Three more Kiwi deaths in Afghanistan

Written By: - Date published: 7:36 am, August 20th, 2012 - 84 comments
Categories: afghanistan - Tags:

The media is reporting that three more Kiwi soldiers have been killed in a bomb attack in Afghanistan.

Our hearts go out to their family and friends.

84 comments on “Three more Kiwi deaths in Afghanistan ”

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  1. Carol 1
    20 August 2012 at 7:48 am

    My condolences.

  2. Craig Glen Eden 2
    20 August 2012 at 7:53 am

    Yup Carol very sad, sincere condolences to the families while their sons, husbands ,fathers may sign up for this the families don’t.

    • Akldnut 2.1
      20 August 2012 at 9:09 am

      This is so sad – I’m gutted for the soldiers families.

      • Morrissey 2.1.1
        20 August 2012 at 9:43 am

        So what steps are you taking to make sure this doesn’t happen to other families? Have you contacted your M.P. and demanded he/she press the prime minister to pull our troops out?

        • Akldnut 2.1.1.1
          20 August 2012 at 11:18 am

          Bunter Bennett won’t speak to me or call back after I told her to “F” off my property so I went into Cam Calders office while out South but each time I ask for a reply to my demands they ignore me, so I don’t even try anymore.

          Have you?

          • Morrissey 2.1.1.1.1
            20 August 2012 at 7:13 pm

            Bunter Bennett won’t speak to me or call back after I told her to “F” off my property so I went into Cam Calders office while out South but each time I ask for a reply to my demands they ignore me, so I don’t even try anymore.

            I sympathize with you. Be careful not to antagonize that ghastly woman or she’ll mount a campaign of defamation against you.

            Have you?

            Yes. He was polite enough. Like everyone, he knows that this war has no justification, but I hold little hope that he will find the courage to actually speak that truth.

    • GregJ 2.2
      20 August 2012 at 9:40 am

      It is worth pointing out that women also serve in our armed forces, including in Afghanistan – and it is rumoured that one of those killed may be a female soldier.

      • Draco T Bastard 2.2.1
        20 August 2012 at 1:59 pm

        Why is the fact that one of our soldiers was a women make any difference?

        • Colonial Viper 2.2.1.1
          20 August 2012 at 2:25 pm

          Public reaction to a female KIA or one taken prisoner can sometimes be different. Male and female soldiers cannot be assigned the same roles when dealing with a Muslim population. Modern military forces commonly distinguished roles (formally and informally) which are not filled by women.

        • deuto 2.2.1.2
          20 August 2012 at 2:30 pm

          It doesn’t Draco – but a number of comments on the Standard today have referred to the NZ troops in Afghanstan being ‘our boys’ , or ‘sons, fathers, brothers’ etc without any appreciation/recognition that those troops also include women.

  3. IrishBill 3
    20 August 2012 at 7:54 am

    My condolences also.

  4. deuto 4
    20 August 2012 at 9:32 am

    My condolences also to the families, friends and colleagues – Stuff are now reporting that one of the three is a woman.

    Goff is currently being interviewed on Nime to Noon and, if I heard him correctly, is saying that in his opinion, there is no longer a prospect of achieving the original objectives of our participation in Afghanstan and we should possibly withdraw.

    • Morrissey 4.1
      20 August 2012 at 10:24 am

      Goff is… saying that there is no longer a prospect of achieving the original objectives of our participation in Afghanstan and we should possibly withdraw.

      Goff and Helen Clark are as culpable in this criminal fiasco as Key is. In fact, their culpability is greater, for they sent the troops there in the first place. They mouthed the propaganda about “reconstruction” and fibbed about good-natured Kiwi soldiers winning the hearts and minds of the locals.

      The revelations about those good-natured Kiwi soldiers being bullied by American grunts into handing over captive civilians for possible torture and summary execution make the lies of Clark, Goff and Key even more craven.

      • bbfloyd 4.1.1
        20 August 2012 at 12:13 pm

        Amazing what rubbish goes through what passes through a tories mind nowadays….. Only an incurable bigot with the attention span of a goldfish would feel competent to make the kind of statement you’ve just made morris minor….

        try again.. and this time, spend more than five seconds absorbing tory slogans to use as your intellectual basis….

