How the Georgia-Russia Conflict May Lose the War in Iraq

A slight exaggeration, however, the Boston Globe reports that basically because of the Russia-Georgia conflict, 2,000 Georgian soldiers got recalled from Iraq, where they were responsible for filling 3 checkpoints along smuggling routes near the Iranian border. It is now up to the US to fill said checkpoints. Georgia was the 3rd-largest contributor of coalition forces after the United States and Britain. The US military said yesterday that the Georgian brigade had searched 175,291 vehicles and 792,859 people at checkpoints and traffic control stops, and had conducted 2,469 patrols in the area since Oct. 30, 2007.

...on the other hand, many Iraqis aren't sorry to see the Georgians go. They say the Georgians were rude, disrespectful, and ineffective. They never respected us," 20-year-old college student Saad Hassan said. He added that Georgian soldiers would hold families at checkpoints for hours even in extremely hot or cold weather.