Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-04-06-Speech-3-658-000"
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"en.20110406.37.3-658-000"2
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"Mr President, the terrible thing about our modern societies and, in particular, European society, and, even more specifically, our Parliament, is the generalised flock mentality: our tendency to behave like sheep.
Apart from the last two speakers, everyone has simply parroted what they have read in the paper, heard on the radio or seen on the television. Everyone tells us that Mr Ouattara won the elections, which is quite possible, but it certainly was not clear-cut.
Everyone tells us that the brutal military intervention yesterday was a means of neutralising heavy arms. These things are presented in the rosiest terms. Neutralising heavy weaponry is another name for a bombardment. I myself have seen the effects of bombardments: I am a reserve officer and I can tell you that a bombardment involves killing people, burning people, blowing people up. In other words, it is military action conducted in favour of one side and against another. It may be justifiable, but here, among parliamentarians, among political representatives, we should be brave enough to tell the truth.
We are also told that these arms were to be used to terrorise the civilian population. Yet at the end of the day, in a civil war, some civilians are armed, particularly when one camp has Kalashnikovs and the backing of half of the nation’s army. So I think we need to put an end to this hypocrisy. We took brutal action in favour of one camp and against another. Was that action justified? Perhaps.
Let me conclude by saying that I do not see how Mr Ouattara can be innocent of the atrocities committed by his troops while Mr Gbagbo is always blamed for the atrocities committed by his troops."@en1
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