Juan VelazquezBenjamin Fordham, Josh WhaleyPLSC 1172 December 2014Genocide, Srebrenica, WarThe three hundred and seventy Dutch peacekeepers were all that stood between many thousands of Serbian soldiers and the sixty thousand Muslims in an enclave for protection. Gerald Verhaegh was one of the 370 Dutch soldiers responsible for the protection of the Muslims in the Balkans. The “Dutchbat” or the Dutch soldiers as they have been called once returned home by their families and countrymen were named cowards and told they were murderers for allowing what was to happen. What it was that became such an issue worldwide was that what should have been a simple and peaceful act against the aggression of the Serbs turned so bloody that it was the largest European genocide since World War II.War between countries of a low political standing have scarcely been able to define themselves due to the creation of the United Nations. No matter what the Security Council had implemented, cease fires or armistices; they have had little affect on the totalview of stopping wars or decreasing them but rather escalating the fights. And in the Arab-Israeli war in 1948 and 49 this fault shines though like a hundred watt bulb in the night. There were two cease-fires administered by the UN Security Council that would Velazquez 1allow both sides to regain their numbers and weaponry to then be turned back on in full when each cease-fire was ended. This would lead to many more casualties then what would have been the result if the UN had not intervened. When peacekeeping organizations force themselves into the arguments or feuds ofother states one general thing happens. Any state in this feud sees and recognizes the interference of said peacekeeping organization and ignores their demands to maintain peace, instead they fight just as they did before and use mandatory halts in fighting to regain their strength and continue fight but even more aggressively and voraciously than before. When the Security Council interrupts a war they unintentionally guarantee that the states at war will continue fighting for many years to come at what they had set out toend in the first place. This throws of political power and it imbalances the regions of those in conflict.In 1995 Srebrenica, Bosnia nearly eight thousand Muslims who were unarmed were to be massacred by a Serbian force several thousand strong. What little resistance the Serbs encountered from the Dutch soldiers would be put down and countered with humiliation. The dutchbats would be forced to give their helmets, gear, and uniforms to the Serbian soldiers so that they could more easily take over the enclave and those within.Once in control the Serb soldiers would load Muslims aboard busses and transport them away to be dispatched. Those who were women that the soldiers saw as sexually appealing would be taken inside a building which was only allowed to be entered by the soldiers and no others, including the UN or Dutch soldiers.Velazquez 2Both the Dutch and the United Nations have been putt to blame by the general public as well as other organizations. The Dutch government was ridiculed by the Inter-Church Peace Council in Holland for not allowing its military to take lethal actions against the Serbian marauders and holding them to a mandate saying they could only shoot above the head of their aggressors. If the peace keeping soldiers were allowed to act and protect the refugees, NATO or the UN might have seen the situation for what it really was, the mass murder of thousands of Muslims and not just as a mild aggression bythe Serbs. There are many things that could have been done differently but in a pathetic attempt to remain politically distant and avoid a war, the Dutch government and military are at fault and responsible for the death of thousands of the innocent who sought refuge and a chance to survive. Velazquez