        You may not make such an ass of yourself….(i’m assuming you have the wit to understand the big words contained in the articles outlining reality as it is, not as the tories would wish it to be)

        • Morrissey 4.1.1.1
          20 August 2012 at 7:01 pm

          Amazing what rubbish goes through what passes through a tories mind nowadays…

          Whatever hallucinogenic substance you are on, I don’t think it improves your writing style. I enjoyed being called a “tory” for a moment or two there, until I realized it came from a confused mind.

      • Lanthanide 4.1.2
        20 August 2012 at 1:06 pm

        “They mouthed the propaganda about “reconstruction” and fibbed about good-natured Kiwi soldiers winning the hearts and minds of the locals.”

        So you knew, with 100% certainty, that it was all for naught before the soldiers were sent?

        Maybe you should buy lotto tickets if you’re so good at predicting the future.

        • pukeko 4.1.2.1
          20 August 2012 at 3:39 pm

          Kaua koe e whai atu i ngā mahi a te hukehuke rā, kei raru kōrua tahi

        • Morrissey 4.1.2.2
          20 August 2012 at 7:07 pm

          So you knew, with 100% certainty, that it was all for naught before the soldiers were sent?

          I know with 100 per cent certainty that no New Zealand soldiers were killed in Afghanistan before Helen Clark had her arm twisted and sent them there.

          I know with 100 per cent certainty that the overwhelming majority of Afghanistan’s people want the invading troops out.

          But why don’t you listen to one of them yourself, accompanied by the world’s most respected dissenter?…
          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcZhQLbvgEw&feature=related

  5. rosy 5
    20 August 2012 at 9:32 am

    Such a tragic loss for the families and friends of these 3 men. Deepest sympathy.

  6. AmaKiwi 6
    20 August 2012 at 11:08 am

    Holy sh*t.

    The NY Times reports that most of the recent attacks on NATO troops were by our “allies,” the Afghan army, NOT by the Taliban!

    Read the NY Times article. According to the NATO high command our soldiers were probably ambushed by Afghan army soldiers, NOT the Taliban!

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/world/asia/afghan-attacks-on-allied-troops-prompt-nato-to-shift-policy.html?ref=global-home

  7. Enough is Enough 7
    20 August 2012 at 11:08 am

    Enough is Enough.

    There was never a right time to send our boys and girls into harms way. However now is definitley the time to pull them out.

    Clark and Key should not be able to sleep tonight thinking of the families of these troops who have been killed for no reason whatsoever.

  8. Pete 8
    20 August 2012 at 12:53 pm

    Lance Corporal Jacinda Baker (26), Private Richard Harris (21) and Corporal Luke Tamatea (31).

    It’s a damn shame.

  9. Salsy 9
    20 August 2012 at 12:55 pm

    The Herald are quick to run a piece which supports Key’s “blame it on the Hungarians” line.

    Hungarian soldiers responsible for security in the Baghlan province “unfortunately … have been reluctant to actively patrol the area”, Mr Patman told TVNZ’s Breakfast this morning.

    But at the end of the article this:

    Mr Patman said Hungarian troops were not likely to change their tactics.
    “Many countries now know that the international presence is going to be pulled out by 2014. [Hungarian soldiers] are probably not going to adopt new techniques that … could run the risk of unnecessary casualties before a major troop pull-out.

    Perhaps New Zealand could learn something of the Hungarian strategy after all…

    • Jenny 9.1
      20 August 2012 at 6:27 pm

      With our withdrawal already announced, and with the fair expectation that all our brave men and women could all be returned safely to their families.

      Such stupid pointless meaningless deaths #?*!!

      To be prepared to die for a cause can be a noble sentiment. But just as in Vietnam after the American withdrawal was announced, no one wanted to be the last GI to die in a lost cause.

      What could more New Zealand deaths in Afghanistan possibly achieve?

      Can anyone tell me?

      Key needs to speed up the withdrawal so that more kiwis don’t die pointlessly.

  10. dave brownz 10
    20 August 2012 at 1:44 pm

    Only people with the heads up Uncle Sam’s arse can think that NZ ever had any business in Afghanistan. It was and is a US war using the UN to cover for its blind rage over 9/11.  Clark and Co bought it because it has the UN stamp of approval. NZ became the US deputy’s (Howard’s) dog. It doesn’t matter if the Taliban (created by the US to fight a pro-US regime in the 80s) or ‘Afghan’ army killed NATO troops, they are all Afghans in their own country defending themselves from those who are occupying it. However you read it it proves the old cliche that Western countries that venture into Afghanistan to conquer it, always end up getting wiped out. Good.
    http://redrave.blogspot.co.nz/2009/08/afghanistan-defeat-imperialist-invaders.html
     

    • Colonial Viper 10.1
      20 August 2012 at 1:53 pm

      Only people with the heads up Uncle Sam’s arse can think that NZ ever had any business in Afghanistan. It was and is a US war using the UN to cover for its blind rage over 9/11.

