Saakashvili Defends Policies in WSJ Article

Georgia?s commitment ?to building a European democracy remains unshaken,? presidential candidate Mikheil Saakashvili wrote in an article published in the Wall Street Journal on December 6. It is headlined ?A Free Georgia.?

In the article Saakashvili justifies his government?s decision to break up demonstrations on November 7, saying that ?extra-constitutional threats? put our national security directly at risk.?

?We were compelled to make a series of difficult but necessary decisions,? Saakashvili wrote. ?Following five days of peaceful protests, opposition leaders radicalized their demands, calling for the storming of the parliament. We watched demonstrations burst into violence. A national television station [referring to Imedi TV] falsely accused the government of launching an assault on our central cathedral; in the Georgian context, this would be equivalent to an Israeli government assault on pilgrims at Jerusalem’s Western Wall. Meanwhile, one of our country’s wealthiest men called publicly for the overthrow of the government. And we weighed evidence of subversive activity by foreign intelligence agents.?

He said that ?reluctantly, and knowing it would frustrate our friends in the West, who have championed our democratic and economic liberalism, we concluded that we had no choice but to prevent a further deterioration of the situation.?

Saakashvili reiterated the offical justification for the closure of Imedi TV, saying that the station had broadcast ?inflammatory reports leading up to the Nov. 7 declaration of a state of emergency.?

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