Jim Inhofe: “That is not why I am here, however. I want to be sure that something I have been talking about over the last days has…”

“That is not why I am here, however. I want to be sure that something I have been talking about over the last days has now come to a peak where we must do something. I have been concerned about what is happening in Cote d'Ivoire, in west Africa. I am very close to the situation. I have had occasion to be there over the last few years nine different times. I know the President is there, the current President and his wife, Laurent and Simone Gbagbo. I was familiar with the election that came around, so I have been on the floor talking about what I believe should happen there, that we should call for a new election. Unfortunately, the United States and our State Department--I will be very critical of them--have joined with the United Nations and with France in taking the side of Alassane Ouattara from the north who was the challenger, who has been challenging this administration now for at least 10 years that I know of. I got a scathing reply from the Ambassador to the United States from France. I am not going to read it. I am not going to enter it into the Record. It doesn't make any sense. I only wish to respond to a couple of things in that letter. First of all, they talk about the fact that this was a legitimate election and it was certified properly and it was in accordance with the Constitution of Cote d'Ivoire, and I don't believe that.…”