Under great pressure, he himself appointed this Iraq commission to provide an impartial review. It is not wise to take this path of attack, the commission has performed an excellent task and gives support to the many objections vented throughout the years. The present coalition partner, the Labour Party (PvdA), was in the opposition in the fall of 2002 and opposed the War. In Februari 2003 they joined a new Cabinet under leadership of Balkenende and made a compromise to offer only political support, based on knowledge released by the previous administration with Jaap de Hoop Schepper as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
With Balkenende's line of attack yesterday, the Labour Party became furious and went into the opposition. Would the PvdA members in Parliament join the opposition parties in any major vote, then Balkenende and his Cabinet will fall.
Balkenende should have accepted some responsibility, he refused to acknowledge making any mistakes or misjudgements. Must have to impressed by George Bush.
Damage control, do's and don'ts
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
Mr Balkenende rejected calls to resign last night and said that he disagreed with the commission. "The Cabinet's view has always been that a new Security Council resolution [authorising the invasion] was desirable but not necessary," he said... Allard de Rooi, of Transparency about Iraq, said: "I cannot imagine a world in which the Prime Minister of a Western country just ignores the verdict of senior judges in a inquiry which he ordered. "He has got to resign. He is saying that there are two kinds of law -- one for him and one for the rest of the world."
Mr Balkenende rejected calls to resign last night and said that he disagreed with the commission. "The Cabinet's view has always been that a new Security Council resolution [authorising the invasion] was desirable but not necessary," he said...
Allard de Rooi, of Transparency about Iraq, said: "I cannot imagine a world in which the Prime Minister of a Western country just ignores the verdict of senior judges in a inquiry which he ordered.
"He has got to resign. He is saying that there are two kinds of law -- one for him and one for the rest of the world."
The Labour Party, a member of Mr Balkenende's tri-party coalition, says the Davids report is "disturbing" and that Mr Balkenende's response is not on behalf of the Labour Party. Mariëtta Hamer, leader of Labour's parliamentary party, says she was "unpleasantly surprised" by Mr Balkenende's response to the report. Labour has called on Mr Balkenende to emphasise the difference between the 2003 cabinet - the party was in opposition at the time - and the current one. The party has called for another response to the criticisms in the Davids report this week.
I can't find evidence of this. Handelsblad reported an hour ago that Bos and Rouvoet are meeting Balkenende right now. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
But the PvdA as party has protested.
Either Bos silences the dissent in his own party, or he is faithful to the party-line and upsets the coalition. So far Bos is staunchly carrying through as member of the cabinet and keeps a stiff upper lip.
I note that Mariette Hamer, who leads the PvdA in Parliament, and Wouter Bos have a cordial relationship. If this is a pre-conceived stratagem by Bos and Hamer (which I think rather unlikely), it's a game of high stakes - I doubt whether the PvdA is actually capable of that.
Rouvoet is ass-covering Balkenende - no surprises there.
