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Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on March 19, 2010, 09:25 AM:
US General: Gays Weakened Dutch Military in
Lauren Frayer Contributor
AOL News (March 19) -- A retired U.S. general has told senators that the Dutch policy of allowing gays to serve openly in its military was partly to blame for its failure to halt the largest genocide in Europe since World War II.
The suggestion prompted a sharp rebuke by the Netherlands, whose ambassador said she "couldn't disagree more" and takes "pride in the fact that lesbians and gays have served openly and with distinction in the Dutch military forces for decades, such as in Afghanistan at the moment."
Retired Gen. John Sheehan appears before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday for a hearing to examine the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
Dutch soldiers accounted for most of the U.N. peacekeeping force in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica in 1995 when Serb forces overran what was supposed to be a United Nations "safe zone" and systematically executed 8,000 Muslim men and boys.
U.S. Marine Gen. John Sheehan, who retired in 1997, was the commander of NATO forces at the time. He made his comments during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday on the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which bans gay people from openly serving in uniform.
Sheehan was testifying in opposition to a proposal backed by President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and many other current military leaders that would allow gays to serve openly in America's armed forces. In explaining why he opposes lifting the ban, Sheehan described what he saw as a softening of European forces -- most of which allow gay members -- since the end of the Cold War.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, many European nations, including the Netherlands, "believed there was no longer a need for an active combat capability," Sheehan said. They focused instead on peacekeeping, he said, because "they did not believe the Germans were going to attack again or the Soviets were coming back."
"As a result, they declared a peace dividend and made a conscious effort to socialize their military. That includes the unionization of their militaries. It includes open homosexuality demonstrated in a series of other activities," Sheehan testified.
He said Dutch troops assigned to defend Srebrenica in 1995 were an example of such force that was ill-prepared for war. "The battalion was under strength, poorly led, and the Serbs came into town, handcuffed the soldiers to the telephone poles, marched the Muslims off, and executed them," Sheehan said. "That was the largest massacre in Europe since World War II."
Several senators listening to Sheehan's testimony were incredulous. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., asked him, "Did the Dutch leaders tell you it (the fall of Srebrenica) was because there were gay soldiers there?"
"Yes," Sheehan responded. "They included that as part of the problem." He said the former chief of staff of the Dutch army had told him.
Levin, the committee chairman and a supporter of Obama's efforts to lift restrictions on gays in the military, called the general's assertions "totally off-target."
"Any effort to connect that failure on the part of the Dutch to the fact that they have homosexuals, or did allow homosexuals, I think is totally off-target," he said. Their comments were carried by several news agencies.
Immediately after the hearing, the Dutch ambassador to Washington, Renee Jones-Bos, issued a statement that also appeared on the embassy's Web site. "The military mission of Dutch U.N. soldiers at Srebrenica has been exhaustively studied and evaluated, nationally and internationally. There is nothing in these reports that suggests any relationship between gays serving in the military and the mass murder of Bosnian Muslims," she said.
Later, a Dutch defense ministry spokesman, Roger Van de Wetering, told the BBC he finds it "astonishing that a man of [Sheehan's] stature can utter such complete nonsense."
Speaking to The Associated Press, Van de Wetering explained his country's attitude toward gays in the military: "For us it is very simple. Every man or woman that meets the criteria physically and mentally is welcome to serve in our armed forces regardless of (religious) belief, sexual preference or whatever."
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