      Well, not so much blind rage, but an attempt to secure oil and NG pipelines from central asia which bypass the instability of the middle east and the political whims of Russia.

    • Vicky32 10.2
      20 August 2012 at 3:46 pm

      , they are all Afghans in their own country defending themselves from those who are occupying it.

      Absolutely right! Seconded, thirded, fourthed and so on….

  11. Monique Watson 11
    20 August 2012 at 2:54 pm

    I just don’t think today is the day for debating our length of tenure in Afghanistan. Give it a few weeks and sure. But the headlines about Goff and Shearer saying we need to pull out make me sick:

    http://nowoccupy.blogspot.com/2012/08/your-soldier-was-hero-you-hold-that-to.html

    Today belongs to remembrance of the dead.

    • Colonial Viper 11.1
      20 August 2012 at 3:02 pm

      I don’t see how you honour the dead by allowing more to die without good cause.

      I just don’t think today is the day for debating our length of tenure in Afghanistan. Give it a few weeks and sure.

      If the NZDF are taking casualties more frequently now, when will we ever get a chance to debate what we are doing in Afghanistan?

    • Murray Olsen 11.2
      20 August 2012 at 3:26 pm

      Following your logic, Monique, if soldiers were dying every day we’d stay there forever with no debate. The fact that more have died over nothing worthwhile makes it exactly the right time to debate this.

    • Carol 11.3
      20 August 2012 at 3:29 pm

      Actually – this thread is a memorial one, Monique. There’s another thread for discussing the issue. You are politicising a memorial thread.

    • gobsmacked 11.4
      20 August 2012 at 3:30 pm

      According to Monique’s logic, Afghanistan must not be discussed in the US Presidential election. Or at any time over the past decade.

      If they had to “give it a few weeks” after suffering casualties, given the scale of their losses, they would never discuss the war at all.

      The problem with not discussing is that it leads to not understanding, which leads to more deaths, and not only in Afghanistan.

    • gobsmacked 11.5
      20 August 2012 at 6:24 pm

      Just to keep you updated, Monique, the “length of tenure” is being debated this afternoon/evening on Radio NZ, Newstalk ZB, Radio Live, TVNZ, TV 3 news, Campbell Live, Stuff.co.nz, etc, etc.

      Even some bereaved family members are speaking on the TV news, about bringing the troops home.

      So your swipe at Shearer/Goff is unwarranted.

  12. Tim 12
    20 August 2012 at 3:45 pm

    Deem me a cnut if you will, but I’ve followed all this since the time it became public – from VERy early morn. Then I witnessed a Jonkey press conference at 11.30 and I was truly embarassed – especially as he shuffled together the pages of his speech just given at the end. Atually- he kept the media waiting just to show who was in control.
    A Performace!!!. I’m not suggesting the man does not have sympathy or genuine concern, simply that his concern is MORE about him and how people perceive him first and foremost, THEN the deaths.
    I MUST come across all staunch and concerned. Stay the course!. {Look left at photos of the dead}.
    The guy sounded drunk as he shhhhsssstraifed his way through a prepared speech full of the usual platitudes….ultimate sekrfois et al. Keep it up… PLEASE John! A few more hobbits will awake.

  13. seeker 13
    20 August 2012 at 3:46 pm

    My sincere condolences, sympathy and prayers go out to the families of these brave soldiers. Am feeling deep grief myself so I cannot imagine what their families are going through. I just pray they stay strong.

  14. Robert Atack 14
    20 August 2012 at 5:02 pm

    It is good to see the Taliban have worked out that to get the invades out of their country it is smarter to kill the Alliance soldiers than the US ones, killing a US soldier just reduces the unemployment # in the US, and whats another yank? Where as poping off our guys really hurts the Alliance, a dead Kiwi has got to be worth more points in the ‘game of war’ than several dead yanks.

    I am amazed people are upset by our guys dying, I mean it is a war zone? They are ALL coming back with death sentences anyway, what with all the radioactive crap they have been living around while in Afghanistan – specifically Depleted Uranium.

