U.S. Marine General: Dutch Troops Failed Partly Because of Gays (UPDATED)
Mar 18th, 2010 | 12 responses
A retired Marine general, John J. Sheehan, told senators on the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Dutch Army failed to protect the city of Srebrenica during the Bosnian war ”partly because of the presence of gay soldiers in its armed forces,” according to the Washington Post.
Sheehan, a NATO commander who retired in 1997, made these comments during hearings on “don’t ask, don’t tell” today.
Senator Levin sharply questioned the general’s remarks, sources, accuracy and intent.
“Pressed by Levin to name names, Sheehan cited Dutch Army Chief of Staff Hankman Berman, who was fired by the Dutch Parliament for failing to protect Srebrenica.”
Further, according to the Post:
In a statement, Dutch Ambassador RenĂ©e Jones-Bos said, “I take 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.”
“The military mission of Dutch U.N. soldiers at Srebrenica has been exhaustively studied and evaluated, nationally and internationally,” Jones-Bos said. “There is nothing in these reports that suggests any relationship between gays serving in the military and the mass murder of Bosnian Muslims.”
I am sure the Dutch will have much more to say about these accusations.
Stay tuned.
UPDATE:
As expected, Dutch officials and media have reacted swiftly and strongly to the suggestion made yesterday by retired Marine general John Sheehan that gay soldiers in the Dutch army partly contributed to the fall of the UN safe haven of Srebrenica.
The Dutch Ministry of Defense said that suggestion is too ridiculous for words and that “it was unbelievable a man of general Sheehan’s stature had come out with such a statement.”
The Dutch ambassador in the US, RenĂ©e Jones-Bos, issued a statement saying: “I am proud of the fact that gays and lesbians have openly served in the Dutch military for decades, just like they are doing now in Afghanistan,” according to Radio Nederland.
The Dutch caretaker Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said via Twitter that he was amazed at the ex general’s comments – saying they reflected more about the discussion around homosexuals in the US army than anything else.
The Dutch Newspaper NRC Handelsblad covered the news under the Dutch headline, “Opmerking generaal VS over Dutchbat wekt woede.” (“U.S. general’s remarks over Dutch battalion arouse anger.”)
12 Responses to “U.S. Marine General: Dutch Troops Failed Partly Because of Gays (UPDATED)”
Good lord we are good at insulting our allies….
and speaking of gay…my march madness brackets are GAY!
The collapse of the Soviet Union led European militaries, including the Netherlands, to believe there was no longer a need for active combat capabilities, Sheehan said.
“As a result, they declared a peace dividend and made a conscious effort to socialize their military,” he said, noting that the Dutch allowed troops to join unions and enlisted openly gay soldiers. Dutch forces were poorly led and unable to hold off Serb forces in 1995, leading to the execution of Bosnian Muslims and one of the largest European massacres since World War II, Sheehan said…
..Committee chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) asked Sheehan whether Dutch leaders blamed the presence of gay troops in later conversations.
“They included that as part of the problem,” Sheehan said….
…Sheehan later clarified that the general liberalization of the Dutch military contributed to the Srebenica debacle….
******
Kindof a leap there. But I think the main thread is when you relax the standards for the military “machismo”, you lose what the military is all about. Gay men are not known for their ferocity when compared to their hetero counterparts. In fact, many gay men flaunt overt femininity as part of their MO. I can see how allowing “girly men” into the ranks could affect the bravado and stab of what the military tries to do: harness male drive to violence in a controlled fashion.
There are exceptions I'm sure, but the overwhelming majority of gay men [those on the fronts] will have a more feminine affect than their hetero peers and this could actually and factually translate into weakness at a crucial moment.
It is like an OCD reaction with you.
Wow, what an unbelievable position. It frankly scares me that he made it to the rank of full General, and was Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic and Commander in Chief, U.S. Atlantic Command.
It is one thing to oppose gays in the military, which I don't agree with but it is certainly his right, but this is pathological.
I think Sil is an automaton, programmed to make replies in reaction to posts on specific subjects.
As our whole interaction with Sil is via posts here, that can be analyzed using the rules of a Turing test.
Sil has yet to convince me it is really a person.
that was pretty funny, the sillowette has never met the leather guys or gay Marines; they'd yeah feminize sillowette in about two seconds flat
It will be interesting to see if the right wingnuts pick up on the general's daffy remarks. I see in WaPo that he has moderated his remarks somewhat after his testimony: “ Sheehan later clarified that the general liberalization of the Dutch military contributed to the Srebenica debacle. “ I wonder how his original authority, Dutch Army Chief of Staff Hankman Berman, would respond to his testimony. Frankly, DADT is so blasted absurd it's hard to believe any of this is real.
We don't have allies, we have clients…
Are those the gay guys who employ sadism as an adjunct fetish? Yeah, I've never seen them. The only gays I've seen in conjunction with the military are either dykes or the effeminant type gay men. Maybe they could showcase this particular dual fetish “leather guys” and then we'd get a different view of how fit gay men are to engage in bloody warfare. Otherwise I'm inclined to use the only examples I've seen “paraded” in gay men who have left or were ousted from the military after advertising.
And this truth may not be likeable to some, but it's the reality nevertheless.
Seriously, Sil, you need to get out more. Then you would finally understand that this just isn't the reality. You are making the silly assumption that all (or even the majority of) gay men are effeminant, just because those are the ones the media likes to focus on. That isn't true. I would be willing to bet big money that you have interacted with more than one gay person in your life that you absolutely NEVER suspected was gay. You would likely be the last person they would ever confide in, too.
See how the Dutch official responded to the general in my new post on this subject. Sheehan couldn't even get the name right.
[...] during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, retired Marine General John J. Sheehan claimed that the Dutch UN battalion charged with protecting the enclave had been weakened partly because it [...]