Background on the Georgia crisis

For a very useful analysis of what's going on in Georgia and why, read this piece by Michael Dobbs in the Washington Post. Dobbs reported on the collapse of the Soviet Union and visited South Ossetia shortly after it was first occupied by Georgian troops in 1991. He does not explain why Saakashvili, who leads a nation of only 4.6 million souls and is to all outward appearances sane, would attack Russian troops already in South Ossetia or why the Bush Administration did not make absolutely sure it didn't happen. Was this more Bush Administration incompetence, or did it secretly want a foreign policy crisis to help McCain win the election?