    And don’t they volunteer for this adventure? it wouldn’t be as much fun if you didn’t stand the chance of dying or better still killing someone.

    In the end these people are just state funded murderers.

    IrishBill: Take a month off.

    • gobsmacked 14.1
      20 August 2012 at 5:14 pm

      Robert, seek help.

    • pukeko 14.2
      20 August 2012 at 5:31 pm

      Parawai.

    • Te Reo Putake 14.3
      20 August 2012 at 5:48 pm

      You’re probably going to regret this comment when you sober up, Robert.

      • Robert Atack 14.3.1
        20 August 2012 at 7:03 pm

        Not at all.
        New Zealand troops are just backing the lie that is 9/11.
        They are supporting an occupying force?
        Why get pissed at me? It is the government that has sent them into harms way, and most Kiwis are happy with that. Sure the Taliban are a bad lot, but so are the Israelis when they get fired up, and there are plenty of other countries that ‘need’ invading, to bring democracy, consumerism, and everything we enjoy …. ignoring the fact that we are passed peak ‘luxury’.
        Politicians and TPTB are a bunch of 3 year olds, they would literally crawl over dead babies to maintain their lifestyles, like most people they are unable to grasp the end of growth, some even think we should or have to ‘climate change’ to the brink of extinction to bring the second coming of Christ, then his dad and him are going to turn the planet back to like it was before we fucked it ????? people are just stupid. And politicians are a great representative of this useless gene pool.

        ‘We’ are being lied to and ripped off daily by our government, EVERY politician is lying to us everyday.

        Happy Kiwi Saving.

        In the end we are just bacteria, but a real dumb one, a bit like yeast.

        • bad12 14.3.1.1
          20 August 2012 at 7:30 pm

          Yeast aint that dumb, i have a potato one on the cook in my hot-water cupboard right now, in 2 days time it will be banana bread,

          And,

          Banana bread aint dumb it’s the bomb…

  15. Dion 15
    20 August 2012 at 5:44 pm

    While I offer my prayers and sympathies for those soldiers that have been killed in Afghanistan I am also mindful of the futility of war. Both the war in Iraq and Afghanistan should have never been authorized and waged because the justification for it was based on a bunch of lies.

    The US imports more oil from Iraq than they do from Saudi Arabia. Afghanistan is of strategic importance to the US so one wonders how genuine thier motives are? Do they care about bringing democracy to these countries? I don’t think so.

    I am also deeply saddened by the millions of innocent civilians no different from you and I in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen who have been killed by the bombs dropped by US and NATO forces. Somehow our media fails to mention this

  16. Tim 16
    20 August 2012 at 6:19 pm

    @TRP p= I hope he does regret it when he sobers up. I wonder though WHAT of Jomkey when he does.
    Over the millenium, I think its almost safe to say 50% of my family engaged in the military.intelligenc wing have either been killed or traumatised by all this sort of total SHITE.
    It’s why Jonkeys 11.30 am “press conference” was so fucking hollow and offensive.

    How the hell did a usually smart NZ electorate be conned by a used-car salesman dressed in the so-called respectability of “suited finacial market free-trader’ professionalism”. Not only is there a really UGLY emperor with no clothes, but the protestations of sympathy and “utlimate proice” crap are beginning to be recognised as the spin and bullshit they really are.

    Fuck off John. There’s a cute little Hawaiian retreat – go for it now rather than when the shit really hits the fan – save us all the anguish. Current course – result inevitable it’s really only about your pathetic ego when it comes down to it

    • Anne 16.1
      20 August 2012 at 7:00 pm

      Fuck off John.

      He’s going to fuck off – my pick is towards the end next year. Why not. All the doors that can be opened to him have been opened. Not much point in hanging around any longer. He’s done his dash as PM, and there’s an even bigger stash to be made on the international financial markets.

      It gives Stephen Joyce about nine months to enjoy his honeymoon and have an election before the voters twig they’ve swopped one egomaniac for yet another…. who could turn out to be even worse.

  17. Jenny 17
    20 August 2012 at 6:29 pm

    I was sorry to hear that the number of New Zealanders killed in Afghanistan now totals 10.

    My immediate thoughts went to their loved ones and families.

    I then thought, how many of the enemy have our troops killed? Is it two of theirs, for every one of ours?

