Terrorist risk unlikely to be raised by SAS allegations
Allegations about New Zealand SAS actions in Afghanistan and resulting publicity and debate are unlikely to increase the risk New Zealand faces from a terrorist attack.
That’s the view of Robert Ayson, Professor of Strategic Studies at Victoria University, who said it could be very difficult to know the precise motivations for the type of attack seen in London.
“Some of these attacks are the result of an individual making a decision. And it is hard to know what will inspire those individual decisions.
“The debate about New Zealand’s involvement in Afghanistan, I don’t see any reason to think that will also increase the risk profile to New Zea- land. I think it is more about [ the impact on] New Zealanders’ perceptions of themselves.”
Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson have alleged in their book Hit & Run that civilians including a 3-year-old girl were killed in a botched Special Air Service raid in Afghanistan in 2010. Those claims have been picked up by overseas media including the Guardian. But Ayson said he didn’t think there would be “hordes of people watching this with particularly close interest beyond New Zealand”.
“You just never know — you do not know what triggers or precipitates violent action. Is there a possibility of some effect? Yes. But I think on the whole . . . I doubt it would be top of my list for things that change the risk profile for New Zealanders.”
Meanwhile, politicians addressed the attack on Westminster, with Prime Minister Bill English saying New Zealanders’ links with London made it feel “very close to home”.
In Parliament, Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett moved a motion condemning the attack and expressing condolences to the friends and family of those killed and injured.
“An attack that strikes at the heart of democracy and the United Kingdom strikes at the heart of democracies everywhere.”