Homosexuals caused Srebrenica!

[ibis]

I'm not saying he's a demon. I'm just saying he's a f___ing eejit and I'd be deeply deeply embarrassed if such a man attained high office in the Irish army. You can't blame the wider US army - it's not as if he lived a monastic like existence spending his last several decades with soldiers only.

He'd be unlikely to attain high rank in the Irish Army, I would think, because the Irish Army's focus is on peace-keeping and civilian support rather than combat machismo.

[Tombo]

He'd be unlikely to attain high rank in the Irish Army, I would think, because the Irish Army's focus is on peace-keeping and civilian support rather than combat machismo.

Bless 'em.

If the sh1t ever hits the fan though, I will take cover behind the nearest US marine.

I suspect I will find you there too.

[Gadjodilo]

There is all manner of explanation for this.

One is that Dutch commanders may have been bemoaning the "pacification" of the Dutch armed forces, as examplified in part by approach to gay recruitment.

I could see that makes sense. I couldn't see US marines allowing a foreign force to disarm them without resistance. They are animals, but deliberately trained to be so.

What has recruitment of gay soldiers got to do with pacification?

[danger here]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J34rrhKbgys"]YouTube- BBC: UN & Dutch disaster in Srebrenica[/ame]

[Tombo]

What has recruitment of gay soldiers got to do with pacification?

Did you read my post? Let me repeat exactly what I wrote.

It might have been a matter of misintepretation between the Dutch commanders and the US officer.

Many armies in Europe have increasingly been subject to all manner of social policy. positive discrimination towards women, extreme anti bullying measures etc. etc.

All nice in the wider society, but if a bunch of murdering paramilitiaries walk into town you want rabid slavering dogs manning the defence.

Got it now?

The central point stands.

The General is reported as saying that Dutch officers told him that.

[Newsy]

How do these people get into positions of authority?

RTÉ News: Dutch anger at US General's Srebrenica claim

I couldn't believe this when I read it in the Times.

What a terribly ignorant thing to say. He is pushing his agenda....but the damage that such statements does, is untold, never mind being untrue.

[Gadjodilo]

Did you read my post? Let me repeat exactly what I wrote.

It might have been a matter of misintepretation between the Dutch commanders and the US officer.

Many armies in Europe have increasingly been subject to all manner of social policy. positive discrimination towards women, extreme anti bullying measures etc. etc.

All nice in the wider society, but if a bunch of murdering paramilitiaries walk into town you want rabid slavering dogs manning the defence.

Got it now?

The central point stands.

The General is reported as saying that Dutch officers told him that.

This is what you said.

There is all manner of explanation for this. One is that Dutch commanders may have been bemoaning the "pacification" of the Dutch armed forces, as examplified in part by approach to gay recruitment. I could see that makes sense.

You said yourself that you could see that makes sense. I don't think it's a wild misinterpretation to take that to mean that you think it makes sense that the pacification of Dutch soldiers is exemplified in part by recruitment of gays. Please clarify.

[Tombo]

I couldn't believe this when I read it in the Times.

What a terribly ignorant thing to say. He is pushing his agenda....but the damage that such statements does, is untold, never mind being untrue.

I don't think you did read it.

Is your anger directed at the US General or the Dutch officiers who were reported to have actually made the claim?

Or are you making up your own news?

[Tombo]

This is what you said.



You said yourself that you could see that makes sense. I don't think it's a wild misinterpretation to take that to mean that you think it makes sense that the pacification of Dutch soldiers is exemplified in part by recruitment of gays. Please clarify.

"as exemplified by" not "as caused by"

Christ, the standard of education in this country is so crappy...

Back to the most important point though.

Who made this claim?

Anyone?

[Newsy]

I don't think you did read it.

Is your anger directed at the US General or the Dutch officiers who were reported to have actually made the claim?

Or are you making up your own news?

Your attitude does not facilitate debate.

Here is the article, for your information. Read it very carefully, in bolded.

Dutch government officials reacted angrily today to claims by a retired US general that Dutch forces were overrun in Srebrenica in 1995 in part because of the presence of gay soldiers.

At a US congressional hearing yesterday on allowing gay soldiers to serve openly in the military, former Supreme Allied commander John Sheehan said there was a link between having homosexuals in the Dutch forces and the massacre at Srebrenica.


Bosnian Serb forces overran lightly-armed Dutch soldiers in the United Nations-designated enclave of Srebrenica in July 1995 and subsequently massacred more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys.

Reports on the hearing said Mr Sheehan blamed a post-Cold War effort by European nations to "socialise" their forces by, among other things, letting gays serve.

"That led to a force that was ill-equipped to go to war. The case in point that I'm referring to is when the Dutch were required to defend Srebrenica against the Serbs," Mr Sheehan said.

"The battalion was under-strength, poorly led, and the Serbs came into town, handcuffed the soldiers to the telephone poles, marched the Muslims off, and executed them."

Carl Levin, chairman of the US Senate's Armed Services Committee, asked: "Did the Dutch leaders tell you it was because there were gay soldiers there?"

"Yes, they did. They included that as part of the problem," Mr Sheehan said, according to a webcast on the website of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The Dutch Defence Ministry issued a statement calling Mr Sheehan's claims "absolute nonsense" and adding that gay Dutch soldiers routinely co-operate with the US military in the Nato mission in Afghanistan.

Renee Jones-Bos, the Dutch ambassador to the United States, said in a statement, "I couldn't disagree more" with Mr Sheehan, adding there was no evidence of his claims in the extensive record of research on Srebrenica.

Dutch press agency ANP quoted the head of the military union AFMP, Wim van den Burg, as saying Sheehan's comments were "ridiculous" and "out of the realm of fiction".

Gays blamed for Srebrenica defeat - The Irish Times - Fri, Mar 19, 2010