Dutch considered military support for US invasion

The Dutch cabinet considered giving military support to the American-British invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to documents obtained by Dutch broadcaster RTL.

The ministries of foreign affairs and defence were preparing to inform parliament of the military contribution. This would have involved deploying a frigate as part of the invasion force, after an informal request from the United States in March of 2003.

However, the plan to lend military support to the invasion was scrapped after the Dutch Labour party (PvdA) voiced its vehement opposition to the proposal. Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende was in the process of negotiating a coalition agreement with the PvdA at the time. Coalition talks could have fallen through if the outgoing government had agreed to actively take part in the invasion.

The Netherlands supported the invasion politically, but did not send troops. The official reasoning behind the Netherlands' approval for the invasion was that Saddam Hussein had broken UN resolutions, not that he was thought to possess weapons of mass destruction. Calls to investigate the motivations behind this support have become louder as more information about the viability of this reasoning have come to light. Earlier this month NRC Handelsblad published information from a memorandum from the foreign ministry dated April 2003 which showed that lawyers at the department concluded that "the Netherlands would lose any case brought before the International Court of Justice."

Several prominent politicians and former ministers have called for an inquiry to disclose all available information about the build-up to Dutch support for the American invasion. Prime minister Balkenende has always refused calls for an investigation into Dutch support. In their coalition agreement, ruling parties Christian Democrats (CDA), the Labour Party (PvdA) and the orthodox Christian party (ChristenUnie) collectively agreed no inquiry would take place under this government.