FINALLY…
Govt to hold inquiry into Hit & Run claims
An inquiry is to be held into allegations a New Zealand-led raid in Afghanistan in 2010 led to civilian deaths.
Hit and Run, by investigative journalists Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson, alleged six civilians were killed and 15 injured in a raid on two Afghan villages in 2010 by New Zealand’s elite soldiers
The authors of the book claim that the government then tried to cover up the raid] and have always maintained that an inquiry should be held.
Previous Prime Minister Bill English ruled out an inquiry, saying that after viewing footage and seeing other classified information he was convinced the people killed in the raid were insurgents, not civilians.
…that’s right folks, according to National, 3 year old Fatima who we killed was an insurgent…
…National have lied as hard as the NZDF because John Key personally signed off on this SAS revenge attack meaning they gad to do everything to deny any war crime to protect Key signing off on it.
Throughout these war crime allegations, the NZDF have manipulated, lied, falsified and played semantics to hide admitting anything.
Remember, this was the original spin the NZDF tried to use months before the 2017 election…
…turns out that was all a lie…
Now, a year later, the Ombudsman has ordered the Defence Force to release more information, including on the subject of whether the photos in the book were the same location where the NZSAS was operating that night (22 August 2010). The Defence Force has finally admitted that the “three photographs in the book are of Tirgiran Village”, the NZDF’s name for the place where the SAS conducted the raid.
Hit and Run co-author Nicky Hager said the Chief of Defence Force Tim Keating had tried to divert attention away from the issue of civilian casualties by claiming the book was not about a raid the SAS had conducted.
“It was simply a diversion. This seems extremely unprofessional behaviour from a senior military officer,” Mr Hager said. “I believe that the impulse to hide the NZDF’s mistakes led the Chief of Defence Force knowingly to mislead the media and the public.”
The NZDF had jumped on an error in two of the book’s illustrations, which marked the location of the raid incorrectly in the roadless mountains. But the rest of the book – the text, the photos and the lists of casualties – was correct. Mr Hager publicly acknowledged the map error and a new edition of the book was published soon after with the illustration errors corrected. But the Defence Force continued to use the map error to say that the whole book was wrong.
…so the NZDF knowingly misled the public by manufacturing doubt months before the 2017 election for possible war crimes that John Key had personally signed off on.
When the news broke that the NZDF admitted lying, the NZ media were more engrossed in Clare Curran’s coffee date than holding the retiring Defence Force Chief to account.
As citizens who are responsible for our soldiers in Afghanistan, we should all feel shamed by what has been allowed to go unquestioned for so long and our media have once again disgraced themselves and their profession.
The media are watch dogs without teeth or bark and we are citizens reduced to consumers without conscience.
“Hang em high” – Key – English their Ministers and operatives and made restitution to Nicky Hagar and Jon Stevenson with public apologies included.
Finally maybe some justice for those people killed.
War or not New Zealand stuffed up.
First things first remove Key’s knighthood, it is dripping in blood.
+100…NZ media are a disgrace . Too scared to tackle Jonkey for war crimes …and they later preferred to tackle Clare Curran and try and bring down two good women
….re “…so the NZDF knowingly misled the public by manufacturing doubt months before the 2017 election for possible war crimes that John Key had personally signed off on.
When the news broke that the NZDF admitted lying, the NZ media were more engrossed in Clare Curran’s coffee date than holding the retiring Defence Force Chief to account.
This is very good news, even if it won’t go as far as some would like. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/103031208/stuff-circuit-missing-the-target–the-government-inquiry-into-afghanistan-raid
I just hope it is conclusive and doesn’t leave any doubt.
It will be interesting to see where the push-back comes from, and in what form.
Yes – but what will the Terms of Reference be??
Good, it’s late. I am a bit sick of this sad tale of war, killing and coverup bring equated with Curren’s coffee date in the news as a measure of how useless our media is. Apart from being at different ends of the news spectrum, timewise and gossip value, it just isn’t news any more that the papers are more interested in crap and don’t do investigative reporting. It is indeed a bad state of affairs.
The next round of mass killing of civilians by forces of ‘freedom and democracy’ appears to be imminent. I wonder whether NZ will be bullied by the US into participating.
6 Simple Reasons Why Trump Is Going To War In Syria
1. The petrodollar
2. John McCain and the MIC
3. Saudi Arabia and MbS
4. Israel
5. Cover up past and present American, Deep State false flags in Syria
6. Distract from Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-04-11/6-simple-reasons-why-trump-going-war-syria
Another reason why the US needs to start another war (or rather ramp up the one it has already started) and drag as many ‘allies’ as possible into it:
‘Meanwhile, the US Federal Government’s budget woes are getting worse. In the fiscal half year to March, they recorded a deficit of US$0.6 tln which is +14% higher than the same period the previous year. The March result alone is +18% worse. Irresponsible tax cuts depressed revenues while spending rose. And it will only get worse from here.’
https://www.interest.co.nz/news/93141/us-inflation-rises-fed-sees-more-us-budget-deficit-jumps-ryan-quits-china-car-sales-rise
I’m not sure this enquiry will really end up castigating the NZ Defence Force. The minister himself said something like “the NZ people need to have confidence and faith in the NZ military” – it’s hardly going to do this if the SAS is going to come out with a huge black mark on it.
Still, one has a modest hope and I admire Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson for their bravery and diligence in compiling the information and writing the excellent book.
It is early days yet, Attorney General Parker was careful in choosing his words, so we need to see what the investigation will result in. Having Sir Palmer involved is a good sign, in my view.
In a year we may know a bit more, so talking about war criminals is premature at this stage.
Good it is though, that this government has decided that this needs further looking into, what the Nat government did not want to bother with, possibly trying to hide some stuff.
This is good news indeed.
For distraction purposes, wait for Natz to find some dirt to discredit Labour and possibly the inquiry!
RIP little Fatima. I am so ashamed of my country’s involvement in cutting your life short.
We were all children once. These children who have survived horrific traumatising experiences in Afghanistan may never grow up to live happy lives. That’s how it is. The scenarios are bleak.
If this inquiry is able to ensure that every possible precaution is taken in future not just to avoid hurting children, but also to protect them as we should, then it will be worth every dollar invested in it, and critics should hang their heads in shame for their lack of simple humanity.
Fluffing around wailing that we went there to help is pious humbug and it achieves zilch.
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