BRUSSELS, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Dutch Labor Party leader Wouter Bos is likely to become prime minister of the Netherlands in a year if his center-left party maintains its strong lead in the polls. United Press International spoke to the 42-year old former Shell manager about the extent of the terrorist threat facing Holland and how best to integrate the country's million-strong Muslim community. Ahead of a key vote in the Dutch parliament, UPI also asked whether the Netherlands should send extra troops to Afghanistan, as requested by NATO leaders.
Q. Is there a real threat of a terrorist attack against the Netherlands?
A. Yes, although in a way we have already been hit by the Theo Van Gogh murder (the controversial filmmaker who was slain by a radical Islamist in Nov. 2004.) We have also arrested several people before and since who had similar plans. The Van Gogh murder was our 9/11. Of course it was on a very different scale and the consequences were very different because of that. But it was a manifestation of how the views of political Islam can get hold of youngsters in our society and what it enables them to do. Terrorism is with us, it is a new threat which won't go away and we will have to agree policies we probably didn't think were acceptable in a society that is not exposed to that risk.
Q. If you become prime minister, how would you deal with the terrorist threat and the challenge of better integrating the Netherlands' Muslim community?
A. I believe progressive politicians should agree to the difficult and repressive measures that are needed to deal with terrorism. But they should try to balance that approach with confidence building measures towards the Muslim community, because I strongly believe the vast majority of Muslims in the Netherlands and most other societies are moderate or liberal Muslims. If they are not our partners in the battle against terrorism then we will lose that battle. At present, the approach towards fighting terrorism is so unbalanced, focusing on how to arrest people and keep them in jail for as long as possible without having to prove anything. If we do not give Muslims a feeling they are normal citizens like everyone else then more and more youngsters will feel alienated and become vulnerable to the attractions of political Islam.
Q. Do you support sending 1,000-1,200 more troops to Afghanistan, as requested by NATO leaders and backed by the Dutch government?
A. We have got strong doubts about whether any proposal could meet our criteria. We are very concerned about having troops in one the most difficult provinces of Afghanistan (the south, where both al-Qaida and the Taliban are active). We would then have troops that are both peace-building and fighting and that is confusing. For the people living there it would not be clear when they deal with a Dutch soldier whether they are dealing with a peacemaker or a fighting soldier and that is a dangerous thing. Despite the guarantees we are getting from the Americans, we are also very worried about how the (NATO-led) international security force and (the U.S.-led) Enduring Freedom can remain separate exercises. The reason we in the Dutch Labor Party did not agree to send troops to participate in Enduring Freedom is that under no circumstances did we want to get involved in Guantanamo Bay type practices. If we cannot get a guarantee that by sending Dutch troops to Afghanistan they will not get mingled up in Enduring Freedom and Guantanamo Bay, then we shouldn't send them.
Q. The current center-right government of premier Jan Peter Balkenende has been a staunch backer of the United States on the international stage, whether in Iraq or Afghanistan. If you form a government, would you continue this policy of uncritical support?
A. The United States would still be our friend and partner in NATO, but there would be a different balance here. I believe that the future of Dutch foreign policy is very much within European foreign policy and that's where we should go first to find our partners. We shouldn't, almost without any type of criticism, follow the Americans whenever they ask us something -- which I am sad to say has been the pattern of the last few years in the Netherlands.
