It's not surprising it took this level of psychotic outrage to wake the Dutch up. Seems like it took an awful lot to wake America out of its slumber as well.

This letter is sent to me by Jim Oberg, who vouches for its authenticity and says it came from a Dutchman he knows personally:

It's sad indeed, but what's even sadder is the fact that everybody was predicting things like this were bound to happen sooner or later (but everybody knew it would be sooner).

Everybody was warning for muslim extremism, with Christians and Jews being harrassed by young Morroccans, spit in their faces, beaten up, robbed, etc. Everybody was saying something HAD to be done, except the government. Even when Pim Fortuyn was assassinated (the right-wing politician who dared to say these things aloud in the press) the ruling parties spoke out that the limit had been reached, did nothing and after a few weeks went back to every-day business.

A sad example is the mayor of Amsterdam. Mind you, this major is a Jew, and I feel a Jew should understand more than anyone else how important it is to fight racism and extremism. But this guy is simply too much of a softie for his job.

When young Morroccans were screaming anti-semitic texts during the annual ceremony to commemorate the holocaust, he did nothing, except saying "We must start a dialogue with these people to explain why this is unacceptable."

When they used the wreaths as footballs, he said "We must start a dialogue with these people to explain why this is unacceptable."

When they stood outside Christian churches an spat in the faces of the church-goers, calling them pigs and Christian dogs, he said: "We must start a dialogue with these people to explain why this is unacceptable."

When a small group of these guys (of between 15 and 18 years old) terrorized an elderly couple to such an extent that they had to flee from their street where they had lived for decades, he said "We must start a dialogue with these people to explain why this is unacceptable."

On top of that, he gave them a building where they could meet. Never did he do anything to protect the people that were attacked. The police is afraid to act, since they are always accused of discrimination immediately. Cops that I know are very, very frustrated about this. They resent the fact that issuing speeding tickets is a higher priority than protecting the people (it is!).

I don't know what you heard about what's been happening here in the last week. When Theo van Gogh was murdered, that was the limit for many, many people. The killer stuck a breadknife in his body with a letter addressed to a female (Muslim) MP announcing that she would be next (and several other outspoken people were also named).

This woman had been telling in public about the humiliations women have to undergo in Muslim countries such as Somalia (where she was born), Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. She has had dozens and dozens of death threats since.

The reason Van Gogh was killed, the letter said, was the fact that he couldn't find her and because she has a number of body guards.

Van Gogh was rather outspoken, to say the least. He called Muslims "goat fuckers", explaining that he felt he had the right to call them that since these Morroccans call him a dog or a pig.

All in all, it appears that there are elements here that have had it with the undecisiveness of the government and decided to take the law into their own hands. A very bad development, but something most non-politicians had seen coming for several years.

I don't know where you got the info you added in your message (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=13530_Massive_Anti-Terror_Action_in_The_Hague), but there weren't 40 arrest teams (equivalent to your SWAT teams). There aren't that many in the entire country!

However, never before have there been this many different police and military units involved in one incident. Three policemen were injured when the house they wanted to raid turned out to be boobytrapped and the people inside threw a hand grenade. Two were hospitalized, one of them seriously wounded, but not life-threatening.

About three hours ago, the BBE and sharpshooters ended the siege and arrested two people, one of them was shot in the shoulder in the process. They suspected that there was some explosives in the house, plus the other weapons. Don't know if they've already found anything: a robot with a camera is searching the place. They're probably afraid that there will be more booby traps and I cant blame them....

Anyway, I'm afraid that it isn't over yet. It's probably just starting.