The Hague Invasion Act

national | miscellaneous | news report

Sunday June 16, 2002 23:22

by Emma Young

dusuileach at yahoo dot com

US Invasion Act Shocks Members of Dutch Parliament

Front-page news from the Dutch daily newspaper "De Volkskrant" (http://www.volkskrant.nl) Translated by Maria Danielson (DJ Dutch of Radio Volta)

June 10, 2002 - From our correspondent The Dutch House of Commons is shocked by an American bill that would allow the United States to invade the Netherlands with military equipment to free US citizens summoned to appear before the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Nearly all of the parties in parliament feel that the US is trying to use the act to undermine the authority of the International Court of Justice that is to open July 1st. They want the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Van Aartsen, to convince the Americans to change their plans.

"It is bizarre and absurd - a bill that would make military intervention in the Netherlands possible," says Terpstra, parliamentary representative of the VVD (People's Party for Freedom and Democracy). "They are perfectly entitled to their decision not to sign the treaty creating the court - though it is regrettable. But they are going way too far by trying to indemnify their citizens against any possible prosecution by the court."

The act, officially called the American Services Members' Protection Act, aims to prevent the International Court of Justice from ever having jurisdiction over American members of the military. Both the Bush administration and Congress are sharply opposed to the Court, because they feel it infringes upon the sovereignty of the United States.

Karimi, parliamentary representative for Groen Links (Green Left Party), wants to request an urgent debate with Van Aartsen about the issue. She wants to know what the VVD minister has done in the past to sway the Americans to change their minds and what he plans to do in the future. "We've known for quite some time that they've been working on this," says Karimi.

Verhagen, foreign affairs specialist for CDA (Christian Democratic Party), thinks that Van Aartsen must immediately tell the US ambassador in the Netherlands that the Netherlands finds the plan "unacceptable." The Dutch ambassador in the US should also take measures. "You certainly wouldn't expect this from a NATO ally," says Verhagen.

Terpstra of the VVD thinks that, by taking this action, the US is completely isolating itself. "It is not only a gesture against the Netherlands, where the court is located, but against the entire international community."

Janssen van Raaij, parliamentary representative of LPF (Pim Fortuyn's List [the ultraright party whose founder was recently assassinated]), speaking on the television talk show "Buitenhof", expressed bewilderment at the US bill. "We aren't Panama, where they simply invaded." Timmermans of the PvdA (Labor Party) also had an averse reaction.

None of the members of the House of Commons considered it likely that the Americans would actually enforce the act. A spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said he "really could not imagine that American war ships would drop anchor off the coast of Scheveningen."