red oct 2 Posted April 26, 2002 My P.O.D. Teacher mentioned to me that during the Bosnian war, the Dutch discovered a Mass grave and for some reason decided to cover it up, i didnt here all of what she said, so if anybody here knows anything care to add to this? she mentioned because of this that all the dutch must step down in the trial of Mr. Slobo Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Albert Schweitzer 10 Posted April 26, 2002 Did she say where she got that info from, cause I have never heard of that!. The big trouble during the last weeks (which lead to the withdrawal of the leading party) was, that the dutch army did not take the necessary steps to prevent a mass killing of several thousand civillians by the Jugos! Reference Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
IceFire 0 Posted April 26, 2002 Mr. Slobo is a funny name. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
red oct 2 Posted April 27, 2002 </span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Albert Schweizer @ April 26 2002,21:58)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Did she say where she got that info from, cause I have never heard of that!. The big trouble during the last weeks (which lead to the withdrawal of the leading party) was, that the dutch army did not take the necessary steps to prevent a mass killing of several thousand civillians by the Jugos! Reference<span id='postcolor'> ok i found some info Srebrenica, Serbia's Sabra Was the massacre of Muslims at Srebrenica Serbia's Sabra and Shatila? Negar Azimi investigates Dutch involvement in the controversy -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In an enclave called Srebrenica in late 1995 at the height of the Bosnian War, Serb nationalist forces under the command of Ratko Mladic deported thousands of Bosnian Muslim men and boys to schools, warehouses, and remote fields leaving women and young girls behind. It was here, in the first ever United Nations-designated "Safe Area," that Europe's largest massacre since the World War II took place. The Serbs systematically executed over 7,000 people. Women, children, and the Dutch peace- keeping forces a short distance away could hear the screams. The killings went on for days. In an unexpected turn of events last week, the entire coalition Dutch government, headed by Prime Minister Wim Kok, resigned over a report alleging governmental complicity in failing to prevent the massacre. The report, commissioned in 1996 and prepared by the Netherlands Institute on War Documentation (NIOD), stipulates that the Dutch government, the 120-man Dutch military contingent (Dutchbat), and the United Nations were all partly at fault in failing to prevent the tragedy that unfolded at Srebrenica. The NIOD report argues that Dutch troops were sent in without a clear mandate and with inadequate weaponry to face the Serbs. They were, in effect, faced with "an impossible mission to protect an ill-defined safe area." The report continues, "The humanitarian motivation and political ambitions drove the Netherlands to undertake an ill- conceived and virtually impossible peace mission." Dutch troops are also targeted as facilitators of the mass deportations that preceded the massacre. The 7,600-page manifesto also asserts that the Netherlands' military high command engaged in a massive cover-up in the years after the tragedy. High-ranking Dutch army officers, it claims, tried to limit the release of information and, where possible, to avoid sensitive issues. However dramatic the allegations may seem, the report's contents have also attracted strident criticism -- particularly from the families of the victims. At the press conference in The Hague following the release of the report, countless Bosnian women, whose husbands and sons were among the dead, simply walked out of the proceedings, calling the report a "whitewash." In the ensuing days, women staged silent protests both at The Hague, outside parliament buildings, they stood holding cloths decorated with hearts, flowers or teardrops and bearing the names of loved ones killed at Srebrenica. The Interchurch Peace Council Counsel (IKV) in the Netherlands, which released its own report on the massacre only three weeks ago, noted in a statement, "once again Dutch responsibility is denied and others are to blame for the fall of Srebrenica and the genocide that followed." The IKV had concluded in its own report that Dutchbat had abandoned the enclave without any resistance. The report writes, "The Dutch blue helmets gave up 'without a single shot.' The chance that the enclave would have fallen in the hands of the Bosnian Serbs would have been smaller if Dutchbat had really fought." It is not surprising, thus, that the IKV categorically deemed the NIOD report a "bitter disappointment." In the end, the NIOD report exposed little that was not already known. It is one of a handful of reports prepared by both