McCain: A Friend and Hero of Georgia

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili awarded American Senator John McCain the Order of National Hero. According to Saakashvili, John McCain is a true friend of Georgia and a hero.

The president of Georgia declared, “I will never forget that when thousands of tanks rolled into Tbilisi, John McCain and his wife left his election campaign and came to Georgia. John McCain supported Georgia several times a day. Like-minded people were stopped by evil forces,” writes the business newspaper “Vzglyad,” referencing “Georgia Online.”

Recalling his campaign trip to Pennsylvania in August 2008, John McCain described a telephone conversation with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. At the time he said that Saakashvili “should sense the prayers and support of the American people at a difficult moment in this small but great nation’s war for independence.”

Senator McCain stated, “I told President Saakashvili that today Americans are all Georgians.” McCain’s words later became well known throughout the world and were repeatedly quoted in the press.

Interfax reports that Mikheil Saakashvili also presented John McCain with a gun. According to the Georgian president, during the events of August 2008, this gun was sold by “a Russian general to a local businessman.” The Georgian president also said that the Russian military man recalled an incident from the years of the Vietnam War “when he was a lieutenant and fought against the Americans.” They had captured an American pilot and this gun belonged to that prisoner.

“After the Russian troops and the general left, this businessman handed the gun over to the local authorities. I don’t know who that American pilot was, but I want to symbolically return this gun to Senator McCain,” said Mikheil Saakashvili, as he presented the order to the senator.

The Georgian president called John McCain “a true friend of Georgia,” who in August 2008 expressed his support for the country. According to him, John McCain “has lived the life of a hero.”

John McCain said at the ceremony that this award is of great importance to him. He noted that it emphasizes the cooperation and solidarity that exists between the U.S. and Georgia. The senator expressed hope that democracy in Georgia will continue to develop.

It is necessary to note that Senator John Barrasso and Senator John Thune came to Georgia with John McCain.