    I would expect with us having unlimited ammunition and supplies, far superior weapons, hi tech body armor, reliable transport, logistics and communications, our total firepower and professional training would ensure that the ratio of enemy killed would be much higher than the 10 kiwi dead.

    Is it 20, 30, 50, 100, who knows?

    My next thought was; Wouldn’t it be better to just end the cycle of violence?

    What could more deaths achieve?

    • pukeko 17.1
      20 August 2012 at 6:35 pm

      He āhua rite tēnei tono ki te kōrero nenekara rā, “Ko koutou mā kāore anō kia tae mai, tēnā whakatūhia mai ō koutou ringa.”

    • bad12 17.2
      20 August 2012 at 6:58 pm

      I would suggest that it’s going to escalate, the cycle of violence that is, the Chief of Defense Reece Jones was saying on RadioNZ this afternoon that permission has been given for New Zealand to also operate in the neighbouring Baghlan Province,

      If the Kiwi troops go playing gang busters in Baghlan looking for revenge we all can expect more body bags back here via Bagram…

  18. North 18
    20 August 2012 at 7:29 pm

    My heart is with those people the soldiers. Equally with their shattered loved-ones. Facing a hellish life without their loved-one.

    So I mentally gulped when today I heard John Key quoted saying along the lines that to pull out of Afghanistan (presumably “now”) would horrify the families as offensive to the memories of the soldiers and their service. In a just cause. Does he know all those aspects personally and at first hand ? Bit of a question if he doesn’t.

    Well it’s 7.04 pm and we’re into John Key on “Close Up”. Everyman Sainsbury giving John Key a good run at looking vaguely “Churchill in wartime” to overstate.

    Pretty surely it’s John Key looking after John Key. Apologies to the people who got a hiding above for being political too early. Key has declared the politics of it imperative.

  19. Jenny 19
    20 August 2012 at 7:33 pm

    Key must listen to the families of our soldiers.

    ‘‘We’d been hoping that [Prime Minister] John Key would have sent him back by now, after the last lot passed away.’’

    The grandmother of slain Kiwi soldier Corporal Luke Tamatea says she wanted him to come home after the last deadly attack on New Zealand troops two weeks ago.

    Loraine O’Brien said she was devastated after hearing the news ……

    O’Brien told Te Kaea News that Tamatea phoned her about a week ago because he knew she was worried about him.

    ‘‘He said, ‘don’t worry about me nana. I’m alright’ and those were his last words to me,’’ she said.

    ‘‘We’d been hoping that [Prime Minister] John Key would have sent him back by now, after the last lot passed away.’’…..

    stuff.co.nz

    Is this why our Prime Minister does not want to attend the funerals for those slain?

    That he might have to face the families of those he has put in harms way?

    Will John Key attend the funerals?

    Or will John Key continue making excuses for avoiding his duty as Premier to honour these soldiers?

    • DJ 19.1
      20 August 2012 at 8:52 pm

      What a ridiculous disrespectful post. Shame on you. He personally visited those families last time and I am sure he will do the same again. Did anyone else do this? No!

      I personally would not want all the politicians at my son’s funeral grandstanding to the world, pretending they cared whilst dropping a well rehearsed tear for the cameras.

      • xtasy 19.1.2
        21 August 2012 at 2:44 am

        DJ: Excuse me, what are you worked up for?

        Soldiers have “fallen” or died for eons of times in human history, for good, bad, right, wrong and whatever causes that were claimed, usually by dominant, privileged rulers that had no scruples to send the young ones off to sacrifice their lives for whatever nationalistic, idealistic or whatever causes.

        This whole soldier ethos of dying for your country, your mates, your family, for a good cause and so on, it has been repeated throughout history endlessly.

        Now even the Hitler youth believed they were right and sacrificed their lives for the right cause, so did the kamikaze youth from Japan, so did Mao’s brigades, Lenin’s fighting troups, and further back the ones fighting for the dominance of Rome, Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt and whatever.

        Who ever paid the bloody price?

        The ordinary foot soldier and their families! Who won, who lost, what did it usually achieve?

        A plaque on some rock or what, how is that for “spirit” and liveliness?

        The RSA fought in good faith agains dictators, but any sensible person knows also, they also in part committed atrocities!

        Shove your over-holy crap into the grave, where it belongs, thank you.

        Every person who dies deserves fair respect and consideration. Soldier, voluntary nun or aid worker in the slums of Calcutta maybe even more so than some highly armed soldiers in Afghanistan, trying to protect a rotten, corrupt government that also allows opium trade.

