Leaders rarely pay price of war

In Reputation shot (In Depth, Nov 23) Michelle Grattan writes of ‘‘extensively documented alleged criminal behaviour’’ in Afghanistan by individuals in the Australian Special Air Service (SAS). She questions the recently published Brereton Report, which indicated those up the chain did not know what was going on.

At the very top of the chain were government officials who ordered soldiers to wage war against a country that posed no threat to Australia.

Starting awar is, in itself, a crime of the highest magnitude. It is aggression: the ‘‘supreme international crime’’ in the words of the 1946 judgment at Nuremberg.

After World War II, top German political and military decision-makers were arrested and tried at Nuremberg. Nineteen German leaders were sentenced to prison for crimes, including aggression. Of these, 12 received death sentences and were executed.

It is a certainty that, wherever there is war, there will bewar crimes. Even so, and despite the Nuremberg precedent, the leaders who send soldiers to wage war – as John Howard did in 2001 – are rarely punished. No matter the carnage, destruction and misery they initiated.

As law professor Michael Scharf pointed out to US Senator Jesse Helms in 1998: ‘‘We have lived in a golden age of impunity, where a person stands amuch better chance of being tried for taking a single life than for killing 10,000 or a million.’’

Peter Dyer, Thorndon

Elephant keeps growing

Listening to the prime minister on breakfast TV talking about house prices left me feeling this Government is not serious about addressing the problems.

In her thinking, the option is binary: we either have to live with an overheated housing market or face rising unemployment if anything effective is done to dampen it.

That’s an indictment on the perilous state of the economy, whenmost people’s wealth is tied up in housing rather than the stuff that creates real economic growth and benefits for the country. Trading banks are really ‘‘mortgage banks’’, as that’s where most of their lending goes.

If the Reserve Bank pumps its planned $28 billion into the economy, thenwe all know most of it will be on-lent for housing, fuelling prices further. If the

Government allows this and continues to do nothing, then ultimately therewill be a ‘‘trigger’’ that causes the housing market to crash.

Better to be proactive and introduce measures now, including extending the bright-line test and putting further restrictions on investors.

How long can the prime minister stay in denial and keep ignoring the great big elephant in the room? Ignoring the crisis may well be her downfall, but it might lead to amoremature debate over capital gains and wealth taxes.

Mike Jarvis, Paraparaumu Beach

Thanksgiving insensitive

Four hundred years ago, boat people fleeing from religious persecution in England landed in America at the beginning of winter and these ‘‘Mayflower pilgrims’’ would have starved if local American farmers had not kindly shared their supplies of turkeys, pumpkins and corn with them.

The Americans’ kindness encouraged millions more boat people to flee from Europe, bringing with them guns, germs, and steel railroads in an effort to drive the Americans from their ancestral lands and exterminate them. The European invaders killed 12million Americans, and their descendants are celebrating the success of that genocide thisweek by gathering to devour piles of roast turkey, corn fritters and pumpkin pie.

US Thanksgiving Day must be one of the most insensitive and hypocritical racist celebrations on this planet.

John Archer, Ohakune

Beethoven, not violence

Using pepper spray onwomen prisoners, or any prisoners, seems so yesteryear.

Surely every prisoner, once clean of drugs and having a balanced diet, can be negotiated with using non-violent methods?

It may sound corny, but I remember a youth hostel long ago in Wellington that played Beethoven at 6am to wake weary souls pleasantly to start their day.

The concrete jungle that is prison is not going to rehabilitate anyone if unnecessary force is used. Or is all force unnecessary?

Let’s extract the best ideas from innovative prisons around the world to modernise our approach, so that all prisoners are treated humanely, knowing they often have grown up with violence as their real normal.

Like using classic or country music in cells, big gardens for prisoners to grow their own vegetables, maybe some stock to care for as ‘‘tucker’’.

Rob Buchanan, Kerikeri

First fix the leaks

So Wellington City Council needs water metering to enable it to find leaks ($ 144m watermeters can save Wellington, Nov 23).

What a load of drivel; council officers should just do a survey of the streets where there is ample evidence of leaks. I wouldwager themajority of water wastagewill come from the city’s decrepit pipes, rather than houses downstream of potential meter locations.

Water conservation is important, but installing water meterswill not solve the leak issue. It is an excuse for revenue gathering, rather than addressing inefficiencies and a crumbling infrastructure.

The council should be actively promoting the ‘‘Fix it’’ app, now operating for a number of years, and encourage residents to report leaks. The problem is the council takes days orweeks to fix any reported leak.

The $144 million should be targeted at fixing the problem. Councillors could also reconsider not wasting $170m-plus on the library refurbishment. It should build a new, functional, user-friendly library that is cheaper, and invest the residual amount into infrastructure upgrades and repairs that couldmake a real difference to the city.

Phil Del Favero, Kingston

Baffling all round

I find it baffling that councillor Fleur Fitzsimons finds it baffling ( Mayor ‘didn’t realise it was a protest’, Nov 24) for mayor Andy Foster to visit the disputed Shelly Bay land and then decide he is protesting a decision made by his own council.

Therein lies the issue: Wellingtonians voted for Andy Foster to be mayor because he was against the Shelly Bay development. Regardless of what the councillors who voted for the development thought their electorates wanted, the majority of Wellingtonians voted against it by electing Foster.

Fitzsimons should have voted against the proposal, as Wellington asked her to, rather than how she wanted to. Foster is as free to visit the site as she was free to vote against the development. Catharine Underwood, Brooklyn

City of cultural riches

Wonderful Dominion Post humorist Dave Armstrong had me in stitches with his column taking the mickey out of Wellington’s infrastructurewoes and those taskedwith solving them ( Here’s an idea to really get Wellington moving, Nov 24).

But after a good laugh at our coolest little capital’s expense, my thoughts turned to its cultural riches and the very pleasant task of going online to see what’s on offer for one of my regular indulgent weekends in the city.

December 11-12was the obvious choice and I’d soon booked seats for The Messiah at Michael Fowler Centre on Saturday night, then on Sunday for a drag queen brunch (no kidding), followed by a terrific Circa play.

The only question is how I’ll be able to fit in all those galleries, museums, bars and eateries. Not to mention resuming my ever-hopeful search for Mittens.

With so much on offer, I reckon I’ve picked a lucky weekend and that he’ll be waiting forme by the bucket fountain! Carol Webb, Whanganui