Key’s lies getting our soldiers killed

Written By: - Date published: 2:35 pm, September 29th, 2011 - 12 comments
Categories: afghanistan - Tags:

We have been lied to by our Prime Minister. He told us the SAS was going to Afghanistan to train government soldiers. 10% casualties (2 deaths, 2 injuries from 38 soldiers) in 3 months makes it clear we’re there fighting on the frontline for one side in a civil war. Justifying our losses and that the SAS wants to be there are not reasons to stay. The Jackel takes up the story.
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Another Pointless Death

Written by The Jackal at 8:28 PM

Yesterday it was reported that another SAS soldier has died in Afghanistan. The man is the second New Zealand SAS soldier to be killed in combat, following the death of Corporal Doug Grant last month.

Despite clear evidence to the contrary, New Zealand Lieutenant General, Rhys Jones is continuing the false pretense that the soldier killed was undertaking a mentoring role.

NZ Newswire reports:

Defence Force chief Lieutenant General Rhys Jones says the SAS was mentoring the Afghan Crisis Response Unit as they acted on information about an attack that was about to happen.

An hour later the NZ Herald reports:

The SAS team, which was supporting the Afghan Crisis Response Unit, was attacked as it tried to cordon off the compound where the insurgents behind the planned attack were believed to be.

So which story is correct? Was the SAS team supporting the Afghan Crisis Response Unit, which means they’re in an armed combat role, or was the SAS soldier killed in a mentoring role, which means he was killed while not in a combat role?

The “mentoring” bullshit is a falsehood that the National government has been promoting for some time now:

As a New Zealand citizen I’m highly pissed off that I was lied to about the role our soldiers are undertaking in Afghanistan.

It’s quite clear that the SAS are involved in armed combat missions and are not simply in a mentoring role. The Prime Minister should not be allowed to get away with such lies! Today he continued to defend his decision to extend New Zealand’s involvement in an unjust war:

“I deeply regret the loss of our soldiers, but I don’t regret the decision that we made to commit the SAS to Afghanistan,” he said.
“They are playing their critical part in trying to free the world from the threat of global terrorism, but obviously it’s a very sad day for New Zealand.”

I wonder if Key only regrets that another soldier has died because it shows the SAS are involved in armed combat, and not just a mentoring role.

Here he is side stepping around a direct question as to why the government was dishonest about the SAS role in Afghanistan:

John Key’s statements show just how badly misinformed he is about the situation, and I’m not the only one to think so:

Guyon – OK, New Zealand has been, in its own small way, involved in this war in Afghanistan for a decade or so itself. When our prime minster talks about why New Zealand is there, John Key says that it’s to stop Afghanistan again being a home for terrorism. What do you say to New Zealand’s prime minister, John Key, in response to that?

Mr Khan – The New Zealand prime minister does not understand Afghanistan. If only he had read the history of Afghanistan, even the British – three wars in Afghanistan. The Russians killed a million Afghans – a million out of a population then of 15 million. A million died, and they were fighting more at the end than the beginning. Everyone was fighting. The women were fighting. They do not understand Afghanistan. This is a quagmire. From day one, I’ve opposed it, this insane war, and I can give you in writing that for another 10 years, there will be fighting there, and they will make no headway at all. In fact, they radicalise the people much more.

Guyon – So your advice to New Zealand in terms of its involvement in Afghanistan?

Mr Khan – That there is no military solution. There’s going to be a political solution. And the longer they keep killing people, and this military, these night raids – remember, most of the people being killed are innocent civilians. They are not fighting an army. They are fighting militants which are being supported by the population. That’s why they’re going to lose the war – because it’s not a question of Taliban; it’s a resistance movement now. And the history tells you, in Afghanistan, whenever an invader comes, they get together and they will resist. They have never accepted outsiders.

It’s time to bring our soldiers home.

 

12 comments on “Key’s lies getting our soldiers killed ”

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  1. Draco T Bastard 1
    29 September 2011 at 3:27 pm

    Was the SAS team supporting the Afghan Crisis Response Unit, which means they’re in an armed combat role, or was the SAS soldier killed in a mentoring role, which means he was killed while not in a combat role?

    You don’t mentor an armed combat unit on the front lines of a war.