        What have the dumbed down and manipulated masses in this country come to, if the media gets away every time to glorify the so called “sacrifice” for bloody what?

        I am sick to death of all this shit. Throw away you uniforms, get naked, real, human and put your lively human effort and strenght where it is most needed: To fight for justice against unfairness and poverty, first of all in your own country, and in the realm around it. Then you deserve a bloody medal, that will be in spirit not rotten or rusty metal.

        Thank you!

  20. Balanced View 20
    20 August 2012 at 7:58 pm

    Any chance we can leave this post for condolences and remembrance?
    Any politicising should be made on Open mike.

    • DJ 20.1
      20 August 2012 at 8:53 pm

      Too late the wankers went into full post mode straight away …….

      • gobsmacked 20.1.1
        20 August 2012 at 9:02 pm

        Hi DJ, if you don’t want to “politicise” here, there’s a wide-ranging debate on the other thread. Feel free to join in.

        • pukeko 20.1.1.1
          20 August 2012 at 9:38 pm

          Te standard tērā e haunga mai nei.

          • Adele 20.1.1.1.1
            20 August 2012 at 11:46 pm

            Tēnā koe, Pukeko

            Ko wai koe?

            Why are you repeating practically verbatim phrases from the Māori online dictionary? The original phrase that you have erroneously bastardised is thus

            “He ika tērā e haunga mai nei. / That fish is smelly”

            Every recent post you have made in the reo has been similarly taken from the same Maori online dictionary and misused. So why the pretence?

            • bad12 20.1.1.1.1.1
              20 August 2012 at 11:56 pm

              I seriously suspect that that one is the false face of one who recently copped a little stretch of a banning from The Standard, (like as in life-time),

              Have carefully studied ‘its’ appearances in various debates going back a bit and ‘it’ seems to have some twisted motive (revenge) as the basis for ‘its’ comments…

  21. Jenny 21
    20 August 2012 at 8:10 pm

    Gordon Campbell writes that it is gutless crawling to the Americans by our leaders that New Zealanders are dying for.

    “…… we should be clear about the motives at work here.”

    “…… when Prime Minister John Key wears his sad face and talks gravely about sacrifice, we need to keep in mind that the lives in question have been sacrificed for a political commitment that is meaningless. There is no noble purpose involved here, only the usual grubby business of politicking – that by joining the effort in Afghanistan, New Zealand might gain some political or trade favours from the Americans.”

    Gordon Campbell August 20, 2012

    “….our soldiers will continue to be sitting ducks, who are doing little more than trying to survive a totally arbitrary period of deployment.”

    “On the current timetable, our PRT forces are not due to be withdrawn until September 2013. That timeframe lacks any intrinsic sense. There is no reason to believe that between now and then, our PRT presence will make Bamiyan safer for the locals in any sustainable fashion, or that the aid projects with which the PRT has been involved will survive their withdrawal. Nothing that New Zealand will achieve between now and September 2013 can justify the further loss of life that now seems inevitable….”

    Gordon Campbell August 20, 2012

    “Whenever he is pressed on the purpose of our Afghan deployment, Key usually responds by saying that we’re fighting global terrorism and/or enabling Afghanistan to rebuild. Well, if it ever made any sense, the ‘fighting global terrorism’ rationale ended many years ago, after the destruction of al Qaeda as a functioning global network and the capture and/or killing of its leaders……”

    “The Dutch saw the writing on the wall and pulled out their troops two years ago. There is no good reason why we should not do likewise, and get our forces home by Christmas. Because what our troops in Afghanistan are really defending – and dying for – in 2012 is John Key’s reputation, and his welcome mat in Washington.”

    Gordon Campbell August 20, 2012

    • geoff 21.1
      20 August 2012 at 8:26 pm

      yup, nice one Jenny.

    • Morrissey 21.2
      20 August 2012 at 8:30 pm

      It’s honesty like that, along with the fact that he’s humiliated Graham Bell and Richard Griffin on air, that means Campbell is not asked to appear on National Radio’s wretched “Panel” programme any more.

      • Grumpy 21.2.1
        21 August 2012 at 7:36 am

        Campbell would have a lot more credibility if he had written those comments years ago and substituted “Clark” for “Key”……….

        • Morrissey 21.2.1.1
          21 August 2012 at 9:32 pm

          Campbell would have a lot more credibility if he had written those comments years ago and substituted “Clark” for “Key”……….

