Writ of summons - Van Diepen Van der Kroef

The government parties replied to this that they wished to be able to make a contributionalso to peace enforcement (see page 106 of the Summary of the NIOD Report). This metwith the customary resistance from the Ministry of Defence. A highly-placed official isquoted on page 107 of the Summary of the NIOD Report who complained in response tothis:‘What sort of foolishness is that? Deploy the Air Brigade in Yugoslavia as a sort ofarmoured division? That is the same as saying to a volleyball team shortly before theOlympic Games: we would rather that you played icehockey.’48. The established lack of armour was brushed aside. The Chief of the Defence Staff, Vander Vlis (who had originally expressed his objections to the mission and had claimedthat the deployment of certainly 100,000 soldiers would be required), said that thedeployment of armoured transport vehicles would make the Air Brigade look too muchlike a normal armoured infantry battalion and that had (see page 104 of the Summary ofthe NIOD Report):‘a negative image and would discredit the credibility of and recruitment to the RoyalNetherlands Army. This solution must therefore also be strongly discouraged.’49. In the political discussion that arose in regard to the armament of the Air Brigade, thethen Minister of Defence, Ter Beek, mentioned, moreover, as an argument that heavierarmament could provoke agression. A Member of Parliament recalled that theGovernment had promised, however, that a forceful action would be possible (see page125 of the Summary of the NIOD Report).50. Despite all of this and against better judgement, the decision was adhered to deploy theAir Brigade in Bosnia with light armament.Training and experience© Van Diepen Van der Kroef Advocaten 2007www.vandiepen.com31