Daily News Channel
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said Thursday the United States firmly backs NATO membership for Georgia, telling Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili that America will help his country rebuild its democracy and economy after last month’s conflict with Russia.
Georgia’s government has called Tuesday’s mutiny at a military base near Tbilisi part of a coup attempt orchestrated by Russia, but opponents of beleaguered President Mikheil Saakashvili accuse him of using the incident to crack down on mounting domestic opposition. Soldiers in tanks and armored personnel carriers raced to the base in Mukhrovani, 20 miles from the capital, to confront mutinous soldiers, about 500 of whom were arrested after the standoff ended peacefully