The responsible minister of Defense said as far as he knows no punishable offences have occurred during the interrogation of 15 Iraqi prisoners in October 2003.
The Defense minister will start an independent inquiry after possible misconduct of Dutch officers. Hopefully he'll do it transparently.
Today was a real good day. Waking up at 8.15 am I could do the things I wanted. In the afternoon I made a cycle tour to Soesterberg, a well-known airbase in Utrecht. Actually the tour wasn't really a great tour. However in Holland you can see a lot of tiny villages. Today I cycled through Bunnik, Zeist, Den Dolder, Soesterberg, Bilthoven and Utrecht, only a trip of 55 k.
Today it was a children's day because Sinterklaas, St Nicholas, is back in Holland and in the minds of many children. In the villages there were parades of St Nicholas and his Zwarte Pieten (his servants). It's an old fête de jeunesse here in Holland and this man almost lost the competition of Father Christmas.
Of course both parties are commercial ones but the first has the most pleasant atmosphere for children I should say. Christmas is a welcome 4 days off, including the weekend.
Good weekend
