quotes from State Department spokesman Robert Wood. Priceless! the last sentence is the best yet

==============================­=

Wood defended U.S. actions before and after the conflict began late last week, saying Rice had made scores of telephone calls. A State Department expert on the former Soviet region was dispatched from Washington to the Georgian capital.

Asked what lessons Georgia's neighbors might draw about the value of cozying up to the United States, Wood said the United States will keep appealing for calm.

"The United States is a reliable partner in the world," he said.