Retired American Marine Testifies That The Dutch Allowed Gay Troops Thereby Allowing The Bosnian Massacre, Dutch Contend That Claim Is Utter Nonsense, One Of Hungary’s Fascist Party Members Resigns Because He Had A Tad Too Much Fun At A Canadian Pride Celebration

Thursday, in Washington, at the nascent Senate Armed Services Committee hearings on the military ban on gays serving openly that is weighing whether to repeal the policy, retired Marine general John J. Sheehan, a former NATO commander, said that the Dutch Army failed to protect the city of Srebrenica during the Bosnian was in part because of the presence of gay soldiers. Sheehan, called to testify, said the collapse of the Soviet Union falsely led European militaries to contend that there was no longer a need for active combat capabilities, and “as a result, they declared a peace dividend and made a conscious effort to socialize their military,” adding that the Dutch permitted troops to join unions and that it enlisted openly gay soldiers. Therefore, Sheehan argued, the Dutch army was poorly led and was unable to resist Serbian forces in 1995, leading to the execution of Bosnian Muslims and one of the worse European massacres since World War II. Senator Carl Levin, the chair of the Armed Services Committee, said to Sheehan, that although he agreed the Dutch troops seemed unprepared to battle the Serbs, his assertion that someone gay soldiers were to blame was “totally off-target.”

Friday, Dutch defence ministry spokesperson Roger van de Wetering said “It is astonishing that a man of his stature can utter such complete nonsense. The Srebrenica massacre and the involvement of UN soldiers was extensively investigated by the Netherlands, international organisations, and The United Nations. Never was there in any way concluded that the sexual orientation of soldiers played a role.”

A story from Hungary, about 38 year old Andras Kiraly, and a spokesperson for the country’s ruling party – Jobbick – which presents itself as arch-conservative and nationalistic, resigning his position in the party, after a blog revealed that Kiraly, who likes to pretend he is all about traditional, religious values, including daily Bible worship, was spotted in Canada where he seemed to partake of Pride festivities in a rather robust way.