    • Vicky32 1.1
      29 September 2011 at 6:28 pm

      You don’t mentor an armed combat unit on the front lines of a war.

      True. Mentoring is simply a weird concept in war…

  2. Tigger 2
    29 September 2011 at 6:06 pm

    And now we’re staying there to ‘honour’ the dead.
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/5701508/Key-no-honour-for-soldiers-by-withdrawing

    Fuck honour. Honour is nationalistic bullshit. Honour will get other soldiers killed. It’s a Hollywood creation, designed to keep us compliant because of some greater moral good. It is crap from a PM who has blood on his doll-like hands.

  3. ianmac 3
    29 September 2011 at 7:20 pm

    Tonight TV3 News Mapp admits that they are in a combat role.
    John Key said “No. They are not in a combat role.

    English says the future looks pretty grim
    Key say that we are in a good place and the economy is doing well.

    If I believed any of them I would be confused!

  4. prism 4
    29 September 2011 at 8:57 pm

    One of the reasons that we didn’t want to get involved in the Afghanistan war was because we didn’t want to get ourselves on the most hated list and become another target for muslim terrorism. Then we went over but we were off in one of the provinces Bhaniam or something, doing Goood Works.

    Now we are supposed to be mentoring troops of a country that fought the British, fought the Russians, with USA mentoring and still they need our help? The USA can print its own money and spend it on a war using its own weapons and support companies. We don’t have this circulating pockets resource.

    And how good are we as mentors – we can’t teach them how to be careful and not get killed as we obviously haven’t got it worked out for ourselves in this difficult theatre of war. It’s time we started acting and make the first action bookings, so that they are home by Christmas. Because we aren’t doing any bloody good for the Afghanis and their future, and we are cutting off the future for too many of our troops for no useful purpose.

  5. Deadly_NZ 5
    29 September 2011 at 9:10 pm

    How many more deaths just to satisfy Jokeyhen’s appetite for sucking up to Obama and the rest of the warmongering elite???

  6. Afewknowthetruth 6
    29 September 2011 at 9:50 pm

    The only problem with hammering Key on this issue is that the Clark government sent them there in the first place (on false pretences), and when questioned on the matter of why they were there refused to answer, citing ‘national security’.

    We get constantly lied to and misled by both major parties and all the minor parties.

    • Deadly_NZ 6.1
      29 September 2011 at 10:51 pm

      Then what about this then??

      “Labour’s position since late 2005 has been that the SAS should not be deployed in Afghanistan,”

      From this article…
      http://www.3news.co.nz/Labour-confirms-withdrawal-stance-on-SAS/tabid/419/articleID/227701/Default.aspx

      • Afewknowthetruth 6.1.1
        29 September 2011 at 11:31 pm

        Deadly NZ.

        ‘Then what about this then??’

        Well that is exactly why we cannot trust Phil Goff and wouldn’t want him as PM. He bends whichever way the wind is blowing.

        That link doesn’t alter the fact that, when in power, Labour sent NZers to Afghanistan under false pretences, didn’t bring them home when it should have, and refused to discuss the matter when asked why they were there.

        Come to think of it, that was the response of the Labour government to people alerting them to the dire consequences of peak oil and climate change …. obfuscation, scoffing, ignoring and refusing to discuss the matters.

  7. Deadly_NZ 7
    30 September 2011 at 6:30 am

    I would rather trust Phil Goff, than that vacuous lying bastard Key. All Key wants is to add to his CV, he has no loyalty to NZ. The prick even lives in Hawaii, and made his money trying to sabotage the NZ currency, and now him and the incompetents English and co can carry on ruining NZ for the masses so that him and his rich mates can make a profit.

    “Come to think of it, that was the response of the Labour government to people alerting them to the dire consequences of peak oil and climate change …. obfuscation, scoffing, ignoring and refusing to discuss the matters.” Really and smiling ,waving , lying, and blaming others is perfectly all right then?? if you agree with this then I would suggest you change your Nom de Plume to “I have no clue!”

  8. Gary 8
    1 October 2011 at 5:06 pm

    There is a lot of discussion about whether our soldiers are on the front line or not – can anyone here tell me or show me where the front line is in Afghanistan? Or even where it has been at any point in the past 2 years?