Estimations: Who Encouraged Horse To Go To Iraq?

Last Thursday July 15, Foreign Affairs Minister, Phil Goff, faced up to both Dr Lockwood Smith of National and Keith Locke of the Greens at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) Estimates hearing of evidence.

Whilst Dr Lockwood Smith's exchange with the Minister received a good deal of coverage and were most entertaining, the Minister and Mr Locke's exchange of views on Iraq were also noteworthy though somewhat less well publicised.

Whilst ostensibly looking ahead to the next financial year, the Minister had time to dwell on the current situation in Iraq, and find time to praise the investigative journalism of TVNZ current affairs reporter Cameron Bennett of the 'Sunday' program.

" I think anyone who saw the Cameron Bennett pieces on television saw the fantastic work our engineers are doing at some risk to their safety… in Iraq in terms of the positive rebuilding and reconstruction process."

Later Mr Goff was able to comment on the extremely dangerous situation in Iraq and explain why Iraq was too dangerous for civilians

"The reason we have Defence Force engineers up there [Iraq] and not civil engineers is that Defence Force engineers are equipped and trained to protect themselves. You could not have civilian engineers up there and have confidence that they could be safe."

There were also further stern words of warning for any New Zealand civilian be foolhardy enough to consider Iraq a desirable destination.

"Our advisory is crystal clear - New Zealander's should not be in Iraq - it is not safe. We cannot guarantee their [New Zealand civilians] safety and we certainly don’t want to be in the position where a New Zealander could be held hostage and faced with the appalling outcomes [be-headings, ransoms etc] that we’ve seen in other cases."

Sadly it appeared a number of New Zealand civilians had not heeded the cautionary words of MFAT.

Many civilian personnel - a large number of whom were ex-military personnel - had opted for the lure of US dollars and had sought employment in Iraq. Most famous of these adventurers was droopy mustached and pony-tailed ex-SAS sergeant, 'Horse'. After a stint as a panelist on TVNZ's How's Life show it appears Horse spent a couple of weeks in Iraq. This work, whilst financially lucrative, had also been extremely dangerous.

New Zealand civilian contractors such as Horse were left in no doubt as to the New Zealand Government's view of their foolhardy money making pursuits. However it appeared that advice is all the New Zealand Government can provide.

"Our advisories are just that. We can tell people… give them the advantage of the knowledge that we have but as we've seen in recent cases there will be people that go up there. Some for reasons of adventure, some for very attractive salaries. An attractive salary doesn't compensate for the loss of your life."

Rather embarrassingly for Mr Goff , Keith Locke decided to point out at this point that a New Zealand Army Brigadier (Southwell) had actually provided a reference to an ex soldier (i.e. a civilian) and further stated that organisations recruiting soldiers were allowed onto New Zealand army bases.

The reference from Brigadier Southwell was first picked up by the media in the Sunday Star Times May 15.

"The officer's reference from land commander Brigadier Southwell commented glowingly on the NZSAS sergeant's assignment as principle protection officer for Foreign Minister Phil Goff on a visit to Afghanistan and said: ‘I have no hesitation in recommending (him) as a leader of a Close Protection Team in even the most severe of security situations.’”

The vexed questions of the bases was deftly side stepped by the Minister. And for Mr Goff it appeared the valuable protection provided by the unnamed Sergeant to Mr Goff in the past cut little ice with the Minister.

"I would regard it as unwise for anybody in the Defence Force to suggest, promote or support a member of their forces [who is leaving those forces] undertaking such employment."

The Minister also pointed out that whilst ex-military personnel had been trained to deal with dangerous situations, this training would not be an absolute guarantee against harm.

And it was not certain whether augmenting this training with celebrity television roles (a la Horse) would be a hindrance or a help in Iraq as Dr Lockwood Smith's verbal joust with the Minister took center stage from this point.

Estimations will be an occasional news column by Scoop Chief Reporter Kevin List in which he relates events which occur during the annual round of Estimates Hearings in the NZ Parliament's Select Committees. Estimates Hearings are hearings of evidence from departmental and ministry officials relating to the annual estimates. The estimates form the greater part of the budget documentation, and outline what the various arms of Government plan to spend in the coming year.

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