Articles with the Tag dutch hypocrisy

Dutch government did want to help invade Iraq

Dutch politics, War on Iraq
Published on

After last weeks revelations about the covered up legal advice not to participate in the occupation of Iraq, comes new evidence that the then government also wanted to participate in the actual war. Dutch broadcaster RTL, has gotten hold of several primary documents which made clear that the ministry of defence had already started preparations for Dutch participation while the government was busy laying the groundwork for a vote in parliament. This while Balkenende, then leading his first government, has always insisted military support for the invasion had never been considered.

All of which only strengthens the cause for a parliamentary inquiry, as so much still remains unclear about what the government knew and did not know about the War on Iraq. This, the question whether or not the Dutch participation in the occupation was legal, whether or not the government realised the weapons of mass destruction didn’t exist…

In a roundabout way it also shows that the protests against the war were not completely futile. The documents also revealed that while the government was considering military participation, the protest and widespread opposition amongst the Dutch against the war ultimately dissuaded them from it. Granted, it wasn’t a complete succes for the anti-war movement, as we still helped with the occupation, but it does show that protest can work.

A stunning blow for democracy

Dutch politics
Published on

At the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve a blow was struck for direct democracy in the Netherlands, as the law on citizen initiatives was changed to allow not just ordinary signatures, but also digital ones. In our 24/7 internet ready world this is probably a good thing, even if every IT professional reading this winces at the though of how easy it is to abuse such a system. The citizen initiative, a way to force parliament to put any subject enough people feel strongly about on its agenda, has never been easier to initiate, a powerful weapon for the common voter to put their stamp on our democracy.

The 64,000 dollar question now was which burning issue would be brought to the attention of our representatives. Would the first digital initiative be about the credit crunch perhaps, or about the dire state of the world climate, or would somebody use it to bring the plight of Gaza under the eyes of parliament?

Sadly, No. The first digital citizen initiative has been used for a proposal to ban fireworks…

So, with this great democratic leap forward, what do citizens elect to do with their new found power and responsibility? Why, declare their support for the War on Fun of course! The first digital Citizen’s Initiative is here, and it’s about fireworks. The citizens, led by Green Party city council member and sour puss David Rietveld, want it outlawed. To be precise, they demand that only professionals are allowed to light fireworks on New Year’s Eve, an activity often shared between dads and their sons.

As is typical for this time, something that is clearly wrong and illegal is taken and glued to something that is fun, yet irritating to some. In this case, the New Year’s celebrations are a signal to a very few troublemakers to start burning cars and houses. And so the David Rietvelds of this world figure that it is clearly the fireworks that are at fault, not the troublemakers — who in my opionion won’t be hindered by fireworks-banning legislation in the first place, and if they did would just find other ways to be dorks.

Welcome to the War on Fun. So much more important than anything else happening in the world.

Dutch doubts about War on Iraq covered up

Dutch politics, War on Iraq
Published on

Back in 2003 the then Dutch government -as now led by Balkenende and his Christian-Democrats- was quite keen to support the War on Iraq, while the majority of the Dutch voters and a large part of parliament were not. So, in a typical Dutch compromise it was decided to only support the war politically, not to offer military support but to be prepared to take part in the subsequent occupation of Iraq, as we indeed did. As we now know the British Foreign service had grave doubts about the legality and legitimacy of the war, but was overridden by the political leadership. As we learned only today, it seems it was exactly the other way around in the Netherlands.

Today the NRC Handelsblad newspaper got its hands on a secret foreign affairs memo casting doubt on the legality of the Dutch government’s position, but held back from the minister responsible by the ministry’s most senior civil servants! The document, written just after the invasion started, expressed serious concerns about the legal arguments underpinning the Dutch position, claiming it “failed both materially and procedurally”. However, a hand written note on the memo’s first page says “Many thanks. Carefully store this in the archives for posterity. This discussion is now closed”. With this note, written by the then secretary-general of the ministry, Frank Majoor, the memorandum was indeed safely locked away, until NRC Handelsblad got hold of it recently and published it online (PDF). An ironic note written by the lawyers responsible for the memo adds, “apparantly “audite et alteram (sic) does not apply in this case”.

The 64,000 dollar question now is if this was the secretary general’s own decision or whether the minister, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer –who would become the NATO secretary-general in december of 2003– knew about the memo already and made the decision not to be formally brieved on it. This is after all the sort of information a minister should pass on to parliament, especially when it still has to approve sending occupation troops to Iraq. If parliament knew the government’s own lawyers are doubtful about the legality of the war, this could very well have meant it would have voted against this decision. And we couldn’t have that, could we?

All of which explains a lot about why Balkenende vigerously opposes any inquiry into the War on Iraq and the Dutch contribution to it. He knows his own role and that of his then-government is dodgy and he has no wish to be “hung” for old crimes. In fact, the current government coalition had already stipulated in its coalition agreements that it would not support any inquest. With this new revelation however, there might just be enough support in parliament for such an inquest anyway…

Dutch government does not believe Israel has committed warcrimes

Dutch politics, War on Gaza
Published on

Which means the following are not warcrimes or have not happened, according to the Dutch government (in Dutch).

To Balkenende and his fellow moral crusaders, so happy to tell us what’s wrong and right, what Israel has been up to in Gaza is of no great concern. The only thing that should be condemned is Hamas violence.