Abu Ghraib - Dutch style

Following the invasion of Iraq by coalition forces in 2003, allegations emerged of the mistreatment of prisoners by US troops in the Abu Ghraib prison at Baghdad. At least one soldier was convicted as a result. Today, similar allegations emerged surrounding Dutch troops. They are accused of depriving their captives of sleep by dousing them with water and playing high pitched noise in their cells. The government in The Hague has ordered an inquiry. Apparently, the abuse was reported but nobody was prosecuted in 2003.

At a tangent, and totally unrelated, memories surface of the Srebrenica disaster of 1995. The so-called safe haven of Srebrenica was located in eastern Bosnia at the height of the Balkan wars of the 1990s. It was supposed to harbour Muslims, and keep them safe from hostile Serb forces in the surrounding area. When the Serbs moved in with overwhelming force, there was little that the Dutch UN contingent could do. They were but lightly armed. Unfortunately, they did help the Serb forces to separate men from women and cart the menfolk off into the countryside to be shot. 8,000 are thought to have died. New mass graves have recently been found in eastern Bosnie, thought to contain the remains of those killed after the enclave was overrun.