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19 Mar, 2010 19:26

Former NATO general blames 1995 Bosnian war massacre on gays

Dutch officials are outraged with a former NATO commander's claims that gay peacekeepers are partially to blame for the Srebrenica massacre in 1995.

At a Senate hearing on a proposal to allow gays to serve openly in the US military, retired US General John Sheehan said the Dutch contingent tasked to defend the town of Srebrenica during the Bosnian war was weakened because it included openly gay soldiers.

According to Sheehan, this was the reason why they failed to stop the Serb forces from allegedly killing thousands of local Muslims.

Sheehan said the information came from the head of a Dutch army’s headquarters.

In July 1995, the Bosnian Serbian army forced Dutch military out of Srebrenica, which had been declared by the UN Security Council in 1993 “a safe zone,” and killed, according to one of the versions, from 7,000 to 10,000 Bosnian men aged 13 to 77.

The Srebrenica massacre is referred to as genocide by the judgments of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

The world community has been shocked by the Sheehan’s statements, calling them complete nonsense.

Today, gays can serve openly only in several countries, including Australia, the UK, Israel and Canada.

The US army allows gays to serve on the condition that they do not speak openly about their sexual preferences.

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