THE HAGUE, 18/03/06 - Labour (PvdA), the Socialist Party (SP) and the leftwing Greens (GroenLinks) have clashed fiercely with the cabinet. They accuse the government of laxity in getting behind the truth of the possible use of Dutch territory of suspected CIA flights with terrorist suspects to Guantanamo Bay.
The government has already stressed time after time that it does not possess indications that the US used Dutch airfields to fly terrorist suspects to secret US detention centres. Foreign Minister Ben Bot has been assured by his US counterpart Condoleezza Rice that the US is not guilty of torture or inhuman treatment of prisoners.
The US refuses within the framework of secrecy to enter into specific questions, acknowledged Bot in a Lower House debate. PvdA MP Koenders criticised the "ultimate credulity" of the Netherlands as "unacceptable". He said that "the Netherlands as signatory to the anti-torture treaty has the obligation to actively track down abuses and put a stop to the 'Guantanamo-express' via Europe".
Bot told Koenders that it is diplomatically unusual to take action on the basis of rumours. "As a minister, you cannot do otherwise in international diplomatic intercourse than believe Rice until the contrary is proven." If it were to turn out that Rice has lied there would however be a "breach of trust" between the allies, he added.
Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner also accused Koenders of creating a "wrong picture" of the Netherlands as a country that collaborates with violations of international law. At the end of the debate, it could be concluded that the House had not been made much the wiser than from the written answers already received from the cabinet.
A motion from Koenders and GroenLinks to force the government to increase the diplomatic pressure on the US and if necessary start its own investigation was rejected. Centre-left D66 parliamentary leader Van der Laan fenced with a motion to persuade the US in the longer term to provide its allies more big-heartedly with information. The House will vote on the motions on Tuesday.
