Official Dutch inquiry concludes Iraq war was illegal

In the so-called Davids Report, the findings of an inquiry into the legality of the Dutch government’s decision to support the US-led invasion in 2003, the conclusion is that there were no legal grounds for invasion.

While a similar inquiry is still ongoing in the United Kingdom, known as the Chilcot inquiry, the Dutch Commission chief Willibrord Davids presented the long awaited Davids Report to the government on January 12th. In the days following, all hell broke loose, not only in the media but during hours and hours of parliamentary debates that almost led to crisis and breakdown of the government. A short discussion of the findings can be read on the website of the European Radio Network and the Guardian, yet most of my report here is based on what I've seen on Dutch TV broadcasts, which showed the complete proceedings from the controversial first reaction of the Prime Minister to the formal letter he submitted to parliament the next day. Then the debate, the mud-slinging and pussy-footing about single words really got underway, and it was fascinating to watch (I do speak Dutch). In short, what the report had concluded, was that the invasion of Iraq clearly violated international law and that the Dutch decision to support it had been a grave error. The inquiry, led by W. Davids who is a former president of the Dutch Supreme Court, found that the wording of UN resolution 1441 could not:

“reasonably be interpreted [as the Dutch government did] as authorizing individual member states to use military force to compel Iraq to comply with the Security Council's resolutions."

In addition, the inquiry also said that both the public and the parliament had not been informed transparently and honestly, and the present opposition leaders accused the government of having acted with tunnel-vision formed by trying to be a good NATO ally to the US and the UK. One should remember that France, Germany and other European countries had chosen not to support the war, for which they soon were much maligned and labeled as "Old Europe." Jan Peter Balkenende, the Dutch PM then and now, wasn't at all happy with the harsh conclusions of the inquiry and - in his first press conference - tried to demean it somehow as merely one opinion among others. However, under pressure from the Dutch Labor Party (PvDA) who are a coalition partner in the present administration, he had to change his tune over night in order to keep the government from dissolving. No heads rolled.