One of the phrases inarguably most common to New Zealand First’s political lexicon is “I told you so”.
On so many things, ranging from immigration to Reserve Bank reform to foreign ownership of our farmland, Winston Peters &Â Co. are fully deserving of their self-appointed moniker as “Political Cassandras”.
But on the particular issue which lead news coverage last night – that of the New Zealand Defence Force’s mission in Iraq being nearly doubled in duration and considerably expanded in scope – it’s not Winston, but Ron Mark who gets to point to his record of past statements as evidence of considerable political precognition and prescience.
Let’s run back through the record, shall we?
Throughout 2014, and particularly the run-up to the last Election, National made a number of assurances that New Zealand would not be getting involved in Iraq’s internal conflicts. Once elected, Ron Mark called them up on it in Parliament.
Then, shortly after the 2014 General Election, Ron used information from his old Army contacts to make out that the National Government was gearing up to send troops to Iraq.
The Government, of course, denied that this was happening – leading Ron to hilariously surmise that either they were lying … or the NZ Army had thrown off civilian oversight and was operating autonomously in preparation for some form of Coup.
Less than five months later, Ron Mark was vindicated. Despite both the Prime and Defence Ministers being absolutely adamant that they hadn’t directed the Defence Force to make ready for an Iraqi deployment (which is provably false, as it would be impossible to fund the aforementioned preparation efforts out of the previously earmarked operational budget, thus requiring extra funding with Governmental approval to make happen) … in April 2015 the first round of Kiwi troops were dispatched to Iraq.
At the time, a number of New Zealand First MPs – including fellow former Army officer Darroch Ball – noted that it was very likely New Zealand’s role in Iraq would be subject to considerable and capacious ‘mission creep’. Their view was that the public was being ‘softened up’ to a lengthy and larger scale engagement in the Middle East by announcing a smaller scale and shorter duration effort initially – and then over time, progressive escalations in what we’d be doing and how long we’d be doing it for would be announced.
The colloquial term for this is the slightly grotesque metaphor of “boiling frogs”. By slowly increasing the temperature, the person with their hand on the gas-tap is able to get whomever’s unfortunate enough to be stuck in the pot (in this case, the New Zealand Public) to gradually come to tolerate and accept conditions which would previously have been considered interminable.
If the Government had announced that it was sending dozens of Kiwi troops over to Iraq for an at lest four year commitment at multiple sites, it would have sounded abhorrent. So they didn’t. Instead, they waited til pretty much the last possible moment (about a year out from any conceivable 2017 Election) to publicly make out the change.
As already noted, the timing is significant. The Nats wouldn’t dare pull this form of duplicity during the heat of an election year.
And that’s the real issue here.
Regardless of what and whether you feel about New Zealand military involvement in Iraq. Irrespective of whether you think putting Kiwi boots on the ground in Iraq makes us a target; or if you think that training up Iraqi forces somehow makes us safer here at home … the Government has lied, distorted, spun, manipulated and mislead its own people a score of times over this particular issue. There’s just simply no way around it.
The decision to commit our forces overseas is one of the most weighty undertakings which a Prime Minister and ‘his’ Parliament can possibly engage in. It deserves to be deliberated with transparency, openness and honesty – and in a spirit of engagement and consultation with the public mood of the New Zealand People. It should also be put to a Parliamentary Vote – something Key consciously refrained from doing, presumably because he feared he would lose same.
By continually neglecting and marginalizing the truth when presenting this issue to us, the Government has betrayed our trust and placed our serving men and women in danger.
All I can say is … I hope the treasured prize of a US Navy ship visit in the near future was worth selling out our own people for.
Latest survey on Paul Henry show revealed that the majority of people who did the survey agreed with Key. Will be interesting to see what other polls reveal.
“Paul Henry” show, well that puts the poll into perspective then doesn’t it.
are you from sesame street or just some other muppet?
The confusion is your own. You’ve mixed up opinion with journalism. Easy enough mistake but hard to fix when you’ve got deaf ears
Dave, if that’s your attempt to make a persuasive argument, you’re as effective as the Mad Butcher trying to sell discount sausages at a Vegan picnic.
However, we (Sally & I) do find you amusing.
That’s not a survey with any sort of basis for being accurate about it:
1. It’s self selected rather than random and
2. the majority of people who watch Paul Henry and are willing to pay to partake in the ‘poll’ are those who agree with Paul Henry.
The only possible result from that ‘poll’ is the one that it got. That was pretty much pre-determined which, IMO, is why they run them – they’re trying to show popular support for Key’s and National’s policies even if there isn’t any such support.
Hi Draco T Bastard,
Anyone who watches Henry needs a shrink and some sedation and a brain transplant.
Any poll from that quarter wold brig some nutty results we should ignore these idiots don’t feed these monkeys any more remember when I used to say that on the Standard before I left for here, we had Gosman always trolling and eventually we ignored him/her and it left us.
Good to see you again mate.
Dave says:
June 21, 2016 at 9:18 am
Latest survey on Paul Henry show revealed that the majority of people who did the survey agreed with Key. Will be interesting to see what other polls reveal.
