Sooooo, with new evidence does the NZ Prime Minister finally have an opinion on bombing an Iranian school?
Read Luxon’s talking points and how he managed to mangle them into that train-wreck interview…
Revealed: The talking points Christopher Luxon failed to nail on Iran
The prime minister’s policy office was provided with a full page of talking points ahead of a press conference seen by some as a low point for the Christopher Luxon’s leadership.
On March 2, the Monday after the United States and Israel first launched strikes on Iran, the prime minister did a round of media interviews and later a post-cabinet press conference on the conflict.
Luxon also struggled to convey New Zealand’s position on the legality of the strikes and he would not pass judgement on the deadly bombing of a primary school.
Documents released to Stuff under the Official Information Act reveal the briefing notes Luxon was given on the Sunday ahead of these media appearances.
The talking points included an explicit line on the deaths of more than 100 schoolchildren killed in a bombing of a school.
“We are horrified by the deaths of civilians – on all sides – including the deaths of more than 100 children in Iran,” the notes said.
When Luxon was directly asked about the bombing at his press conference, he said: “Well, again, that is up for the US and the Israelis—I know they’ve got—with respect to the school bombing, that is up to them to present what has happened there.”
He was pressed again.
“You can’t make a judgement call on whether the deaths of 200 schoolchildren in a bombing is a good or bad thing? Is that what you said?” a journalist asked.
“Well, we want to make sure that any action is protecting civilians. We want to make sure that any action is consistent with international law. But we also, you know, need Israel and the US to explain their actions and their understanding of that event, and that is for them to explain,” was the Prime minister’s answer.
“I’m not in a position to judge that from sitting in New Zealand and just jumping to an assumption or a conclusion there. That is up for them.”
Stuff
“You can’t make a judgement call on whether the deaths of 200 schoolchildren in a bombing is a good or bad thing?
Ok, so here’s the latest…
Senior US military commanders bypassed warnings in critical databases that intelligence about potential targets in Iran was severely out of date and approved some strikes — including one that hit a school, killing nearly 200 children and adults, according to three sources familiar with the decision-making process.
Messages indicating the intelligence was based on years-old intelligence that needed to be re-vetted were embedded in a system used for developing targets and required a senior officer to approve adding a site to the strike list, according to the sources.
The decision by senior commanders to ignore the warnings was made for “expediency,” two of the sources said, in a rush to provide targets at the start of the war. But it also directly contributed to the accidental strike on the school, the sources added.
CNN
…so the American’s in their haste to start an illegal war with Iran just took old intel and fucking did it anyway.
So now we know that, can the Prime Minister of NZ have a position on whether or not dropping bombs on school children is acceptable or not?
How can you vote for a National Party that doesn’t know if bombing school children is immoral and worthy of denouncement?
How do you sleep at night voting National and have the audacity to lecture the Left?
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“we also, you know, need Israel and the US to explain their actions and their understanding of that event, and that is for them to explain”, Luxon.
Why does anyone believe it was a target produced on outdated information rather than a purposely chosen target.
US & Israel: Hey Iran, do you see what we are willing to do?
Luxon doesn’t need “talking points” he’s smarter than that, so just says what comes into his head at the time, all wrapped up in unnecessary ‘CEO-speak’. By the time he has finished an interview, most of us can see he has no idea what the actual point of the discussion was and lost the thread way back! He is a total embarrassment to us all and many of us are still trying to comprehend how he ever got to be PM in the first place – thx Key! But our media continue to back him up and even promote him? Thank goodness for TDB that gives us an honest perspective as opposed to the myriad of lies and corruption from the Right.