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  • 2 months ago


The latest joint training exercises involving the US military and members of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force were due to end today.

The training which started last weekend has resulted in more questions than answers about the timing and ultimate goal of the military exercise.





Transcript
00:00The House of Representatives has adjourned to next Wednesday, November 26th,
00:04when the Stand Your Ground legislation will be debated.
00:09The latest joint training exercises involving the U.S. military and members of the Trinidad
00:14and Tobago Defense Force were due to end today. The training which started last weekend has
00:19resulted in more questions than answers about the timing and the ultimate goal of the military
00:25exercise. Even today in Parliament, there was no comment from the government when the opposition
00:30asked during question time, quote, was authorization granted to the United States to conduct operations
00:36in TNT territory, as demonstrated by videos, satellite imagery, photos, and media reports
00:42of U.S. warships in the Gulf of Paria and military aircraft in TT airspace. The Defense Minister
00:48sought parliamentary protection.
00:50Until the member can't convince me as to how disclosure, either way, is in public interest,
00:58I would have no choice but to rely on the protections afforded by standing order.
01:05The member for Aruka Maloney proposed a supplemental question, which was initially queried by the
01:11House Speaker.
01:12I think we all agreed that the invocation of the public interest immunity exemption is an
01:20absolute exemption. So what possible question could you conjure up on the invocation of the
01:31public interest immunity exception?
01:33The question was eventually allowed.
01:39Thank you very much, kindly, Mr. Speaker. But Mr. Speaker, the question to the minister
01:43is whether or not he intends to perform his duty as a minister in this parliament.
01:49That was, of course, to the ire of the Speaker, Jagdao Singh.
01:53It's an absolute prohibition. So where it is invoked, whether you think it's an abuse or
02:03whether whatever views you may have one way or the other, the parliament is not the place
02:09to air those concerns. So you come now and I blame myself for it because you've lured me.
02:19No, no, I blame myself for it because you've lured me. You've lured me into thinking that you
02:30had a legitimate question.
02:32Only to be told, it was a grand deception to make a speech.
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