Remembering the Cowards of the Netherlands:"The Dutch had the order to fight. When one gets an order to fight, one fights," (But not the Dutch!)

[CUNTICA]

Remembering the Cowards of the Netherlands: Srebrenica

The day when 400 Dutch cowards with guns, who claimed to be soldiers,
cried rather than fight and watched 8000 unarmed Muslims be killed.

There is a reason why the phrase "Dutch courage" means the bravery you
get only when drunk.

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/e...ive_Dutch_soul

Amsterdam (dpa) - The scar left by Srebrenica in the collective soul
of the Netherlands runs deep. "There is but one word for the behaviour
of the Dutch soldiers in Srebrenica: Cowardice," a war correspondent
at the time said as the 10th anniversary approached.

Writing in the respected NRC Handelsblad, Raymond van den Boogard said
his countrymen had lost all will to fight in battle.

In an interview marking the anniversary, the defence minister at the
time, Joris Voorhoeve, said: "I should really have resigned the day
after the Serbs overran the enclave."

But it was almost seven years before the government of then prime
minister minister Wim Kok resigned in response to an independent Dutch
inquiry into the conduct of the troops.

Families of the victims of the massacre are still pursuing a case
through the Dutch courts in pursuit of their claim that the 400 men of
"Dutchbat" had failed in their duty to protect the enclave.

Sociologist Herman Vuijsje described the men as "typical Hollanders",
who had taken the individualistic attitude: "None of my business."

Vuijsje noted scornfully that the U.S.-led alliance in Iraq had
created a kind of "milksop" role for the Dutch troops. "We patrol and
make ourselves liked through sweet talk, but we are not called on when
the real work has to be done."

Several publications have hauled out for reprinting the notorious
photograph of Dutchbat commander Colonel Ton Karremans raising a glass
with Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic in Srebrenica on July 12, 1995,
a day after the Dutch surrendered their positions and a day before the
killings began in earnest.

And the words of the French commander of UNPROFOR, General Bernard
Janvier, are being quoted anew: "With 400 French troops it would have
been a different story, because we would have fought.

"The Dutch had the order to fight. When one gets an order to fight,
one fights," Janvier told the French National Assembly in 2001.

There is scorn over the way the military tried to pass the buck to
UNPROFOR command, accusing it of failing to provide air suppport.

And there is scorn over the failure of the politicians to take full
blame. On resigning Kok accepted "co-responsibility" as part of the
international community.

The country's intellectuals are caught up in soul-searching over
whether there is something in the national identity that shies away
from conflict. Parallels have been drawn with its record during World
War II, when there was little resistance to the deportation of the
Jews.

Among the questions being asked are: "Will Dutch troops ever be taken
seriously again on international peacekeeping operations?" and "Can
the Dutch play their full role in fighting international terrorism?"

It will be many years before the guilt over the massacre is finally
laid to rest.