Navy Arrives in Georgia

The USS McFaul(DDG-74),an Arleigh Burke class destroyer,has arrived off the Black Sea coast of Georgia with aid supplies.The McFaul was the first of five ships slated to bring humanitarian aid to the mountainous country this week.She was carrying 72 pallets of aid,including bottled water,milk,baby food,diapers and other hygiene items.Other NATO vessels are expected to follow suit.The Navy task force is commanded by Captain John Moore.The Georgian government is welcoming the U.S. help,unlike the Myanmar leaders,who turned the Navy away when a cyclone battered that Asian nation earlier in the year.They were suspicious of the aid.Georgia is a democracy located in the Caucasus mountains of Southeast Europe,just south of Russia.Its quarrel with two rebellious provinces,Abkhazia and South Ossetia,erupted into warfare recently,and Russia invaded Georgia in support of the rebels.The U.S. and its NATO allies have condemned the invasion.