We’re in a war ... but no excuse
My brother served in the army, I nearly served – but nobody signed up to kill civilians. This could cast a cloud over the Defence Force.
WARNING: this is a bit grim.
There’s a particularly chilling passage in Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson’s new book Hit& Run. ’’The helicopters rained down cannon fire and rockets, destroying the houses, injuring two of the mothers, and five of their children and killing a sixth small child as she was held in her mother’s arms.’’
Excuse the rough beginning, but there’s no real way to soften the impact of this book, which details New Zealand SAS raids on villages in Afghanistan in 2010. Twenty-one people were injured, six were killed. Hager claims they were all civilians and their deaths must be investigated.
Back in the day when I wrote for a daily newspaper, there were reporters – and there were journalists. Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson are journalists. Their body of work displays a commitment to truth and questioning of power.
You won’t see them writing about My Kitchen Rules or whether the Moon landings were real. Not that I mind stories about popular culture.
It’s just that these guys write about aspects of the world that few of us have to contend with. It’s them we trust to keep a look out, while we’re busy checking our social media and binge-watching television serials.
They claim to have written about something that demands the attention of the country. Something that speaks to who we are as humans, and what our values are when it comes to our role in helping to resolve international conflicts.
Military officials say inquiries were conducted in 2011 and these allegations are nothing new. Prime Minister Bill English repeated this week: ‘‘so far there isn’t anything new.’’
Except – saying it’s nothing new is not the same as saying it’s not true. The authors claim their sources are New Zealand soldiers who wanted the story told, and people who live in the village where the action took place.
In New Zealand we seem to generally have a healthy respect for our armed forces.
My brother served in the Army for 14 years. He really enjoyed it and because of that, when I was on the cusp of leaving school, joining the army was one of my three career options.
Our appreciation for the country’s military is forged from the role they played in New Zealand’s nationhood, heroic stories from various conflicts during which New Zealanders were reportedly loved and appreciated by local populace.
When it comes to Afghanistan, we prefer to imagine our soldiers rebuilding schools and hospitals. We probably wouldn’t like to picture soldiers taking civilian lives.
Yes, it’s war, but surely we have a duty of care to civilians.
This could cast a cloud over the New Zealand Defence Force for as long as these allegations are allowed to fester. There will be a new story in the media every time someone important adds to the call for an investigation.
To justify increased surveillance powers on citizens, the government likes to trot out the line: if we have nothing to hide we have nothing to worry about.
Surely the same thing applies here, and it’s important enough to conclusively know the truth.