The Netherlands is trying to maintain the myth of a ‘clean’ war

Jip van Dort, who conducts his PhD research on wartime propaganda in contemporary Dutch politics at The Intimacies of Remote Warfare programme (GkG, UU), raises a rather precarious question in an op-ed in daily paper Trouw: what exactly do we (or are we allowed to) know about the dark side of war fighting, specifically about civilian casualties? The Dutch public is told a lot about recent wars against Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, and Islamic State, but civilian suffering is pretty much ignored. All is done to preserve an image of clean war.

The op-ed can be read (in Dutch language) here.