GUEST BLOG: Selwyn Manning – Lieutenant General Tim Keatings Operation Burnham account highlights key legal concerns

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The Daily Blog
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There’s an overlooked aspect of the New Zealand Defence Force’s account of Operation Burnham that when scrutinised suggests a possible breach of international humanitarian law and laws relating to war and armed conflict occurred on August 22, 2010 in the Tirgiran Valley, Baghlan province, Afghanistan.

For the purpose of this analysis we examine the statements and claims of the Chief of New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF), Lieutenant General Tim Keating, made before journalists during his press conference on Monday March 27, 2017. We also understand, that the claims put by the Lt. General form the basis of a briefing by NZDF’s top ranking officer to the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Bill English.

It appears the official account , if true, underscores a probable breach of legal obligations – not necessarily placing culpability solely on the New Zealand Special Air Service (NZSAS) commandos on the ground, but rather on the officers who commanded their actions, ordered their movements, their tasks and priorities prior to, during, and after Operation Burnham.

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Selwyn Manning is the Editor of the Evening Report

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5 COMMENTS

  1. Thanks Selwyn.
    Whilst the NZDF and Pollies attempt spin and obfuscation, it’s always important to analyse and record the bullshit for future reference.
    I’d have thought they’d have come to realise by now that nothing’s permanent, and that it’s a bloody sight easier to just tell the truth.
    Stop fucking digging chaps – you’re likely to end up taking the entire blame for what Mapp described as a ‘fiasco’ ( def: a complete failure, especially a ludicrous or humiliating one).
    Honourable?
    Moral?
    Fishint?
    Fektiv?
    Intelligent?
    or ……
    Cowardly
    Immoral
    and a complete waste of time and effort that only served to feed a few egotistical machimos (going forward)

    Bullshit and spin really has reached new heights, and sure as shit it’ll be the last time I ever get up early for a dawn parade or remember our fallen when their own current leaders can’t even front up.
    I guess the image of Tim Keating (sullen and shitting himself with a downwards smirk) is what I’ll remember – as, I suspect will most he supposedly ‘commands’.

  2. Why is it that Hager and co never go into bat for those that risk their own lives to save others , whether it be soldiers, firemen, cops or what ever. Why? Because it doesn’t sell books I suspect. Go away you little germ.

    • Dave why do you bother – you seem to have missed the point and clearly you haven’t read the book. No one has ever sued Hager over anything he has written in any book. I am interested in the truth you may not be.

      Personally I have never seen the military as ‘saving’ others. I most definitley see them as part of the problem. We should be negotiators in our little place in the world negotiators for peace. But then the SAS is full of people who like ‘shootin up’ it matters not who the ‘shootin up’ is done to.

      There are lots of people out there ‘saving lives’, looking after the poor and disenfranchised I expect you will find that is what Hager supports.

      You don’t have to be a solider, fireman or a cop to ‘save lives’. Once people get into a uniform they forget what their role is a good deal of the time.

      • Michael, you give your self away when you state that the SAS is full of people who like “shootin up”. How do you know? Have you watched too many movies?

        I think you are a long way from the truth and I think you do them and yourself a great disservice by suggesting it

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