Year   1998   2002   2003
PvdA     45     23     42
VVD      38     24     28  
CDA      29     43     44

Coalition talks started in February 2003 between Election winner CDA Jan Peter Balkenende and new Labor leader Wouter Bos who made a great recovery for PvdA with 42 seats in parliament. On the agenda was the likelihood of an Iraq War and whether the Dutch should be part of the U.S. and U.K. coalition. As the present administration was not permitted to force a decision due to their post election status, Jan Peter Balkenende needed to have the 2nd largest party PvdA support for Iraq action.

In an unexpected move, the Dutch supported delivery of Patriot missile systems under NATO treaty to partner Turkey to secure their Southern border from Scud attack coming from Iraq in the event of war and Turkey participating. The U.S. needed to move Armed Forces and heavy material out of Germany through Rotterdam harbor for shipment to either Kuweit or Turkey to form a Northern front to attack Iraq through Kurdish area.

Dutch parliament gave the sitting coalition of CDA, VVD and LPF overwhelming vote to give political support but Dutch forces would NOT participate in the Coalition of the Willing. It was only after the new cabinet was installed with CDA-VVD-D'66 that the United Nations request of Kofi Annan and the Security Council to dispatch a Stabilization Force (SFIR) to the British Southern Sector was honored. Wouter Bos and the PvdA voted FOR the participation of Dutch Forces in Iraq.

Wouter Bos flip-flop

The decision for the final extension up to March 2005, Wouter Bos and the PvdA took the Gerhard U-turn for political gain to vote against this extension. A smaller majority was sufficient nevertheless to honor the U.N. commitment. In December 2004 this cabinet took the decision that the troops had done their task - see my comment/diary - and would definitely leave Iraq. At first the British forces took over in Iraqi province of Al-Muthanna, to be relieved by a new deployment of Australian troops who found the job done by the Dutch as excellent. The Dutch would place focus on Afghanistan where the role of NATO would be enlarged.

There is a definite distinction between the FM Jaap de Hoop Scheffer - more Atlantic in support of Iraq War - and new FM Bot who has a more continental EU view on the decision and moment to call for the Iraq invasion. See FM Bot's comment on nomination of John Bolton by President Bush early in 2005.

My diary @dKos ::
Dutch Aid to Iraq leads to Fatwa by Ali Sistani

PM Jan Peter Balkenende and Roosevelt's Four Freedoms at Margraten.

Iraq Coalition Troops
Non-US Forces in Iraq - 16 August 2005

"Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason."

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