Did Georgian President Saakashvili authorize war crimes?

BBC reports:

The BBC has discovered evidence that Georgia may have committed war crimes in its attack on its breakaway region of South Ossetia in August.

Eyewitnesses have described how its tanks fired directly into an apartment block, and how civilians were shot at as they tried to escape the fighting.

Research by the international investigative organisation Human Rights Watch also points to indiscriminate use of force by the Georgian military, and the possible deliberate targeting of civilians.

Indiscriminate use of force is a violation of the Geneva Conventions, and serious violations are considered to be war crimes.

If this information is correct, surely the Russians had at least as much right to intervene in South Ossetia as the West when it liberated Kosovo and bombed Serbia. It is beginning to look as if American leaders owe the Russians an very big apology -- lest they prove themselves to be monstrous hypocrites.

Furthermore, McCain should held to account for his friendship with Georgian President Saakashvili, who is now suspected of authorizing war crimes. Both McCain and his foreign policy adviser Randy Scheunemann not only call themselves friends of the Georgian president, they are his cheerleaders. In fact, Scheunemann worked as lobbyist for Georgia. As I have blogged (here and here), these relationships are seriously disconcerting matters.*
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Hat-tip: Glenn
* Obama's acquaintance with Bill Ayers is not comparable. Obama's friend Rashid Khalidi only suffered the misfortune of having had his good name smeared by the Republicans in a McCarthyist fashion. However, Obama is not entirely innocent, as Obama has followed McCain's lead in propogating blatantly false anti-Russia propaganda during the debates, likewise demonizing Russia -- as if Georgia was purely "a victim" of Russian aggression.