Dutch Davids Commission Releases Report on Dutch Government Support for Iraq Invasion.

[Treize]

The “Davids Commission,” an independent Dutch commission chaired by Willibrord Davis, former head of the Dutch Supreme Court, released its 551-page report today on the Dutch government’s decisions surrounding the invasion of Iraq.
The report, months in the making, provides the results of an investigation into the political support given by the Netherlands to the Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq.
The Associated Press reports that the Davids Commission charges that ”the Dutch government let politics override law when it supported the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, and ignored intelligence that downplayed the threat of Saddam Hussein’s weapons program.”
The Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad this morning takes a “closer look” at five of the Commission’s conclusions, and mentions that Davis has declared that he is not drawing any political conclusions in the report, nor that he will give “political meaning” to the facts: “that is up to Parliament,” Davis said.
Dutch Prime Minister Balkenende has said that he still needs to study the report and its 49 conclusions.
While the report is in Dutch, a “Summary” and its 49 conclusions are provided in English in the original report, “RAPPORT COMMISSIE VAN ONDERZOEK BESLUITVORMING IRAK,” (Commission Report on Investigation of Decision Making on Iraq), pages 517-533.

http://themoderatevoice.com/59192/du...iraq-invasion/

Maybe a good excuse to ditch the government.

[Dr. Croccer]

I hope Balkenende gets what he deserves.

[Treize]

The thing is, new elections would scare me.

[Razor]

The thing is, new elections would scare me.

Actually I can't wait for new elections...

[Treize]

I fear the facist rise...

[Atlassmurf]

Davids Report was as interesting as an wet towel from the Wibra, just the regular politics overreacting for their own gain.

[Mangerman]

That commission is a bloody waste of money and time. I couldn't care less if it was justified or not or wether the Tweede Kamer was being lied too. Stop looking to the past and instead go work on the future!

The government isn't going to fall over this either, I don't think the PvdA would be stupid enough now that the latest pollings show that their party is decimated. Or maybe they are stupid enough, you never know with Hamer or Diederik Samson.

[Augment]

the dutch government is a joke, we need some real leaders.

[Thorn777]

the dutch government is a joke, we need some real leaders.

Who? Rutten? Wilders? Halsema? Marijnissen?

Good luck...

[Dr. Croccer]

Who? Rutten? Wilders? Halsema? Marijnissen?

Good luck...

I'd rather have Marijnisses than the rest, at least he's a bit volks, not some upperclass elitist like Wilders, Halsema and Rutten.

We do need a leader though. I'm sick of all those damn elitists. We need a new Willem Drees.

[Tirus]

@Dr. Croccer

Seriously, ms. Halsema is everything but an elitist. She's middle class, and quite well schooled evenso. I agree with you on the fact that Rutten and Wilders are frickin' elitists; the anarcho-capitalist and fascist ones respectively.

[Thorn777]

I'd rather have Marijnisses than the rest, at least he's a bit volks, not some upperclass elitist like Wilders, Halsema and Rutten.

Well, whatever "elitist" may mean. I personally am as "workingclass" as one can get, from my early days on till the day of today, but if some wise ass person with a pampered upbringing(kakker) is the kind of politician I can see myself supporting because he/she is just a good politician, then I have no problem with a label like elitist.

I think Amsterdam mayor Cohen can be described as elitist, and I think he's OK, also in Germany we have this CDU rookie Zu Gutenberg, who is as elitist as one can get, coming from a royal/millionaire background even, and despite I'd never vote for the right-wing of the political spectrum, I reckon him as a good politician who could properly lead the country(if necessary).

But sure Marijnissen is kick ass, I'm a great fan. I know SP stronghold Oss quite well, and my Dutch hometown Nijmegen is ruled by a SP/PvdA/Green coalition for years. In both city's the SP did a remarkable job, without exaggerating.

But, didnt he stop nation-wide?(thats why I DEL'd his name). IMO the chick that leads the SP now is having some problems "leader wise", not content wise IMO.

We do need a leader though. I'm sick of all those damn elitists. We need a new Willem Drees.

I'm afraid those days are long gone. Germany wants another Helmut Schmidt and the US another Roosevelt, but I'm afraid they don't make em like that anymore.

