Debate on Iraq invasion in Netherlands

"Tape them on CD and play it"

The year 2010 for Dutch politicians started with the publication of a revealing document, the Davids rapport, that almost caused cabinet crises


By GERBEN SOLLEVELD (gerben.solleveld@wavemagazine.net)
from Rotterdam, The NETHERLANDS


In the United Kingdom as well as in Holland, January 2010 was the month of debating on the Iraq invasion in 2003. Prime-minister Tony Blair was heard by the Chilcot-commission. To Dutch prime-minister Jan Peter Balkenende, a revealing document about the Dutch participation during the invasion was presented. On the 12th of January 2010, the independent 'Commission Davids' handed over a file of about 500 pages which almost causes Balkenende's third political crisis.

The Davids rapport

2010 for Dutch politicians started with the publication of a revealing document, the Davids rapport. One of the conclusions of the document is that the United Nations resolution 1441 (as a resolution offering Iraq under Saddam Hussein a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations that had been set out in several previous resolutions), is not a legitimacy to go and attack Iraq without any discussion. This is contrary to what the government has said.

Secondly, there is no evidence that the Dutch country has supported the US and UK invasion in Iraq militarily.

Another important conclusion is that before 2003 prime-minister Balkenende has not proved being a leader in control: on the decisive moment the Dutch leader was preoccupied with domestic concerns. Apart from that he left the whole case to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
At least, the parliament was not informed about the 2002 request from the United States weather to join a military invasion in Iraq.

Year 2003

In March 2003 the United States accompanied by the United Kingdom decided to attack Iraq because of a corrupt regime under Saddam Hussein. He was accused of oppressing the Iraqis people, giving support to international terrorism and of having weapons of mass destruction.

The participation of the Netherlands in this case was weather to support George W. Bush and Tony Blair in this invasion politically as well as militarily. Jan Peter Balkenende, then the prime-minister of his first cabinet decided to give political support to the war in the interest of the population of Iraq and the international legal order. Christian democrat Balkenende did not gave any military support because there was no encouragement from parliament and the Dutch population.

Dutch politics

What followed were years of discussion in the governmental buildings of Holland. The first spark appeared in March 2003. Tommy Franks, general in the US army, presents five officers from the so-called Coalition of Willing. With them was Dutch lieutenant colonel Jan Blom. It raises questions weather Holland nevertheless is supporting Iraq's invasion militarily. Defense minister Kamp replied in questions from the parliament that it was a mistake.

Secondly, the social democrats, the current coalition partner of Balkenende, were against an investigation, differently from their point of view before they joined this cabinet. And this was happening in April 2007.

Another milestone took place in September that year. Candidate-president of the social democrats Jan Pronk accuses Balkenende of supporting the Iraq invasion. A few moments later he regrets.

These and many more reasons have led to several debates about which Martijn van Dam, from PvdA, in the end said: "Can we tape earlier debates on a CD and play them, because our points of view (GS the points of view of the social democrats) are still the same." Until the end of 2008 a majority of the government and the opposition was sceptical on an investigation, but Balkenende, however decided to start it. "The dynamics surrounding this topic start leading its own life," the prime-minister said.

A commission to investigate the case was formed in January 2009 and was chaired by former Dutch supreme court judge Willibrord Davids.

The aftermath

Davids file had not been the finishing touch about this topic. Hours after the presentation of the rapport, the debate took centre stage. The opposition was not amused with the first reaction on the file of Jan Peter Balkenende. Most important was that he denied that the parliament was not informed in 2002. About the UN Resolution Balkenende said: "The government has decided to give political support on the basis of the UN Resolution, but there was not enough support from the international community and other countries, so the decision was made by our own knowledge."

At that moment vice-prime-minister Wouter Bos of the PvdA (social democrats) started being afraid for the dismissal of the coalition. One cause for a cabinet crisis could be the point of view of the PvdA. The party was against the invasion in 2003, while CDA was a proponent. The problem now is that both parties are joining each other in the same cabinet. Another point is that Balkenende was flip-flopping: he was denying the conclusions, which caused anger by many political parties. The following day, the prime-minister gave another reply which contained an overall statement of the cabinet, which was more due to the conclusions of the Davids file. Responses from the oppositional parties about changing arguments in like 24 hours were not optimistic. "A shameful heap of rubble", said Agnes Kant, a leader of SP, while Femke Halsema, leader of GroenLinks said: "The slow downfall of the fourth cabinet of Balkenende." Luckily for the prime-minister all these points of trouble were not supported by a majority of the parliament. So, for now the Netherlands has to wait for another debate probably coming this month. Cabinet and opposition now have the time to prepare and create a broad vision.

Bos, partner in the present cabinet said: "Its target is to solve this problem, not to create a cabinet crisis. On the other hand, we cannot walk away from the conclusions Davids has pointed out." We have to wait for another day of debates.


(Published: 09.02.2010.)