"Someone who uses the word desertion in a positive sense strikes me deeply. The word desertion in reference to the defense of the State is a word I would never have wanted to hear uttered by someone in politics. Politics means thinking about the common good; I have never seen anyone do good by using the word desertion." This is how Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, speaking on the sidelines of the fourth edition of the 'Risorsa Mare' forum organized by Teha Group in collaboration with the Ministry for Maritime Policy at the auditorium of the Eastern Ligurian Sea Port System Authority in La Spezia, commented on the words of Young Democrats secretary Virginia Libero.
"You have never heard me use the word rearmament in four years as Defense Minister," he emphasized. "You have heard me speak of the word defense, which is an entirely different thing. Talking about rearmament means giving a negative connotation to one of the sacred duties — and the only word to which the Constitution attaches the adjective sacred — the sacred duty of defense, which I must fulfill as minister. It has nothing to do with rearmament."
Did the Italian partisans liberate the country by deserting the army? "You don't know history," Crosetto replied to a journalist's question. "If you knew history, you would know that a large part of the Liberation war was fought by the Army's forces, who after September 8th decided to defend our country, fought against the Germans, and 600,000 of them were deported to concentration camps. So next time, study history first and then make your quips."
