Why was Cheney's guy in Georgia before the war?

In the LATimes, here, via War&Piece.

"What was a top national security aide to Vice President Dick Cheney doing in Georgia shortly before Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's troops engaged in what became a disastrous fight with South Ossetian rebels -- and then Russian troops? ... Joseph R. Wood, Cheney's deputy assistant for national security affairs, was in Georgia shortly before the war began. But, the vice president's office says, he was there as part of a team setting up the vice president's just-announced visit to Georgia. ..." Do aides really do advance for a trip three weeks ahead? Cheney's headed to Georgia next week...."

(photos: from the Georgian Ministry of Defense)