So how many times have the NZDF lied about war crime allegations now?

ByMartyn Bradbury

Another month, another lie the NZDF have been caught trying to cover up their war crime…

Defence minister Ron Mark ‘very disappointed’ NZDF made errors while trying to explain errors on NZSAS raid
NZDF has received an upgrade – its minister has gone from being “disappointed” to being “very disappointed” over release of information about the NZSAS raid in Afghanistan in 2010, soon to be examined by a Government inquiry.

Defence minister Ron Mark issued the public rebuke after the NZDF was forced to admit it had wrongly told him that the NZSAS went into the mission instructed there was no allowance for civilian casualties.

It has since emerged that what it meant to say was the opposite.

In a statement, Mark told the NZ Herald: “I was very disappointed that my office received inaccurate information.

…how on earth can Paula Bennett storming out in a manufactured huff from Parliament Question Time get more media attention than the latest revelation that the NZDF have once again be caught out lying about war crime allegations?

At first the NZDF said the killing of civilians didn’t happen. It turns out they lied.

Then they said that Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson, two journalists they have smeared and lied about in the past, had the wrong village. It turns out they lied.

Then the NZDF said that air support was only allowed if the target was “a direct participant in the hostilities” and if the NZSAS commander on the ground “was satisfied that any collateral damage would be minimised”. It turned out that was a lie.

Then the NZDF said that the action was agreed to on the basis that “the rules of engagement required no collateral damage”. It turns out they lied.

To date the NZDF have lied, manipulated and tried to claim words don’t mean what they mean to deceive and trick the NZ public.

Why isn’t the NZDF covering up a war crime that John Key personally signed off on a bigger story than Clare Curran’s coffee dates or Paula Bennett’s tantrums?

 

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10 Comments

  1. Errr…because National have the NZ MSM in their pocket
    …come on coalition government you need to change status quo. Get back some power in media.

    1. I think it’s more accurate to say bug business and the establishment have National and the NZ MSM in their pocket.

      End result is the same though.

  2. This is the MSM troopers on the attack, have you not noticed how Tova O’Brien uses every opportunity to ‘reveal’ something that is nothing that much to be fussed about, and then spins it into a story that raises doubts about Jacinda and her government.

    While I am myself critical of the government, I think it stinks how biased the reporting is, on almost all the MSM fronts.

    That other Newshub reporter that is on the news very often, she is as biased as Tova, trying very often to create some scandal event or story, that is just exaggerated nonsense.

    And the political reporter Jessica Mutch, or what her name is, the one on TVNZ, she is doing the same, they all seem to be more in favour of what the Nats say and do, without openly admitting this.

    But on the tensions between the Speaker Mallard and National, Mallard has himself to blame, he is as biased as the former Speaker was, and he is inconsistent with his rulings on order issues.

    His introduction of the deducting and awarding of supplementary questions during question time was sooner or later going to cause a lot of issues, I knew it from the day he announced his new way of managing order in the House.

    Re the NZDF, it is a Sacred Cow in the State of Niu Zilliland, except of serious sexual misconduct and the likes, any other matters, re conduct in combat, such are left dug deep under the ground or swept under the carpet.

    Most common NZers could not handle it, being presented the truth about that Afghanistan operation, as it would destroy their faith in the Sacred Cow they so wish to believe in, for the ‘good of the nation’.

    They rather cling to lies and illusion.

    1. I turned TV One on last night specifically to see what Bennett had been up to in Parliament yesterday, and there was about a one minute report, with about ten times more time given to yet more royal wedding news.

      Given that the UK weekend media referred to Meghan Markle’s new husband shooting peasants – their word, not mine – from an Apache helicopter in Afghanistan, the NZDF may be just another group of murderous Christian foreigners ignoring the rules of engagement, and
      helping create more Taliban. And they know it.

    2. Most common NZers could not handle it, being presented the truth about that Afghanistan operation, as it would destroy their faith in the Sacred Cow they so wish to believe in, for the ‘good of the nation’.
      Very well put MARC could not agree more

  3. I guess this is what happens when a government decides to civilianise the Defence Force: all the good ones take early retirement and those who could otherwise have never made it through to a higher rank hang in there. The Peter Principle plays out again.

    Rigor and honour become kinda limp as a consequence. Thanks, Gerry Brownlee. Ball dropped. Plot lost. Ignorance abounding.

    Don’t stop at NZDF – the whole and entire of the public service has the same disease – the direct consequence of ‘restructuring’ for no reason other than stupid ideologies around ‘smaller government’ and ‘savings’.

    Sympathy for Ron Mark. Hope he can stop the rot. The one part of the public service we have to trust implicitly. Right now? Not sure we can.

  4. My guess this is what happens when you ally yourself with the USA and NATO. The USA gets a free pass from all the mainstream media despite all the evidence showing they are the source of most of the violence and destruction in the world today. Do I need to list them again? Libya, Yugoslavia, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria Yemen, Korea, Viet Nam, and multiple countries in Africa and South America.NZ soldiers understandably absorb the “values” of their co-combatants Sure there are minor conflicts causing a few deaths here and there but it is USA/NATO/UK who are responsible for most of the conflicts as they pretend they are acting in the interests of “democracy” while really acting in their own resource and geopolitical interests. NZ needs to reject their “allies” and use its army for genuine peacekeeping not supporting the USA in its attempts to undermine Russia and China as it desperately tries to maintain its failing position as the world hegemon.

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