Condoleezza Rice: Saakashvili Let Russians Provoke Him Into Starting War

Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says Georgian President Saakashvili "let the Russians provoke him" into starting a war over South Ossetia. According to the Eurasianet.org Rice wrote about it in her memoires No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington.

Rice noted that on the one hand she was trying to calm down impulsive Saakashvili and on the other hand she had to resist active members of her own administration.”

In her memoires, Rice describes a meeting in Tbilisi with Saakashvili before the war broke out: “He (Saakashvili) is proud and can be impulsive, and we all worried that he might allow Moscow to provoke him to use force. In fact, he himself successfully provoked conflict in another breakaway part of the country, Adjara, and benefited when it had been reintegrated into Georgia through domestic and international pressure. The precedent, we feared, might make him think he could get away with a repeat performance in the territories located closer to Putin's beloved Sochi.”

Rice wrote she urged Saakashvili to sign a non-use-of-force agreement, but according to her memoires he refused.

"Mr. President, whatever you do, don't let the Russians provoke you. You remember when President Bush said that Moscow would try to get you to do something stupid. And don't engage Russian military forces. No one will come to your aid, and you will lose," Rice wrote about her meeting with the President of Georgia.

Afterwards, she described the start of the war, the evening of August 7 and noted that South Ossetian rebel forces continued shelling ethnic Georgian villages in and around the capital, Tskhinvali. In response, the Georgian military commenced a heavy military offensive against the rebels.

After the fighting was over, she held a joint press conference with Saakashvili: “I was... worried about the capricious, emotional and exhausted Georgian president and what he might say. "Mr. President, just thank the Europeans and the Americans for standing with you. Say something encouraging to your people about ending the war. Leave any comment about the Russians to me," I said. The press conference began smoothly, but as he kept speaking, I could see that the Georgian's blood pressure was starting to rise. With halting speech he continued, as if trying to decide what to say next. Saakashvili speaks wonderful English, so I knew that wasn't the problem. All of a sudden his language became aggressive. He started calling the Russians barbarians and claimed their tanks were "on a roll" and would not stop. Okay, I thought, I expected some tough words to the Russians We're still all right. Then he started in on the Europeans, referencing Munich and appeasement...I was so mad at Saakashvili I couldn't even speak...“, Rice wrote.