[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 51 (Friday, April 8, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2319-S2320]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             COTE D'IVOIRE

  Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, first of all, I wish to compliment my good 
friend, Senator Coons from Delaware, for something he has done recently 
along with Senator Isakson as the chairman and the ranking member of 
the African Subcommittee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 
They have responded to my request to have a hearing on the tragedies 
and

[[Page S2320]]

what is taking place right now in Cote d'Ivoire.
  Let me mention, there is only one thing I take issue with in the 
letter that has gone out to make the request. One sentence says:

       Mr. Gbagbo has sought to forcefully thwart the will of the 
     Ouattaran people and his forces, reportedly, including 
     mercenaries, who have targeted innocent civilians, including 
     women, as well as United Nations missions.

  I only want to get into the Record--I have already done this. I have 
given three very lengthy speeches about what is happening over there. I 
have been there, I am sure, more than any other Member of the Senate. I 
would say that if you read the Guardian, the British Guardian, in 
their--I am quoting now--two big slaughters have taken place, one in a 
small western town called Duekoue and another in Abidjan, the capital. 
The article says:

       The UN mission said traditional hunters, known as Dozos, 
     fought alongside Ouattara's forces.

  Let's keep in mind who we are talking about here. The President, who 
has been now for the last 10 years, has been President Gbagbo, Laurent 
Gbagbo, and the person who had run against him 10 years ago, and then 
this time, and who was declared to be winning the election, is Alassane 
Ouattara. Anyway, they are talking about Ouattara in this case.

       The UN mission said traditional hunters, known as Dozos, 
     fought alongside Ouattara's forces and took part in killing 
     330 people in the western town of Duekoue.

  Then the Red Cross weighed in and they came in with a new count. They 
said they are responsible for 800 who have been killed. Recently--and I 
certainly want my friend from Delaware to know this--I have talked to 
close friends of mine who are in Abidjan now. Abidjan is where the bad 
things are happening. I hope anyone who questions the fact that it is 
Ouattara's forces that are creating the problems in Abidjan access my 
Web site and pull up the YouTube video that was taken of what happened 
on what I call ``Black Monday,'' Monday night, when they went out with 
helicopters and they mowed down thousands of people. We don't have a 
death count of how many people have been murdered in the last 5 days.
  This could not have been the former President--or maybe he is still 
the President--in fact, he is, since he has not been replaced, 
President Gbagbo. It is factual that he had no one in the field, so as 
of an hour ago, I have had reports that these forces, Ouattara's 
forces, are going around knocking on doors and murdering people, 
stealing everything in the houses and then burning them down. Yet no 
one can go out and even move bodies out of the streets because they 
will get shot by snipers. Are those President Gbagbo's people? No. He 
doesn't have anybody. He is hunkered down in the basement trying to 
save the lives of himself and I think 15 of his relatives along with 
his wife Simone.
  I only want to say while I am very happy we are going to have the 
hearings, it is going to be necessary--I have witnesses. I have one 
witness whose name is Mel Phiodore. Mel is actually the head of the 
opposing party to Gbagbo.
  He is the one who actually ran against him for President one time and 
lost. He is currently a Parliament member. Yet he is defending him, 
saying he is the one who is right in this case and they stole the 
election. This needs to come out.
  I will make one comment. I am equally troubled. I tried to explain to 
people in Oklahoma how all these billions and trillions of dollars we 
talk about really affects the people who pay the taxes. Back during the 
time we spent on the floor trying to defeat the efforts of the EPA in 
their cap-and-trade efforts, the costs put on there were between $300 
billion and $400 billion. I recommend particularly to some of the new 
Senators to count the number of tax returns the families file in their 
States, and then do the math. In that case, that would have cost--if 
they had been able to continue, and right now they are trying to 
continue, or if any of the legislation had passed cap and trade, that 
would have cost each family who files a tax return in Oklahoma $3,100 a 
year.
  When we start equating that to some of the numbers floating around, 
it is just--I remember so well coming here and standing at this podium 
in 1995 when Bill Clinton was President. He came out with his budget 
for fiscal year 1996, I think. It was a $1.5 trillion budget. I was 
outraged and said we can't do that, it is not sustainable. Yet this 
last budget from the Obama administration has deficits that are higher 
than $1.5 trillion. In other words, the deficits are higher than the 
amount it took to run the entire country of the United States of 
America in 1996.
  It is something that everybody knows is not sustainable. We looked at 
these large numbers, and we know it will be difficult. My major 
concern, as second ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, is 
our troops. We have an opportunity to do something right now with our 
troops, help them to be funded. I think this offer from the House is 
good. I opposed the last three that came over. This one I am 
supporting. Why? Because not only does it have cuts--and it is also 
only 7 days, and I understand that--but it takes the innocent defense 
and all of our troops there in harm's way out from under all this 
foolishness going on on the floor of the Senate now and funds them 
through the rest of the fiscal year. It funds them at a low level.
  With all the high spending coming out of the Obama administration, 
DOD funding has remained level, while the rest of the funding has 
averaged an increase of 25 percent. So they have already taken a hit. 
Let's at least make sure we can make the payroll, that we can support 
our troops and, to do that, we can take up the House bill and pass it. 
It is only for 7 days. If somebody doesn't like it, they can try 
something else. It takes care of our military.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire is recognized.

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