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Leader's Letter
March 2003
Electorate Office Opening
It is with great enthusiasm that we announce New Zealand First have increased their representation in the Auckland Region and have opened a new electorate office located in Albany.
The official opening took place on 9 March 2003 and was a huge success by all accounts.
Dail Jones, Barbara Stewart and Craig McNair look forward to addressing local issues and are available to deal with constituency enquiries.
Electorate Office Contact Details
First Floor
222 Old Albany Highway
Cnr Oteha Valley Road
Albany
Telephone: (09) 415–7680
Facsimile: (09) 415–7681
New Zealand First Albany Electorate Office Opening (From Left to right)
Pita Paraone, Doug Woolerton (President), Dail Jones, Craig McNair,
Brent Catchpole, Rt Hon Winston Peters, Barbara Stewart
Iraq and the Threat of War(A personal view)
There appears to be little evidence to justify America’s stated intention to attack Iraq without United Nation’s support. New Zealand First does not support Saddam Hussein or his policies, but there are some matters that cannot be forgotten or overlooked and for which the West must accept some responsibility.
I served in the Gulf from 1985–90 when the Western world was providing assistance and support to Iraq in their war
against Iran. Under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran was seen as a threat to international peace, security and Western economies.
At that time the Western world was prepared to overlook the fact that Saddam Hussein was nothing more than a tinpot
dictator. Regretfully, and too often in history, we have overlooked world figures who have behaved in a similar way. Names such as Mugabe, Amin, and Gadahffi spring to mind. The difference between these leaders and Saddam Hussein is that they never had, or attempted to acquire, weapons of mass destruction or, had invaded a neighbouring country rich in oil.
So why is America so intent on going to war with Iraq?
If the reason for invading Iraq is because that country is not a democracy, that it is a dictatorship and espouses anti–western views, then perhaps we should be looking at many Middle Eastern countries.
If the reason for an invasion is that Iraq has demonstrated a capacity to invade neighbouring states, and to deploy its military resources in complete defiance of international law and indiscriminately inflicting civilian casualties, then one could ask what we are going to do about Israel?
If the reason for invading Iraq is that it is producing weapons of mass destruction that are considered a threat to the West, or international peace and stability, then the same question must be asked of Korea, India and Pakistan?
If the reason for invading Iraq is because Saddam Hussein consistently denies his own citizens their basic human
rights, then we must ask ourselves why we have not acted against Robert Mugabe or any other dictatorship in Africa?
Considering that we knew of his atrocities during Saddam Hussein’s rise to power, with the reported assistance of the West, and that we knew precisely what he was doing when we were equipping, training and building his military machine, all of which we find so repugnant today, why were these considered acceptable in 1980, 1983, 1987 and 1989?
What of Afghanistan? Here was a nation whose citizens cried out to the international community for years whilst they were being brutalised by the Taliban and yet their voices were never heard despite the most horrendous atrocities.
Let us not forget that the Taliban was created during the period of American and British intervention when Afghanistan was invaded by the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War. Once the Soviets moved out, American and British support was withdrawn and that country was left in absolute chaos. Not until America’s number one threat was thought to be harboured by those very same rulers and after the West had witnessed the destruction of the World
Trade Centre did the international community intervene. Where was our concern for rights of the people of Afghanistan prior to that?
New Zealand must accept responsibility for its part in allowing terrorists such as Saddam Hussein to gain power and to hold it. New Zealand has never openly questioned the role of successive American government agencies for their part in creating the Iraqi military machine because like the rest of the West, we believed that Saddam Hussein would stand between the Ayatollah (and Muslim extremism) and the West.
Acknowledging this, and the justification for our actions in the 80’s, the West had the opportunity to remove Saddam in 1990 after his invasion of Kuwait. For whatever reason, we failed to do so. We are in this situation today in part because of our own duplicity.
The question of an invasion of Iraq is not simple. We must be able to look clearly at the intention, the repercussions and our resolve to rebuild Iraq post–war. Given the potential for factional retribution, the effects of 13 years of economic sanctions and the undisclosed problems posed by the use of depleted uranium by the West, the size of that task should not be underestimated.
New Zealand First supports the removal of Saddam Hussein from power only if such action is justified internationally. An independent invasion of Iraq led by the United States without the approval or support of the international community is not the way to achieve that.
Ron Mark MP
Defence Spokesperson
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