No Military Entanglements in Georgia, Says Bob Barr

Atlanta, GA – “Statements from both the Bush Administration and Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain regarding the continuing conflict between Russia and Georgia indicate once again their shared predisposition to involve America’s armed forces in foreign conflicts with no clear link to our country’s vital national security interests,” said Libertarian presidential nominee, former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr.

“President George W. Bush is now sending U.S. soldiers to Georgia under the banner of providing humanitarian assistance, placing American forces in an unsettled war zone that clearly risks involving the U.S. in a confrontation with Russia,” warns Barr. “The rationale for Sen. McCain’s refusal to rule out U.S. military action in behalf of Georgian President Saakashvili, remains unclear,” Barr noted. He continued, “Whether Sen. McCain’s position favoring U.S. involvement is based on his personal friendship with the Georgian leader, on a view that U.S. national interests are somehow immediately and seriously threatened by the conflict between Russia and Georgia, or on some other assessment, is unclear; but,” Barr also noted, “it threatens to involve us in a dispute challenging a heavily armed nuclear power in its backyard.”

“The dispute between Russia and Georgia has roots going back many centuries, and in the current conflict, neither side has clean hands,” Barr noted; and “a similar apparent failure to understand the deep, long-standing and historic animosities between ethnic and religious groups in Iraq led to serious miscalculations in that country. We ought to be much more careful about threatening U.S. military involvement in such situations than current leaders in Washington, including President Bush and Sen. McCain, appear to comprehend,” Barr said.

“U.S. foreign policy should be based on a hard-headed assessment of U.S. interests, not warm and fuzzy feelings about a particular foreign leader,” the Libertarian nominee said. “Moreover, the most important American interest is defending America. Sen. McCain appears to have forgotten that essential principle, since intervening on behalf of Georgia has nothing to do with defending America,” insists Barr. “Such simplistic approaches to foreign policy are always dangerous,” Barr warned, “but are especially so when they involve a major, nuclear power generally.

“Although America must always be prepared to use military force to defend itself, doing so should be the last rather than first resort, and the U.S. should not risk military involvement in such a tragic and unnecessary war, and one with so little direct or immediate relevance to America’s own security,” Barr concluded.