==============
Really, Dave?
So we should get into a war that is none of our business based on a fucking public opinion poll???
Are you grown up?
LOL @ ALH84001!! I love your posts!
The wonder is that people believed that lying turd in the first place.
Another lie!!!!! That’s two lies in 24 hours!!
Is the keyster trying to beat his past record of committing 259 lies so far in eight years.
At this rate he will clock up another two hundred plus before he and his crumby lot are thrown out of parliament next year!
True, Theodore. When I first heard Key’s promise to send “training staff’ to Iraq, I thought the original period would soon be extended longer and longer. That’s how Key operates.
How many actually NZ forces are there? A few dozen? A hundred? Believe me, no one notices. They are just another group of white guys that Iraqis ignore.
Yes, the Government has been duplicitous over army deployment in Iraq. The real question is, why did the so called western alliance get into this quagmire and what is the purpose of the deployment. It is unlikely any good will come from the inevitable military defeat, of the so called enemy insurgents, who ever they are? Defeating them will serve no purpose if, as always seems to happen, the major combatant be it USA or Russia either installs or supports another despicable dictator, who is entirely dependant on the military might of the benefactor to maintain his/her control. Of course the quid-pro-quo is that the dictator, being totally beholden to the benefactor, gives them what they want in terms of resources, policies and support regardless of the needs, wants and will of his/her own people.
The raping and pillaging of Iraq, by Haliburton and USA Oil companies, before and after the defeat of Hussein and the installation of the USA’s puppet PM is a real and current example. Of course we must remember that Hussein was supported and armed by the USA to fight Iran. When that war concluded in a stalemate Saddam was no longer needed by the USA, he failed to follow their directive and invaded another USA client state, hence he had to be taught a lesson by the first USA invasion, a lesson he failed to heed, so he was removed by a second invasion.
This of course is little different than the current situation in Syria who are the client state of Russia which has propped up two generations of the Assad regime, while they have committed horrific atrocities against their own people. Just as Hussein did against the Kurds.
The current troubles did not start there of course they date back to the conclusion of WW1 when the two conquering European powers, Britain and France, decided to divide up the remaining middle east portion of the Ottoman Empire. They drew lines on the map creating artificial countries that suited their national interests without regard to ethnicity, religion, resources or wishes of the inhabitants. This was totally contrary to commitments the British had to the Bedouin King Feisal for his assistance in evicting the Turks. As a consequence of drawing lines on a map, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan as we know them were created. Following on from the Sykes, Picot discussions which resulted in the creation of these new states, the Balfour Declaration arose which recommended further partitioning of Palestine as a Jewish homeland.
The point being that for at least the last two centuries the traditional Muslim homelands in the Middle East and North Africa have been raped, pillaged and used as bargaining chips by the predominant, so called leading power of the moment. Those dominating powers have applied double standards to every issue pertaining to their client states. Iraq was not discouraged from attacking Iran, as Iran is not a friend of the USA. American’s plundered museums in Bagdad, the Taliban were cultural vandals and barbarians when they destroy ancient non Moslem icons. Israel is allowed Nuclear Weapons but Iran is threatened with destruction if it should try to develop one. France, Britain, USA and Russia are all bombing indiscriminately in Syria it would appear, without any threat of consequences. Israel apparently sends it agents around the world assassinating people it perceives as enemies, receiving little more than a mild rebuke, but if an Israeli is murdered or killed in a rocket attack then one of the worlds most powerful militaries is set loose for an entire community punishment. All states are expected to implement and abide by UN Resolutions except for Israel and the five big states with the Veto.
Unless and until the world is prepared to acknowledge some of the past wrongs and injustice and start dealing in an even handed way with all countries and communities attacks in our countries will continue. We must start with a cessation of hostile threats and pillaging of their resources. Then and an opening of dialogue with communities that have been terrorised by our actions. Bombing and military action will not kill ideas, whether they are good or bad, it will only alienate more people thereby creating more fertile minds for radical clerics and others to call to action. The actions will become more atrocious and our NZ haven will ultimately no longer be immune.
We should not be in Iraq in a military capacity!
We should be using our UN position to push very forcefully for the rules to be equal and equally applied.
Thank you for your letter.
The Ottoman Empire was still in business at the time of the First World War and they seem to have chosen to ally with the Germans.
Known as ‘the sick man of Europe’. Guaranteed to bring out the jackals and opportunists, wouldn’t you say?
I wonder what the next announcement will be? A further extension? Deployment of our forces into battle?
I think Key is setting us up for a really bad announcement.
My gut feeling is a Trump or Clinton president will re-invade Iraq
My “gut feeling” is that President/Fuhrer Trump won’t re-invade. He’ll opt for the “cheaper” option and push the Big Red Button!! The American red-necks will orgasm into their Y-fronts at merely the thought of it!!
Of course the whole reason for the ME troubles is oil and the control from Israel to Turkey and possibly Iran by Israel for security for the west, nothing to do with democracy for Palestine or Gaza Iraq Lebanon Syria and Kurdistan
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