The Toll - 8/31/08 - AMERICA STARTED IT - Putin

Like bickering siblings, charges and counter charges flew back and forth between Russia and the U.S. this week.  And, as every parent of bickering siblings knows, the truth in such situations is never easy to pin down.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin alleged on two occasions that U.S. advisors were involved in Georgia's initial attack on the breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, an operation that - all agree - started the brief war.

He said many Americans were in the conflict zone and accused the White House on German TV, Friday, of provoking the crisis to "unite the electorate around one presidential candidate, of course the ruling party."

At a news briefing on Thursday, a Russian official had shown off an enlarged color photograph of what it claimed to be the passport of U.S. citizen, Michael Lee White, born in 1967. The document was found in a South Ossetian village, according to the official.

The White House called the charges "patently false."

A Houston mother added a mysterious note to the situation when she wrote on-line that Michael Lee White was her son who had reported his passport missing in 2005. Other news reports seemed to confirm that the document did disappear that year on a flight from Moscow to New York.

The mother said her son was teaching English in China and co-authoring a book with his 85-year-old father. Curiously, she also said "Now he cannot come forward. He is missing." She then added "Please pray for him and visualize him being treated kindly and the released (sic). He is such good and such a brave man. We so appreciate your interest and concern."

Whatever the truth of the situation, it appears that Russia is receiving little support from the international community with respect to its handling of the Georgian crisis. Even China, Vietnam and Libya, frequent Soviet allies, withheld making any comments at a U.N. meeting on the matter this week.

In Pakistan, the week started with reports that the ruling coalition had collapsed, raising doubts that the country will be able to effectively confront what has been described as a near economic meltdown as well as the growing threat from the Islamic insurgency.

Before the week was out, it was announced that Ali Zardari, Benazir Bhutto's widower and current frontrunner in the campaign for president, had moved into a tightly-guarded government compound amid fears for his safety. Violence within the nuclear nation has been on the increase and August has been marked by a string of suicide bombings.

American officials met with military leaders of Pakistan, this week, on board the aircraft carrier Lincoln in the waters south of Iran, and it may have done some good. The Associated press reported today that Pakistan's military jets were actively attacking insurgent strongholds in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

Following its recent launching of a satellite into space, Iran created additional concern this week by announcing it had increased the number of operating centrifuges at its underground nuclear installation at Natanz to 4,000. It also said it was giving Nigeria "peaceful nuclear technology" to help that nation bolster what has been described as its "woeful capacity to generate electricity."

In an added note on the nuclear issue, North Korea said it was suspending the dismantling of its nuclear program and that it was considering the restoration of what had already been dismantled. It blamed its action on U.S. delays regarding the removal of the country's name from a terrorism list.

The news In Afghanistan continues to center around the errant American attack on August 22 that killed civilians in a remote western province. A U.N. investigation concluded that the attack killed 90 civilians - 60 children, 15 women and five men.

The U.S. military vigorously refuted that data and said the action killed 25 militants and five civilians.

Regardless of where the truth lies, the incident threatens to cause the Karzai government to exert more control over the way U.S. and NATO troops operate.

During the past week, several suicide bombings in Iraq claimed the lives of at least 68 people and injured many others. Also, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki demanded that any agreement on the future of the occupation must include a firm withdrawal date. He said he wanted all foreign forces out of the country by the end of 2011 and this apparently includes advisors, special forces and air support.

Furthermore, the chances of an agreement being worked out in the near future became somewhat clouded this weekend when Maliki fired his negotiating team and replaced it with three of his closest aides.

Maliki's campaign against the Sunnis that were recruited by the U.S. military to help restore order is continuing, according to press reports.  Analysts who closely monitor conditions in Iraq are expressing concern that if Maliki persists in his sectarian agenda against the Sunni group, known as Sons of Iraq, the country could spiral back into chaos.

Meanwhile, this week, the Department of Defense released the obituaries of two military personnel killed in Iraq, ages 20 and 25.

According to the web site www.icasualties.org, U.S. deaths in Iraq now stand at 4,150, including two whose families are being notified today.

The Department of Defense also released, last week, the obituaries of three military personnel killed in Afghanistan, ranging in age from 20 to 28.

Total U.S. deaths in Afghanistan were 513 as of August 23, according to the Pentagon.

Two of the fallen heroes, this week, were killed by improvised explosive devices. One of the deaths, that of 28-year-old Army Staff Sgt. Brian E. Studer, occurred while he was involved in the dangerous job of attempting to disarm an improvised bomb.