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11/1 Jurists want to stay in Oudemanhuispoort

8/2 Mayor’s portrait

8/2 Websites for social cohesion

7/2 Spreading tourism proceeds with difficulty

7/2 GroenLinks on districts: Be a man

6/2 Zuideramstel opens new office on Sabbath

5/2 The truth about integration

4/2 Wilders has little support on Amsterdam

3/2 Elite involved in neighbourhood

2/2 Johnnie Walker avoids taxes in Amsterdam

1/2 Rotterdam to tinker with district councils as well

31/1 Wooden rowing boats to disappear from Amstel

31/1 ZeeburgTV launched

27/1 Privacy activists to mess up loyalty card system

27/1 A few were still coughing, but that was an act

27/1 Chrisis in de Baarsjes

26/1 Youth have positive view of districts

24/1 Action groups call for Carmel and Jaffa boycott

24/1 PvdA members dismiss plan for districts

23/1 KLM takes on crisis with new uniform

23/1 District office not squatted

21/1 Merge districts

20/1 Closing squat bar Vrankrijk not necessary

20/1 Cleaners welcome new Schiphol director

18/1 Palestine at the Jewish Historical Museum

18/1 What is the right size for a district?

17/1 PvdA Oost against fewer districts

16/1 Committee: 7 districts by 2010

15/1 Soldiers may attend Afghanistan debate after all

15/1 Bait bike leads to arrest

14/1 Youth for Christ to republish vacancies

13/1 Paintings of the Zuidas

13/1 New Youth for Christ contoversy

11/1 Social cohesion initiative raises eyebrows

10/1 Fewer districts in 2010

10/1 Zuidas: People feel that we are losers

9/1 Fun on the ice - but not for all

9/1 Supermarket coupon fraud thwarted

9/1 I Amsterdam must remain exclusive

8/1 Use term Apartheid in every discussion

8/1 No city kiosk in Amsterdam yet

7/1 Snow

7/1 Fatima Elatik to run Zeeburg

7/1 Municipal managers to return to shop floor

4/1 Police: take photo of strange people

3/1 Gaza protest criticises politicians

1/1 Thousands to protest against attacks on Gaza

1/1 Mustapha Laboui leaves district council

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‘Iraq investigation after all’

22 April 2007 - There is a real possibility that an investigation into the grounds for the Netherlands to politically support the American-British invasion of Iraq will be started after all. This was the conclusion of politicians of PvdA, VVD and SP during a debate at de Rode Hoed tonight.

Thomas Erdbrink, who is co-author of a book on Iraq that was presented tonight and arrived from Tehran this morning, was impressed that so many people had turned up at such a beautiful day to listen to such a sad story.

The story was sad alright, but there was plenty to laugh about as well. The jokes of America expert Maarten van Rossem for example, although there were some painful silences when he went too far.

There was also laughter when the first question was asked by a member of the public: why is there nothing in newspaper NRC Handelsblad - host of the evening - about the fact that the so-called Al Qaeda attack at the WTC was in fact carried out by Washington itself?

Less amusing was the debate about the number of civilian deaths in Iraq, estimated by the UN at 40,000 last year. Is that figure not far too low, someone asked. Are the UN not under political pressure to keep the figures low?

There is truth in the point about political pressure, said Carolien Roelants, who wrote the book with Erdbrink. Until recently, the local UN chief went to the morgue to count bodies, but the UN have been pressurised into stopping the publication of estimates of the number of deaths.

A considerable part of the evening was devoted to the question whether an investigation into the grounds for the Dutch decision to support the war politically should not be started after all. In the current coalition agreement, the PvdA gave up on that wish, reportedly because prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende was absolutely against it.

Erik Jurgens (PvdA) announced that the Senate will ask critical questions about the issue. If the government persists in its refusal to answer these questions, irritation may grow to the point that the entire Senate may support a parliamentary investigation.

Hans van Baalen (VVD) acknowledged that it is conceivable that his fellow party members in the Senate may end up supporting such an investigation. Incidentally, Van Baalen found himself in a hostile environment. Almost all critical questions were directed to him, and he received very meagre applauses at best.

Harry van Bommel (SP) had a different scenario in mind. If rumours that the Dutch army has been secretly involved in the invasion of the Iraq keep surfacing, this may lead to more pressure to start an investigation.

Van Rossem was pretty sure that an investigation will be carried out in the end, by the time Balkenende has become Royal Commissioner in the province of Drenthe.

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