Gays in the military 'led to Srebrenica massacre' claims U.S. General

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1259174/Gays-army-responsible-genocide-claims-retired-U-S-general.html

Very interesting. (and highly controversial)

Quote :

"Gay soldiers were to blame for Dutch troops being overrun during the Srebrenica massacre, a retired general has claimed. John Sheehan said allowing homosexuals to serve had led to a collapse in morale. The massacre in the Bosnian war was one of the worst in Europe since the Second World War. Some 8,000 Muslims were killed after Bosnian Serb forces overwhelmed the Dutch in a UN 'safe area' in 1995. Mr Sheehan, a former U.S. and Nato general, blamed European nations' efforts to 'socialise' their forces by, among other things, letting gay people join. 'That led to a force that was ill-equipped to go to war,' he told a Senate armed services committee in Washington. 'The case in point that I'm referring to is when the Dutch were required to defend Srebrenica against the Serbs. 'The battalion was understrength, 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 committee, then asked: 'Did the Dutch leaders tell you it was because there were gay soldiers there?' Mr Sheehan replied: 'Yes, they did. They included that as part of the problem. That the combination was the liberalisation of the military, a net effect was basically social engineering.' Mr Sheehan was speaking in opposition to a proposal to allow gay people to serve openly in the U.S. military. Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende immediately hit out the claims, saying they were were 'irresponsible' and 'should never have been made'. A Dutch defence ministry spokesman added: 'For us it is unbelievable that a man of this rank is stating this nonsense.' And committee chairman Mr Levin said the connection was 'totally off target'. "

Quote :

"'Safe haven' massacre: What happened at Srebrenica? In 1995 the Bosnian town of Srebrenica was a UN safe haven under the protection of Dutch peacekeepers. That year, tens of thousands of civilians had taken refuge there, seeking shelter from the destruction of the Bosnian-Serbian war. By July of 1995 the town was under siege, with 600 lightly-armed Dutch peacekeepers facing off against the Serbian forces. Food was running out. As pleas to Nato for help failed, Serbian forces overran the town. Up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys are believed to have been killed in the five days of the fall of Srebrenica."

3/19/2010 6:53:33 PM

General Colin Powell who served under Bush, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates who served under President Bush and President Obama, Admiral Michael Mullen the highest ranking officer in the United States armed forces, and General David Petraeus who obviously knows a little something about the current conflicts, all agree that DADT needs to be repealed and I think they'd also disagree with this one guy spouting the crazy.




The Dutch response:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7068523.ece

Quote :

"Jan Peter Balkenende, the Dutch Prime Minister, dismissed the general's claim today. "A disgraceful statement," he said. "I find it untenable ... towards homosexuals. You don't talk that way about people. I find it below standard if one speaks in this manner of the work that people have to do in difficult circumstances." Renée Jones-Bos, the Dutch Ambassador to the United States, said that she "couldn’t disagree more” with General Sheehan, adding there was no evidence of his claims in the extensive record of research on Srebrenica. Roger Van de Wetering, from the Dutch Defence Ministry added: “For us it is unbelievable that a man of this rank is stating this nonsense, because that is what it is. “The whole operation in Srebrenica and the drama that took place over there was thoroughly investigated by Dutch and international authorities and none of these investigations has ever concluded or suggested a link between homosexual military personnel and the things that happened over there. I do not know on what facts this is based, but for us it is total nonsense. "Every man or woman that meets the criteria physically and mentally is welcome to serve in our Armed Forces regardless of (religious) belief, sexual preference or whatever.” "

[Edited on March 19, 2010 at 6:59 PM. Reason : .]

3/19/2010 6:56:54 PM

hey, look, Supplanter copy-and-pasted a post again. way to go!

3/19/2010 7:02:38 PM

Yep. The issue of gays in the military is relevant both to a DADT thread and to a Gays in the Military thread, so I only had to make small changes to the wording of my point. Excellent observation aaronburro!

3/19/2010 7:11:28 PM

hey, look, Supplanter copy-and-pasted a post again. way to go!

3/19/2010 7:12:17 PM

Nope. That most recent post was not. You lose your gold star for observation this time.

[Edited on March 19, 2010 at 7:13 PM. Reason : but way to go on participation!]

3/19/2010 7:12:58 PM

hey, look, Supplanter copy-and-pasted a post again. way to go!

3/19/2010 7:13:53 PM

Why thank you, thank you very much.

3/19/2010 7:25:05 PM

I am a big fan of irony, btw

3/19/2010 7:26:32 PM

"Your project was overbudget again"

"Well it's because they let the gays in the military"

3/19/2010 9:29:08 PM

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

3/19/2010 11:13:42 PM

Have the Dutch ever not been over-whelmed or overrun in a war?

3/20/2010 12:57:14 AM

Actually the Dutch have held their own in a few conflicts. I mean, they're not under Hapsburg control these days.

More importantly, fuck Sheehan. Srebrenica was too awful to use as a little political pawn, and it was purely the fault of the U.N. not having enough teeth. I don't want them to be able to dictate general policies or anything, but I'd really, really like them to be able to shoot perpetrators of genocide every once in a while.

3/20/2010 3:59:45 AM

Well, blacks in the miliary led to the Vietnam War.

3/20/2010 4:35:18 AM

If letting gays into the military resulted in a drop of morale that resulted in a massacre, I'd go with blaming the bigots on this one

3/20/2010 12:17:04 PM

^

3/20/2010 2:17:59 PM

^^

3/20/2010 3:21:31 PM

Quote :

"but I'd really, really like them to be able to shoot perpetrators of genocide every once in a while."

Who's stopping them?

3/20/2010 10:08:58 PM

I know this is a difficult concept for Libertarians, but a lot of people tend to follow the law/rules.

The U.N. pretty much never gives permission to shoot assholes. It is problematic. I hope very much to one day work towards fixing that, so that we can shoot the assholes.

3/21/2010 1:06:34 AM

U.N troops and NATO peacekeepers are basically living scarecrows.

3/21/2010 8:14:52 PM

oh no military butt secks

3/21/2010 10:10:26 PM

I'm fairly certain that the Native American "Windtalkers" were responsible for the partition of India and Pakistan.

3/22/2010 10:19:21 AM