After Hawija, the House wonders aloud: can the defense be trusted? The care sounds about ‘cover -up culture’

Can the House of Representatives have sufficient trust in the Defense information now that this department plays such an important role in the redundancy of the Netherlands?

That question was repeatedly sounded during the plenary parliamentary treatment, this Thursday, of the report About the Dutch air raid on the Northern Iraqi city of Hawija. This gave the debate about a serious incident from June 2015, when at the elimination of a bomber factory of terror organization, at least 85 citizens died, a wider scope.

Former minister Winnie Sorgdrager and her committee found that « the parliament was incomplete and incorrect time and time again before and after the attack ». The Ministry of Defense also had « insufficiently participated » in the Sorg carrier research.

Many fractions therefore wondered whether the information provision of such an important department is in order.

« It is precisely in times of war that we must be able to trust that Defense’s information is correct, » said D66 MP Hanneke van der Werf. « But operational commanders did not think it was necessary to properly inform the top of the department. »

« The bravery of our soldiers was in stark contrast to the cowardice of our drivers, » said PVV MP Joeri Pool. Defense ministers « did not openly dare to state the risks of a military intervention, » said Pool.

« Defense has a certain reputation when it comes to her culture, » said SGP MP Diederik van Dijk.

« What a Klerzooi! The democratic control of our armed forces has been undermined, » said Jimme Nordkamp on behalf of the GroenLinks-PvdA group.

The parliamentary unease about the ‘cover -up culture’ of Defense, as various MPs called it, was not concrete. The wish of SP leader Jimmy Dijk to keep a parliamentary ‘mini survey’ and to hear soldiers under Ede received no support. The same applied to his motion of no confidence against Minister Brekelmans (Defense, VVD). Think and the Party for the Animals supported this last motion.

A large majority of the House of Representatives expressed confidence in the minister. However, MP Nordkamp of the GroenLinks-PvdA group announced that it will only make a final political judgment after four studies of Defense have been completed into the conduct of soldiers in some specific issues around ‘Hawija’. That will happen this summer.

« It bothered us »

Minister Brekelmans said in his answer that he had spoken with F-16 pilots who were involved in the bombing of the HaWija bombing factory at the time. « I wanted to know from them, » There was a tendency, we didn’t talk about what exactly happened?  » They answered me: « It was bothering us that we were busy with an intense war with hundreds of air strikes, while it was pretended to be outside, so to speak with some projects. »

In his answer, Brekelmans listed a series of lessons from the long political aftermath of the bombing of ten years ago. Among other things, he called « being more open about the risks of missions for soldiers and civilians » and informing the Lower House faster and more detailed, if necessary confidentially. According to him, the internal archive management during military missions is also being taken critically. Furthermore, the Dutch contribution to the ‘intelligence chain’ that has to collect good information about a target and the environment, with upcoming missions.

Brekelmans wants to go to HaWija, « if it can be safe, » he said, to personally apologize for the mayor and the community for what happened in the night of 2 to 3 June 2015. He also said he wanted to free around ten million euros for new projects for the city. They come on top of the 4.4 million that the government already released for recovery projects at the end of 2019. « What a lot of money, can’t you pay for it yourself? », The PVV MP Joeri Pool exclaimed. Pool said to spend the money on veteran care.

Compensation

On the instructions of D66, Brekelmans is thinking of a medical center that can help people with serious burns in Hawija. NSC MP Olger van Dijk underlined the importance of the guidance of 125 traumatized children in the city.

The minister rejected individual compensation for victims and relatives, where, among other things, think leader Stephan van Baarle and SP leader Jimmy Dijk enforced as a refuge of an ‘honorary debt’. Ten years later, it would not be possible to find out who exactly suffered damage as a result of the bombing, according to the minister.

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