[Central Asian Qaghan]

Clear indication of why the West can't be trusted at anytime for anything. Clearly the invasion of Iraq was for colonizing purposes and nothing else.

[Treize]

the dutch government is a joke, we need some real leaders.

We?
I agree.

I would love to get rid of the current government were it not that the alternatives are far worse...
I must start my own party

That commission is a bloody waste of money and time. I couldn't care less if it was justified or not or wether the Tweede Kamer was being lied too. Stop looking to the past and instead go work on the future!

The government isn't going to fall over this either, I don't think the PvdA would be stupid enough now that the latest pollings show that their party is decimated. Or maybe they are stupid enough, you never know with Hamer or Diederik Samson.

This is very important!
Our trigger happy politicians should not get away with this, let's start an A-stan report aswell I'd say.

Who? Rutten? Wilders? Halsema? Marijnissen?

Good luck...

None please.
Maybe myself

Clear indication of why the West can't be trusted at anytime for anything. Clearly the invasion of Iraq was for colonizing purposes and nothing else.

Thank you for your response.

[Mangerman]

This is very important!
Our trigger happy politicians should not get away with this, let's start an A-stan report aswell I'd say.

Tell me, what exactly is important about this report? What is going to change now? Hell, we've been out of Iraq since 2005. It's just politicians pointlessly bickering about something that has already happened and can't be undone. Every guy on the streets could have told them that the invasion didn't have any legal basis to stand on.

And now the PvdA is behaving all "tough", while they know there will be nothing left of their party if they pull out of this government and we have new elections.

Regarding the triggerhappyness of our government, I find it actually quite ironic that sending troops to Iraq was the only decision Balkenende has ever made in a decisive manner.

I'm not very familiar with Dutch poltics.
Question: has the same guy / party been in power since the invasion of Iraq?

Yeah, Balkenende (from the CDA pary) has been premier since 2002, but in few different coalitions.

[Adar]

Clear indication of why the West can't be trusted at anytime for anything. Clearly the invasion of Iraq was for colonizing purposes and nothing else.

"The west" also include nations like "France", "Sweden" and "Germany". Nations that strongly opposed the invasion of Iraq. I can only use Sweden as an example but in Sweden the invasion of Iraq is often used as an argument against the Swedish presence in Afghanistan.

[General Nuisance esq]

Clear indication of why the West can't be trusted at anytime for anything. Clearly the invasion of Iraq was for colonizing purposes and nothing else.

Exactly right we went in to colonize them and get some cheap petrol, sadly it didn't work out so we had to go into afghanistan to get some, unfortunatly they ain't got no oil, but they do have poppies so now we don't give a stuff about the oil and are happy that our supply has been protected

Anyways if you get easily annoyed by the Dutch just go outside you house/flat and rev up your car a bit, just remember it contributes to global warming and helps the ice caps melt which raise sea levels and guess who cops it first

[Hotspur]

Which would make W the worst Civ IV player ever.

[Tirus]

I say: ditch Balkenende, he's been in power for long enough now, and we haven't made much progress if not even deteoration. I am however frightened by the idea of a mr. Wilders in power. Also, I don't agree with Thorn777; I'd rather have any of those instead of a Wilders or Balkenende (really, seriously, if you dissaprove of all of them, who are you gonna vote for then?).

The Davids commision told us some quite obvious things we just didn't want to see earlier. Iraq was like one of the biggest mistakes and fails of the last decade. We just simply complyed with what the US were asking us without criticising or regarding it in any way.

[Fingon NL]

I say: ditch Balkenende, he's been in power for long enough now, and we haven't made much progress if not even deteoration. I am however frightened by the idea of a mr. Wilders in power. Also, I don't agree with Thorn777; I'd rather have any of those instead of a Wilders or Balkenende (really, seriously, if you dissaprove of all of them, who are you gonna vote for then?).

The Davids commision told us some quite obvious things we just didn't want to see earlier. Iraq was like one of the biggest mistakes and fails of the last decade. We just simply complyed with what the US were asking us without criticising or regarding it in any way.

The man has had 3 cabinets, this being his 4th, and he has not made the 4-year mark with a single one of them, all have fallen. I wouldn't be surprised (and I hope) this one will fall as well, the sooner the better.

I'm hoping the PvdA still have some pride left in themselves and quit the cabinet..