Mapp to front in public part of Afghanistan raids inquiry
Former defence minister Wayne Mapp and an ex- New Zealand and Australian defence force chief will give evidence in public to an inquiry into the role of the SAS in the deaths of six Afghan civilians.
Mapp held the defence portfolio at the time of the controversial 2010 raids. Air Chief Marshall Sir Angus Houston was chief of the air force and then Chief of the Defence Force in Australia.
Most of the evidence given to the Government inquiry – the first of its kind in New Zealand history – will be heard in secret.
The large number of witnesses who require anonymity, and the volume of classified material, has led Sir Terence Arnold and Sir Geoffrey Palmer to decide they will hear from witnesses – like Afghan villagers and SAS soldiers – behind closed doors.
But they decided to hold a series of public proceedings and the first will take place on April 4.
The year-long inquiry was due to finish that month but is now expected to take much longer.
The chairs have also decided they will give funding to participants to be able to take part in the public hearings.
The inquiry is examining claims in Hit & Run, by investigative journalists Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson. The book detailed three raids by SAS soldiers in 2010 in Tirgiran Valley.
The authors said six civilians died and 15 were injured, and the events were later covered up by the military.
Mapp will outline how the Government came to the decision to redeploy the SAS in Afghanistan in 2009.
Houston will be called to describe the conflict ‘‘from a military perspective’’. He will also talk about a counter insurgency strategy, and the role of provincial reconstruction teams and special forces.
The public hearing will also hear details about where Operation Burnham took place on August
21-22, 2010. The Defence Force has disputed elements of Hager and Stephenson’s account of the raid, as told in Hit & Run, including the location.
Military lawyers will give a
90-minute presentation on the location, with the authors and villagers allocated 45 minutes each.
An expert in geolocation – David Napier – will provide a report to the inquiry after hearing the submissions.
And the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will both provide reports to the hearing.
In a minute, published this week, Arnold and Palmer said they had recommended that the Department of Internal Affairs allocate money to participants to take part.
Extra funding will also go to the lawyers for the Afghan villagers, represented by Dr Rodney Harrison QC and Deborah Manning, and to Stephenson’s lawyers, LeeSalmonLong.
After a two-day public hearing in November, Arnold and Palmer decided they would hold most of the inquiry behind closed doors.
Classified material – and that held by overseas military and the Nato alliance was at the heart of arguments heard by the chairs.
It was also revealed that the Defence Force was still to hand over 17,000 documents to the inquiry.
Of the 17,400 items deemed relevant, they had catalogued and processed about 9 per cent, or 1600, with only 324 made available seven months into the inquiry.
Arnold and Palmer ordered the Defence Force to disclose all documents by the end of February.
New Zealand’s intelligence agencies argued sharing top secret information collected by other countries could put national security at risk.
But late last year, the United States Government agreed to hand over evidence and documents to the inquiry. Drone and helicopter footage is likely to be key to the inquiry’s findings.
SAS soldiers, Afghan nationals, residents of the targeted villages, intelligence agents, whistle-blowers and journalists’ confidential sources are among those who will now remain anonymous.
‘‘This is likely to be the most complex inquiry ever conducted in New Zealand in procedural terms.
‘‘It has been rendered complex by many factors, but principally the number of witnesses who will need confidentiality when giving evidence and the volume of secret and top secret documents it must examine,’’ the chairs said in a written statement, published in December.
The inquiry has appointed Ben Keith, the former deputy inspectorgeneral of security and intelligence, to review classified material.
Late last year, the United States Government agreed to hand over evidence and documents to the inquiry.