‘Sinful Saakashvili’ or Hero?

Meanwhile, Russian television carried Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov's statement that Russian forces were taking control only of the "conflict zones" in Georgia, with no designs on the country as a whole. Do not worry, he said, his message addressed to the West and heavy with irony, "We are not going to destroy your beacon of democracy." At exactly the same time, Russian aircraft were bombing the outskirts of Gori. Photographer Don Weber was close enough to feel the hot blast burning his skin.

After the Georgian Army retreated from Gori to the medieval citadel of Mtskheta, about 25 miles away from the capital, Saakashvili told the nation on television Monday night that the Russians "are coming … Mtskheta is our last position to defend the capital." His words created panic all across Tbilisi.

Across the street from the Parliament building on Rustaveli Prospekt, the central street of Tbilisi, a man was sitting on the pavement in tears as his 2-year-old son hugged his father's head. Gocha Kalichava, 29, said he lost his wife, Sofika, his mother, Lyudmila, and baby son, Edik, in the Russian bombings of Gori. "I do not care what commands Putin gives," he cried. "Why did our president go on the attack?" he asked referring to Saakashvili's initial move on South Ossetia last week. "Russia has won wars for centuries. Did [Saakashvili] think tiny Georgia could survive attacks? He must have been out of his mind!"

Maria Shishianishvili was selling cola on the side of the road on the same street. "Let the Russians come as soon as they can and bring down this sinful Saakashvili!" she fumed. "We'll welcome them."

The scene was admittedly different in Tbilisi on Tuesday evening when thousands of flag-waving Georgians turned out to hear a defiant Saakashvili address the crowd. "I saw Russian planes bombing our villages and killing our soldiers, but I could not do anything, and this will always be with me," he said. "I promise that I will make them regret this." Saakashvili was joined on stage by the leaders of five countries who have also had problems with their Russian neighbor: Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

But Lyudmila Agishvili, 60, has witnessed revolutions and thousands of protestors marching by her window. "We have already experienced Russian tanks on Rustaveli," she said, remembering April 9, 1989, when Soviet tanks dispersed independence demonstrators. Agishvili said that she panics when she imagines that tonight or tomorrow Russian tanks could be driving on her street again. "It has been awfully scary. When the president ordered to attack Tskhinvali [the capital of South Ossetia], we knew then we were doomed. How come he didn't realize that?"