As the government does its best to squirm its way out of holding any inquiry into the killing of civilians during an SAS-led raid on two villages in Afghanistan its worth looking back at why we were there in the first place – or better still – why we shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
The book co-authored by Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson, “Hit and Run”, contains allegations that some people have said could amount to war crimes.
Why does it matter? Horrible things happen in war, so let’s just get over it. Right?
New Zealand, your political, military and media class have lied to you about an atrocity and possible war crime that we have carried out and was signed off by the Prime Minister.
Q+A with Nicky Hager on war crime allegations
…remember the NZ Military and Government are still claiming nothing happened here and there doesn’t need to be an inquiry.
The shocking events described by Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson in Hit and Run: The New Zealand SAS in Afghanistan and the Meaning of Honour are not without precedent in the history of New Zealand’s military engagements overseas. In the tiny Palestinian village of Surafend, in the final days of 1918, New Zealand troops participated in what was indisputably a serious war crime. The parallels with the SAS “Revenge Raid” of August 2010 are striking.
In any case, whilst my affection for the Roy Morgan poll is well known, it is certainly not the only game in town. And the Reid Research material out the same day makes for some decidedly interesting comparison-work between the two analyses.
…this morning the NZ Herald had a story about Justin Bieber dancing sexily with an old woman as a bigger story than Key being complicit in a war crime.
when we look over all the deceit, misinformation and anti-democratic tactics used by the NZDF to manipulate the compliant mainstream media, how much more difficult is it to believe the NZDF are suddenly telling the truth now?
Jesus wept this disgusts and angers me so deeply – if you send troops to a foreign land you are fucking responsible for what they do! Brothers & sisters, we fund the NZ SAS – when they pull a trigger, we help pay for that trigger – Key has made us all killers here. The Prime Minister has blood on his hands and we must demand some answers before he steps down.