Hilzoy fumes over the Bush administration reportedly giving "tacit support for a Georgian assault":
I am not saying it's all our fault. Russia and Georgia are independent actors, and their leaders are responsible for their decisions. But we are also responsible for ours, and if we knowingly encouraged, or even green-lighted, Saakashvili's actions, that is, to my mind, a piece of idiocy on a par with encouraging the Iraqi Shi'a to revolt after the Gulf War. We should not create expectations we are not prepared to meet.