The “Davids Commission,” an independent Dutch commission chaired by Willibrord Davis, former head of the Dutch Supreme Court, released its 551-page report today on the Dutch government’s decisions surrounding the invasion of Iraq.
The report, months in the making, provides the results of an investigation into the political support given by the Netherlands to the Bush administration’s decision to invade Iraq.
The Associated Press reports that the Davids Commission charges that ”the Dutch government let politics override law when it supported the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, and ignored intelligence that downplayed the threat of Saddam Hussein’s weapons program.”
The Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad this morning takes a “closer look” at five of the Commission’s conclusions, and mentions that Davis has declared that he is not drawing any political conclusions in the report, nor that he will give “political meaning” to the facts: “that is up to Parliament,” Davis said.
Dutch Prime Minister Balkenende has said that he still needs to study the report and its 49 conclusions.
While the report is in Dutch, a “Summary” and its 49 conclusions are provided in English in the original report, “RAPPORT COMMISSIE VAN ONDERZOEK BESLUITVORMING IRAK,” (Commission Report on Investigation of Decision Making on Iraq), pages 517-533.
