Reply #5: Georgian officials continue to contradict themselves

[Satyagrahi]

GEORGIA: FLAWS FOUND IN TBILISI’S WAR PLANNING AND OPERATIONS
Giorgi Lomsadze 9/15/08
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In a series of interviews with EurasiaNet, senior defense and national security officials have repeated earlier assertions that the possibility of a large-scale, direct engagement with Russia was never entertained. Similarly, soldiers who fought in South Ossetia suggest that decisions about Georgian army movements were made on the fly.

At worst, a proxy confrontation with Russian forces -- akin to the first South Ossetian conflict in 1991-1992 -- was considered, said Georgian National Security Council Secretary Alexander Lomaia. After the debacle of Russia’s two wars in Chechnya, no one thought that Moscow would further risk its international reputation by invading a sovereign country, said Deputy Defense Minister Batu Kutelia.

"We expected that the Russians would fight with the hands of the separatists," Lomaia told EurasiaNet.
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"Our goal was to put an end to fighting in the area and take control," said one senior lieutenant from Georgia’s 3,500-strong 4th Brigade, a unit that bore the brunt of the fighting on August 8. "Nobody in the army expected a war with Russia."

More:
http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav091508.shtml

So some Georgian officials claim that the attack was in response to a Russian incursion, but other Georgian officials state that they did not expect a direct confrontation with Russia? That makes no sense whatsoever.