Dutch Army

Dutch Army
Headquarters	Utrecht, Netherlands
Leader	Martin Wijnen
Type	40px Army
Staff	22,850
Prosecuted for war crimes in Iraq, Indonesia & Bosnia. Their role in the Srebrenica massacre is particularly sketchy.

The Royal Netherlands Army is the main land force of the Netherlands. It has participated in the Napoleonic Wars, World War II, the Indonesian War of Independence, the Korean War and served with NATO on the Cold War frontiers in West Germany, the Iraq War, War in Afghanistan, as well as deployed in several United Nations' peacekeeping missions in Lebanon, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Mali. The Dutch was attributed or have been implicated in war crimes in Indonesia and Yugoslavia.

Yugoslavia

Intro into Srebenica

A Dutch UN-sanctioned infantry group known as the Dutchbatters protected Bosnian Muslim man and boys until they were encircled by Bosnian-Serbians on the 8th of July 1995 in the Yugoslavian civil war in the city of Srebenica. According to the official narrative, Dutch UN Lieutenant-Colonel Thom Karremans was denied request for air-support by Dutch general Nicolai two times, and an additional 2 times 3 days later and was only granted two strikes by one plane. That was after they were ordered by Nicolai to head back to Italy for refuelling after circling the area for hours. The US Air Force could not find these targets and resulted in the second Dutch strike to be aborted as the city was over-run by the army of Ratko Mladić who immediately threatened to "execute 55 Dutch soldiers". The Dutch were allowed to flee to the VN-base of Potocari. 20.000 of the Bosnian muslins fled to compound surrounding the basis. Thom Karremans was subsequently still ignored by the NATO-leadership and Dutch government and humiliated by Mladic. 2 days later Mladic kidnapped all men and boys (around 8000) of the 20.000 under the eyes of the Dutch infantry, led them away and executed them over a period of 9 days. The last remaining Dutchbat unit entered Zagreb celebrating with Minister Joris Voorhoeve a period later.

A Dutch major was revealed to have ordered the MIVD in 1995 to secretly go to a lieutenant who had made pictures of Serbian war crimes in Srebenica. The Photographic films could've proven the Dutch would've known of the genocide much earlier than the international community would've condemned it to be. The film was "damaged beyond repair" after an "unusual production process". Lieutenant Peter Putten of the research-unit of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee argued in 2015 that the mistakes that led to the film never to be published and damaged beyond repair was part of a cover-up by the Dutch government. One of the leading involved MIVD-researchers did not go that far but did argue it was strange the Dutch MOD told him to remain silent. It seems the NATO-countries tried to made sure Yugoslavia destroyed itself from inside out and did not want anyone to find proof that they actively participated in war crimes with other purposes.

The Dutch claimed after the end of the war that air support "was just too difficult to get" and that whatever happened was inevitable. The Dutch did not admit any genocide to have taken place. And denied there was any conspiracy. This closed the case until investigative program Argos revealed the US, UK and France and Bosnia had already agreed on no air-strikes and agreed the area could not be saved, but did not inform Dutch Minister of Defence Joris Voorhoeve or Bosnian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohamed Sacirbey. Several scholars have concluded the Dutchbat-units even had a unfavourable opinion of Muslims in general which may have contributed to their effiency.

Janja Beč-Neumann, Serbian sociologist, genocide researcher concluded the Dutchbat unit had actively comitted genocide by helping Mladic separating the men and boys from their families, standing and not doing anything while Serbians raped Muslim girls in front of their eyes. In 2006 Dutch government awarded the Dutch UN peacekeepers who served in Srebrenica an insignia because they believed they "deserved recognition for their behaviour in difficult circumstances". In a judgement dated 6 September 2013, The Supreme Court of the Netherlands found the Netherlands as a state responsible for the death of the 350 of the murdered men.

After reports Dutch F-16s were also responsible for the failed bombing of the RTS TV-station on April 23 1999 during the war of Yugoslavia, The Dutch Union of Lawyers for Peace, several Dutch activists, the legal defence of Slobodan Milošević and a Dutch-Serbian Human rights group sued the government of Wim Kok and Foreign Affairs minister Jozias van Aarsen for the attacks in 2001. The Dutch Court of Appeal in Amsterdam concluded the Dutch government (and by implication NATO) should've not used "United Nations Security Council Resolution 474 to justify the use of military force against Yugoslavia" and decided the government had violated international law by using force.

"The truth matters not just to the players but to the victims and their relatives, it's there somewhere in the files in the hay and government offices around the world but national governments have fought to ensure the truth can never be known by blacking out key evidence presented to the court and insisting key documents remain secret." - BBC 2009.

 

An Office Holder on Wikispooks

Name	From	To
Peter R. de Vries	1976	1977

 

Related Quotations

Page	Quote	Author	Date
Jan Peter Balkenende	“I don't get why you are so annoying and negative about this. Let's be happy together! Let's say: The Dutch are finally able to do this again, that VOC-mentality, looking beyond borders, dynamic! Right?!”	Jan Peter Balkenende
Joris Voorhoeve	“The British commander took a vacation. Later I asked that general why actually. It was decided, he said. It was clear that Ratko Mladic had the impression that the UN posed no threat to him.”	Joris Voorhoeve	20 January 2021

 

Employee on Wikispooks

Employee	Job	Appointed	End	Description
Karst Roeland Tates	Unknown job position	1990	1990	The Dutch Army refused to comment on him after acknowledging he was employed by them.

 

Event Witnessed

Event	Location(s)
Srebrenica Massacre	Srebrenica Massacre Bosnia and Herzegovina

 

Alumni on Wikispooks

Person	Born	Nationality	Summary	Description
Rob Bertholee	7 August 1955	Netherlands	Spook Solider	Former Director General of the AIVD.
André Steur	1970	Netherlands	Soldier Solider War criminal?	Dutch Director of Plans & Major General of the Dutch Air Force. Connected to 2015 Hawija bombing.

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