towns atmosphere is differenc. But city residents do not sign contracts with the army.

After the murder of soldiers in Afghanistan, the son of the first president of the country, Tsotne Gamsakhurdia, called the Georgian contingent “the army of slaves.”