What
are New Zealand soldiers doing in the Middle East?
The accepted wisdom is that "we" are there for humanitarian
purposes, assisting the rebuilding of a broken society, as
part of a wider battle against terrorism and for democracy.
Not so.
New Zealand investigative journalist Nicky Hager has blown
this warm and fuzzy picture into small pieces with his latest
exposé.
Other People's Wars details and analyses the large gap
between the public perception of New Zealand's involvement in
other people's wars and the reality.
Hager's main point is how New Zealand involvement in the "war
on terror" has been packaged up and sold to the public as
something very different to what it is.
New Zealand has in fact played a small but very real role as
an integrated part of the United States-led "coalition", in
military operations, support and logistics, and as part of
the intelligence-gathering machinery.
Our armed forces are shown to be riven with political
infighting and division at the highest levels.
This is hardly surprising since the same thing goes on in
just about every organisation. Why would the armed services
be any different?
More disturbing is the evidence of a militaristic agenda
among sections of the top levels of the defence, security and
foreign affairs bureaucracy to pull New Zealand closer into
the military power structure and goals of the United States.
Political oversight by elected government has been
undermined, and the democratic process distorted along the
way.
The key here is how Hager has verified and compiled his
evidence from diverse sources, ranging from interviews with
contacts through to documents obtained through WikiLeaks.
Some insiders who are concerned or opposed to what is
happening have passed on vital information.
Ironically, Hager even used material gained from the internet
social media postings of armed forces and security personnel
to their friends and colleagues, as reference material.
Who needs surveillance when everything is public on Facebook?
Hager paints a damning picture of how New Zealand was drawn
into the disastrous response of the Bush administration to
9/11.
The reasons for our involvement seem to have very little to
do with our security or world peace.
Ten years after the "war on terror" began, it has now sucked
up trillions of dollars and has left devastated societies and
mass deaths in the Middle East.
This story of how New Zealand managed to get entangled in the
mess is a fascinating look at things under the public
relations blanket of the "official" line.
When asked about this book, the Prime Minister, the Leader of
the Opposition, and the Governor-General all rubbished it.
This by itself makes it a must-read.
Regardless of whether you agree with the conclusions of the
author, Other People's Wars is one of New Zealand's
most important investigative works of political journalism.
But I expect Nicky Hager will be waiting a while for his
knighthood.
• Victor Billot is editor of the Maritime Union
magazine.
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