Dutch and foreign bodies that have produced variations on a single theme that the events at Srebrenica, though they could have been handled with more foresight, were in the end, inevitable. Importantly, the report seems to have closed off the possibility of criminal prosecution and reparations for victims, at least for the moment. So was the resignation a hollow gesture? With general elections only four weeks away and government power already waning, some argue yes. They say that stepping down was hardly a dramatic step down for Kok, the social democratic premier, and his government. The Dutch government, one of the most liberal in Europe, has continued to lose ground to conservative forces in recent years, and Kok has already announced that he will not seek a third term in office. Meanwhile, IKV and others, including Brussels-based humanitarian medical agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (the only aid group operating within the enclave at the time), are clamouring for a parliamentary investigation. Parliamentary sources in the Netherlands told the Weekly that the parliament will take a vote on a potential investigation later this week. Dr Francis Boyle, professor of international law and legal representative for the survivors group "The Mothers of Srebrenica," told the Weekly, "I don't think we will get to the truth until the Parliament steps in; you have to remember that though the NIOD report was commissioned by the government, it took six years to materialise." Strangely, the report mentioned no connection between the massacres at Srebrenica and former President Slobodan Milosevic, currently on trial for genocide at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). General Mladic and Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic are wanted by the tribunal on 66 counts of war crimes, including charges of war crimes in Bosnia, among which is the Srebrenica massacre. Mark Wheeler, International Crisis Group's Bosnia project director, told the Weekly from Sarajevo, "the fact that the NIOD report establishes no direct link between Srebrenica and either Milosevic or Karadzic is amazing to me, especially as it has been long known that Milosevic approved Mladic's plan to take the eastern Bosnian enclaves in the summer of 1995." Boyle adds: "All evidence indicates that the massacres were carried out with advanced planning and support from Belgrade and nothing happened in Belgrade without Milosevic." The glaring absence of a charge will affect the Milosevic trial, Wheeler notes. The report will likely prove helpful to Milosevic in The Hague and to Karadzic, too, if he is ever tried. Bosnian Serb General Radisav Krstic, who was integral in planning the massacre, was sentenced to 46 years in prison last August at the ICTY. It was only after the uncensored horror of Srebrenica was known that the international community was galvanised in to action against Milosevic in 1995. Following the massacre, NATO forces moved in, bombing the Serbs until a cease-fire and ultimately, the Dayton Peace Accords, materialised. But the ambiguity of Srebrenica has scarred Dutch national conscience. The Netherlands, a country that has long prided itself on morality of its foreign policy, is shocked by the possibility that its government was at fault in Srebrenica; an event that some commentators have boldly called "the Dutch Sabra and Shatilla." While the Dutch governmental resignation may be deemed too little too late, the fact that an entire government relinquishes power on a point of conscience is, in this day, perhaps without precedent. 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red oct 2 Posted April 27, 2002 ok i have gotten my "REFERENCE" and heres the hole story, "The dutch army was to protect the muslims in Srebrenica, however, Outnumbered seven to one, with promised NATO airstrikes denied, the Dutch contingent surrendered without a shot. afterwards The Dutch failed to protest when Serb troops separated Muslim men and boys from the women. They ignored screams of men being tortured and killed in the hundreds, next door to the Dutch headquarters. They gave the Serbs their U.N. vehicles and uniforms, later used to trick fleeing Muslims into surrender. Dutch soldiers who managed to take pictures of Muslim corpses found their film “accidentally†destroyed when it reached the Netherlands." now since this is old news, telling this to the world would be a very big inbaressment to the netherlands and decided not to mention this, now that the heavy load of this shit has hit the fan, the entire Dutch Government has totally resigned leaving the Prince or what ever family member in charge. my proof is right Here btw albert, i didnt respond to your earlier comment but i didnt mean for it to be some nonsense, but more like a question. i was simply wondering if anybody knew anything about this terrible mess Share this post Link to post Share on other sites