When truth walks in the room, everybody stand up. In this case they all fell down. Ayaan Hirsi Ali stands alone. And Verdonk resigns. Verdonk verbonked.
Hirsi Ali dispute brings down Dutch government
A dispute over the citizenship of Somali-born Ayaan Hirsi Ali brought down the Dutch government yesterday when D66, the junior member of the centre-right coalition, walked out after demanding the resignation of Rita Verdonk, the hard-line immigration minister.
Jan Peter Balkenende, prime minister, told parliament he would go to Queen Beatrix today to begin the process of consultations that could lead either to his Christian democrat alliance continuing to govern as a minority coalition with Mrs Verdonk's liberal VVD, or to a snap general election.
Six weeks ago Mrs Verdonk threatened to strip Ms Hirsi Ali of her citizenship because she gave a false name and age when she applied for asylum in the Netherlands in 1992. That meant her naturalisation five years later was unlawful, Mrs Verdonk said.
Ms Hirsi Ali resigned her seat with the VVD and brought forward the date of a planned departure to the US, where she has been offered a job with the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think-tank.
The affair caused international outrage. The Dutch were branded intolerant and the government was accused of expelling Ms Hirsi Ali.
Bad enough she had lost her home because her neighbors were afraid to live near her. It seems they were afraid of Muslims. She also resigned her position, was damn near forced to leave the country.
And if truth be told if the West is going to have any reconciliation with the West it will be with the inestimable contributions of Hirsi Ali, Wafa Sultan, and other courageous truth tellers that speak out at great personal risk.
