By Robert Scheer

Opposition supporters hold posters showing a portrait of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, reading “America We Believe In,” at a protest rally in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Friday, Nov. 7, 2008.

The Bush White House knew—but kept from the American public—facts concerning provocation by Georgia’s U.S.-trained forces, which killed civilians in the capital of South Ossetia before Russian troops crossed the border. The provocation has also been documented in a BBC investigative report and by a growing consensus of other reliable sources.

Sen. John McCain, whose top foreign policy adviser had been a paid lobbyist for Georgia, was most eager to confront the Russians, while Sen. Barack Obama was a bit more cautious. But as recently as in his Oct. 29 infomercial, Obama promised to “curb Russian aggression,” which hardly suggests the change we need from the unilateral belligerence of the Bush foreign policy.