I racked my brains
I do not know if it is the right decision to send New Zealand troops to Iraq, but I thought I would offer my thoughts on the decision making process.
What the Prime Minister has to decide is whether he views the gains/responsibilities of New Zealand’s place in the international community as outweighing the potential risk to young New Zealand men and women who are being sent into one of the most dangerous places on Earth.
I do not envy this decision. Every time a New Zealander is injured, or worse killed, it is effectively because of the decision of the Prime Minister. That is a massive mental burden for anyone to shoulder.
It is because of the huge scope of this that I can almost sympathise with whomever it is that has to make that decision.
We have to – have to – trust, that the Prime Minister is getting the very best advice possible. We elect people into positions of authority so that we don’t have to make the decisions. We can opine about them, and we should, but we should also think carefully about why the decisions being made has been made.
Presumably Key doesn’t just want to send New Zealanders to get hurt or die.
The myth of the Just war should also be a consideration.
Considering ISIS creates stable communities with functioning infrascructure, roads, water, food and electricity, a form of policing, schooling and hospitals, in reality a semblance of order in the territories they ‘occupy’.
Compare that to the Iraq regime and Anglo-American occupiers who have failed in over 10 years to provide a functional and stable life for the people of Iraq ( and elsewhere), I wonder if our complicity can be justified.
All States use force and violence and intimidation ( try not paying your taxes here and see if you don’t go to prison) whether ‘western’ or other…I’m playing devils advocate a little here, and as an atheist humanist socialist anarchist ( amongst other ist’s) I abhore the violence and rhetoric of all sides in this dispute.
But if we’re going to go in and cause collateral damage to more infrastrusture, who is the wanker here? 10 years of american brown water and brown outs, or the incredible 18 months of Islamic functioning villages and cities with safety in the streets?
Libiya and Iraq HAD free hospitals and education and functioning infrascructure and safe communities, based partly on nationalised oil revenues. Do we side with Assad?
Are we the wankers?
Haven’t the facts of trade and diplomacy towards peaceful resolution been proven?
Look up Howard Zinns speeches on the ‘Just War’ .
Also, look at the deaths of diseases of poverty that our primeministers have created in the last 30 year experiment of neo-liberalism and that will far out weigh any number of deaths they feel about sending troops anywhere. Likewise our military is happy as Larry to send SAS to train dictators troops ( Sultan of Brunei prior to 9/11, and Indonesia to name just 2).
Maybe we could declare a war on poverty and injustice instead of drugs and terrorism ( so hard to define).
Remember, its not a draft ( though arguably a poverty draft), these NZ ‘soldiers’ knew the score when they signed up. No need for a conscience decision there either.
For any Primeminister, worrying about young lads and lasses dying is the last thing on their mind, whether from violence or poverty, disease or suicide, they don’t give a goddammed fuck.