International

“The Davids Commission enquiry shows that the Dutch government was determined to support what they knew to be an illegal invasion of Iraq. Neither the UN resolutions nor the threat of weapons of mass destruction, but blind, docile following of the United States determined our country's policy," says SP leader Agnes Kant.

According to Kant, the Davids Commission has produced a thorough report. "The report delivers a damning judgement of Dutch decision-making in relation to Iraq. There was no basis in international law for this war. Parliament has been deliberately misled on numerous occasions by thiss government."

Kant does not believe that the government can maintain its pretence that in its own judgement the war had an adequate mandate in international law. "The political support was thus mistaken and the government must recognise that. In any case the question of whether the prime minister had something to hide has now been answered. And the answer is 'yes'."

In the report a great deal of attention is paid to the working methods of former Foreign Minister Jaap De Hoop Scheffer, later Secretary-General of NATO. In the SP's view, however, it is the prime minister who must bear the brunt of responsibility for the decision to give political support to the war against Iraq.