Former colonel denies report coverup

WELLINGTON: A former top military commander has denied covering up a report that concluded civilians may have been killed during a New Zealandled raid in Afghanistan years before the Defence Force admitted the possibility, and says he told the then minister of defence about it.

A Government inquiry into Operation Burnham is this week questioning the senior officials about shifting NZDF accounts of the raid.

The inquiry was spurred by the 2017 book Hit & Run, in which journalists Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson alleged six civilians were killed and 15 others wounded during the New Zealand SASled raid in August 2010.

The NZDF publicly described the claims of possible civilian deaths as unfounded until 2014, but it later came to light an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) report in 2010 had found a gunsight malfunction on a United States Army helicopter led to rounds accidentally hitting two buildings during the operation, possibly killing villagers.

The inquiry heard last month that report had been given to the Defence Force in 2011 but was locked in a safe at its headquarters for three years before its conclusions were made public.

Witnesses earlier told the inquiry they had no idea how the document ended up there and that then defence minister Jonathan Coleman was furious when he found out about its existence in 2014. He went on to correct the public record.

On Monday, retired colonel Jim Blackwell, the Director of Special Operations in 2011, said he had requested the ISAF report from senior officers in Afghanistan and eventually received an electronic copy on September 1, 2011.

Col Blackwell said he then briefed Mr Coleman’s predecessor, Wayne Mapp — the defence minister from 2008 to late 2011 — in the Beehive.

‘‘Although I do not recall the date or the logistics of the briefings, I do recall explaining to the minister that the IAT report did not provide evidence that civilians were killed but that it did conclude there was the possibility of uninvited civilian casualties,’’ Col Blackwell said.

‘‘The minister was very familiar with the document when I briefed him. He asked me specifically about how a helicopter gun sight worked.’’

Lawyer for the inquiry, Kristy MacDonald QC, pressed Col Blackwell on whether he had downplayed the report or its significance in the briefing to the minister.

‘‘I want to know whether you or Dr Mapp made a decision to cover this up and play it down for the public,’’ Ms MacDonald asked.

‘‘I certainly didn’t cover up anything,’’ Col Blackwell answered.

‘‘I don’t wish to make any remarks on what Dr Mapp may or may not have done . . . It’s inappropriate and unfair to do so.’’

Mr Mapp, who previously testified at the inquiry, has been recalled, among other witnesses, to give evidence about the report on Friday.

Col Blackwell said he had also passed a copy of the ISAF report to the office of then Chief of Defence Rhys Jones, through his deputy chief of staff, Mike Thompson.

Retired colonel Thompson earlier told the hearing the file had arrived as a bundle of classified documents and he placed in his safe on September 7, 2011.

‘‘I have never read the bundle. I believe someone must have asked me to put it in the safe; in other words, my safe was simply used as a classified repository. I cannot recall who that person may have been,’’ Col Thompson said.

‘‘I put the briefing pack in the safe, recorded it in, and that was it.’’

The Defence Force says its claims civilian deaths were ‘‘unfounded’’ were based on a misunderstanding of the report by New Zealand’s top SAS officer in Afghanistan in 2010.

The NZDF’s then Senior National Officer, Brigadier Christopher Parsons, told the inquiry he had only been allowed to see one paragraph of the report in September, 2010, and as a result incorrectly reported back no civilians had died. — The New Zealand Herald