Dutch gays partly responsible for Srebrenica massacre - former US general

The Srebrenica massacre was the worst atrocity in Europe since the Second World War. The massacre happened when Serbian troops took the town of Srebrenica despite the presence of Dutch peacekeepers who were meant to protect the “safe area” around the town.

One of the two Nato Supreme Commanders at the time, General John Sheehan, has now said that the presence of openly gay soldiers in the Dutch military at the time hindered their ability to deal with the situation.

Speaking to the US Senate Armed Services Committee about the possibility of homosexuals serving in the American military, General Sheehan said that following the Cold War, "They [the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg] declared a peace dividend and made a conscious effort to socialize their military - that includes the unionisation of their militaries, it includes open homosexuality. That led to a force that was ill-equipped to go to war."

"The case in point that I’m referring to is when the Dutch were required to defend Srebrenica against the Serbs: 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.

“That was the largest massacre in Europe since World War II."

When asked by the chair of the committee, Democrat Carl Levine if the Dutch leadership at the time had said their response was as it was because of homosexual soldiers General Sheehan said, “Yes, they did. They included that as part of the problem. That the combination was the liberalisation of the military; a net effect was basically social engineering.”

Mr Levin, who favours allowing homosexuals to serve in the military, described the general’s remarks as “totally off target”.

Roger Van de Wetering, a Dutch Defence Ministry spokesman said, “For us it is unbelievable that a man of this rank is stating this nonsense, because that is what it is.

“The whole operation in Srebrenica and the drama that took place over there was thoroughly investigated by Dutch and international authorities and none of these investigations has ever concluded or suggested a link between homosexual military personnel and the things that happened over there. I do not know on what facts this is based, but for us it is total nonsense.”