Dutch goverment quits!

Hobbes

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1933000/1933144.stm

I wonder how serious this is?

Keeks

Not that serious, as they were due to have an election anyway in May.

It will be more interesting to see what the UN say bout it tho

mike65

I will admit to not being terribly up on Dutch politics, but whats the point of this government resigning over the actions or lack of, of a previous administration?

Mike.

Sand

Hopefully Anann will do the right thing and resign himself. Srebinica was where thugs realised they could push the UN and the UN would only wimper.

dathi1

where thugs realised they could push the UN and the UN would only wimper.

just like the israelis on a daily basis.

Flemmish Flame

The thing is with the Dutch gorvenement that they have not tried to cover Sebrinica up , yet the Admiraliteit and Generals did. Sebrinica has plagued Dutch politics since the day the decided to send troups out there. In those days a very controversial Issue, because
a) Milatary Draft no longer existed so the army elements were being reorganised
b) Dutch generals wanted new materials for the troops. Sebrinica was the ideal moment for this
c) the elite Lucht Mobile Brigade ( Special OPS Para) had been just founded and they needed some "experience"

And the Dutch military structure has always been one of :
Army, Airforce, Navy, Marines,Commandos, Royal Dutch (Army) PoliceForces ( =Maurechaussee).
Especially the realtionship between the Generals and the, then, minister of foreign Affairs, Voorhoeve was one of horror and misunderstanding.

So from day one the soldiers in UN service were actually under armed and misinformed ( by the UN and Dutch Serivces). Then the day came the Yugo General Mladic came and took the Muslims and killed them all.
Reports of that day have shown that the Dutch Commander had asked for airsupport( France would not grant it) and more men and armour none of the above where granted.
Well now 7 years later an inquery has shown that there were major cover ups ( more the army then the ministiries). This was for premier KOK and his ministers reason to feel their intergrety and power had violated and deciced to step down. And yes it is maybe only one month until the elections this is an even bigger dissaster for the traditional parties and a massive push for the right winger Pim Fortuyn

Flemmish Flame

my Dathi will you stop pulling in the Israeli's in every f*****ng topic this is about Holland and why the gouvernement resigned
anybody interested to hear some background info on this .... the top ranked general just quit

If you have some questions just let us know :cool:

The Gopher

Its not the Dutch troops fault its UN red tape in my opinion.The troops were most likely under strict orders not to shoot at serbs unless absouloutely vital.Since they werent entirely sure these ppl were being taken away to be killed they couldnt do anything.

Bateman

I would not blame the troops either. As far as I can see, the blame lies jointly with the Dutch government at the time (current leader was slighhtly lower down) and the UN itself.
The UN does a lot of good work, but some people have it intheir head that the UN should be somehow above criticism which is dangerous in my opinin. Anyway it seems the troops were outnumbered and in the first place unsuitable for the job anyway, which is a great shame, the UN should lose a lopt of face for this, rather than the Dutch government taking all the heat.
The report was nearly 8,000 pages long, nearly a page for every victim.

Mnemoniac

Originally posted by Flemmish Flame

Excellent summary of events elided.

And yes it is maybe only one month until the elections this is an even bigger dissaster for the traditional parties and a massive push for the right winger Pim Fortuyn

This is an excellent summary of what happened but hopefully not of what's going to happen. Fortuyn seems not to have made any gains and the resignation may actually play in the favour of the governing parties.
First indications are that the Srebrenica report and its consequences have had virtually no effect on voter intentions. It will be interesting to see how things develop over the coming weeks though.

Borzoi

Quoth Flemmish Flame
"So from day one the soldiers in UN service were actually under armed and misinformed ( by the UN and Dutch Serivces). Then the day came the Yugo General Mladic came and took the Muslims and killed them all.
Reports of that day have shown that the Dutch Commander had asked for airsupport( France would not grant it) and more men and armour none of the above where granted"

There was also the fact that some Dutch servicemen had been captured and were being held hostage by Serb forces, in order to force the local Dutch commander to give way. Which he did.

I'd be loath to condemn those on the ground - after all they usual are operating with limited info and no hindsight