          He did, and on many occasions. You really need to catch up on your reading, my friend.

    • ropata 21.3
      20 August 2012 at 8:31 pm

      Key wants a FTA with the USA in order to brag to his pals in Hawaii

      • Colonial Viper 21.3.1
        20 August 2012 at 9:00 pm

        i.e. a “Free Trade” agreement giving all the advantages to multinational corporates, a few morsels to big NZ interests, and sells our ordinary citizens down the river.

        • Grumpy 21.3.1.1
          20 August 2012 at 10:17 pm

          An FTA is the goal. .nothing changed since the Clark days…….wait, didn’t Helen get a plum job at the UN?

          • Colonial Viper 21.3.1.1.1
            20 August 2012 at 11:37 pm

            An FTA is the goal. .nothing changed since the Clark days…….

            a quarter century of globalised neoliberal free markets has been a huge wealth pump from the many to the few.

    • mike e 21.4
      21 August 2012 at 1:28 am

      +10

  22. AmaKiwi 22
    20 August 2012 at 10:52 pm

    The “war on terrorism” has always been b.s. How do you have a war with no specific enemy?

    The first Christians were terrorists in the eyes of the Romans. The revolutionaries in the British and Spanish American colonies were terrorists in the eyes of their European masters; freedom fighters in the eyes of their neighbors. And so it has been with every protest movement. Heck, in some countries outspoken women are terrorists.

    “Be afraid, very afraid. Embrace Big Brother. Only he can protect you.”

    This is highly classified so don’t spread it around. The Teleban sent a suicide squad to blow up the Inter-Island ferry but our police intercepted them, which is why Big Brother will be expanding civilian surveillance. It’s for your own good.

    • Colonial Viper 22.1
      20 August 2012 at 11:30 pm

      The “war on terrorism” has always been b.s. How do you have a war with no specific enemy?

      Shades of 1984.

      • mike 22.1.1
        21 August 2012 at 12:34 am

        I felt a 1984 chill back when Bush was talking about the ‘war on terror’ going on for as long as it takes. A war without end. Since then I can just turn on Fox news and get that chill anytime I want.

  23. xtasy 23
    21 August 2012 at 2:28 am

    Sad all this, yet, has anyone ever seriously looked at near death experiences?

    Generally the reports and feed-backs are very consoling and calming. Those that have been there usually no longer fear death. Combatants of course are on the very front line of life and death challenges, survival and so forth. I feel extremely sorry for those that get maimed, disabled and seriously injured and survive to live a life of misery.

    It is disgusting what Taleban are doing, using these hideous, cunning IEDs.

    Yet anyone exposed to such threats would only wish for her or him to hit it straight and for sure, to be spared any suffering.

    Maybe the madness of yihadis does also explain that death is not really that much to fear about. If life is crap, then it may be a salvation, especially if it serves a cause.

    Extreme these thoughts are, but I dare to raise the unthinkable, to ponder about in times of distress and unbearable pain.

    Voluntary euthanasia is becoming more acceptable to me, looking at all this stuff.

    • Colonial Viper 23.1
      21 August 2012 at 3:12 am

      It is disgusting what Taleban are doing, using these hideous, cunning IEDs.

      About the same as hellfire equipped killer drones being controlled by “pilots” half a world away, who fight a distant war impersonally, from the luxury of their own home town.

      I feel extremely sorry for those that get maimed, disabled and seriously injured and survive to live a life of misery.

      This is exactly what anti-personnel mines have been designed to do for the longest time. But who says that civilisation does not advance? For in every new war, they find new ways of killing and maiming people.

      It is an unfortunate business.

      • xtasy 23.1.1
        21 August 2012 at 7:10 am

        CV – do you ever sleep? O is the revolutionary fervour giving you 24/7 energy to burn?

        • Colonial Viper 23.1.1.1
          21 August 2012 at 10:51 am

          The second time he told me a story… about how someone offered him a boat cloak on a cold night. And he said no, he didn’t need it. That he was quite warm. His zeal for his king and country kept him warm.

  24. Wairua 24
    21 August 2012 at 10:27 am

    Key’s self-interest in attending his son’s ball-game in the US rather than representing NZ at the funeral for one of his soldiers who died in Afghanistan can only hurt him at the next election.

    He was his Commander-in-Chief. Loyalty flows both ways ..

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