Kiwiblog

This is almost too funny for words. Labour’s bold new defence policy is:

Labour will withdraw New Zealand’s SAS troops from Afghanistan within 90 days of assuming office

Why is this so funny? Well the SAS are scheduled to return home in March 2012.

The election is on 26 November 2011. 90 days after that is 24 February 2012. So the impact of their policy is to bring them home a week early.

But in reality, it probably isn’t even that. They say within 90 days of assuming office, not of the election. it normally takes at least a week to arrange a coalition, appoint Ministers and be sworn in. As a Labour-led Government this time would involve getting agreement with the Greens, with NZ First and with Mana, its actually possible the SAS would be home before they’re even sworn in

Very sad news filtered through last night about the death of an SAS solider in Afghanistan. He is the fourth NZ or NZ born solider to die in Afghanistan in the last year, but the first from the SAS.

Thoughts and condolences to his family, comrades and friends.

The Press editorial on the SAS:

Just five days before Anzac Day it was revealed that SAS troops were part of an operation in Afghanistan last August in which nine Taleban fighters were killed. Critics of New Zealand’s deployment there have sought to portray the operation as some sort of “revenge killing” following the death in action of Lieutenant Tim O’Donnell. This suggestion was not only incorrect but was also an affront to the SAS.

Undoubtedly SAS troops would have been angry at O’Donnell’s death but these soldiers are also part of one of the most professional and disciplined military forces in the world, which does not undertake unauthorised revenge or rogue operations.

Their job in Afghanistan is to protect the provincial reconstruction team from insurgents and inevitably this involves military action when intelligence reports indicate the presence of Taleban fighters.

And the operation in August had been mandated by both the Afghan Government and the International Security Assistance Force of Nato.

The real message that should be taken from the SAS raid is that it is a reminder of the valuable work being carried out by New Zealand soldiers in a range of overseas theatres. In doing so, these military personnel continue a proud tradition of this nation consistently punching above its weight in its contributions to war campaigns and peace-keeping operations.

The Press is absolutely right.

The people who called it a revenge killing should be ashamed. The job of the SAS is to stop the Taleban fighters from killing people, and the harsh reality is they do this by killing them. It’s not revenge – it’s war.

Claire Trevett in the NZ Herald reports:

Mr Key said he was assured by the Chief of the Defence Force that the SAS’s world cup commitments would not be compromised by the small contingent remaining in Afghanistan.

He expected it to be the last deployment in Afghanistan and said the SAS had requested it to allow troops to complete their work with the crisis response unit so it could continue on without them. He believed the SAS was best placed to assess the situation, so he had taken the request on board.

I think it is sensible to finish a job they have started, and helping train up the Afghan Crisis Response Team is a job which won’t extendon forever.

Although Labour had previously sent the SAS to Afghanistan, its leader Phil Goff opposed the 2009 deployment saying the Afghan Government was clearly corrupt. Yesterday he repeated his concerns, saying New Zealand should instead focus on reconstruction in Bamiyan.

I despair that Labour though all principles to the wind in a desperate gasp for publicity. If the Government is too corrupt to have the SAS remain, then logically it is too corrupt to have the Provincial Reconstruction Team remain also.

I find it almost amusing that Labour sent the SAS to Afghanistan when George W Bush asked for them, but say we should say “fuck off” to the US when nobel peace prize winner Barack Obama asks for them.

Direct Capital have sent this message to their investors:

Dear Investors

You may have seen media coverage over the weekend regarding a conference we held on 28 October at the Papakura Army Camp.  As not all of the media coverage was accurate, we would like to provide you the background to this.

Every two years Direct Capital hosts a conference for key people (generally owners, Chairmen and CEOs) from portfolio companies from the funds we manage, plus a small number of key advisors and prospective company partners.  It is one of the key marketing initiatives we commit resource to.  It is a unique opportunity for all of our company owners, and prospective new partners, to meet and exchange views and experiences on common topics of interest.  It has always been well attended by our portfolio companies, and we use it as one of our selling points when we are marketing to prospective companies.

This year’s event was very special.  We were very privileged to be able to arrange to be hosted by the NZ SAS unit at the Papakura Military Camp.  While it is not a regular occurrence for the SAS to host such groups, it is something they do from time to time with high-performance teams.  It is also consistent with their intention to engage more with the community.  We had 70 representatives of some of New Zealand’s leading private companies in attendance – a group that the SAS rightly identified as sharing a number of attributes consistent with the SAS’s own pursuit of excellence.

The conference followed our usual format, leading off with a guest speaker from outside the attendees.  This year it was  two of the senior members of the SAS unit and their presentation focused on the selection process, their unrelenting pursuit of excellence, their ethos and the key tenets of the unit.  There was a particular emphasis on how these attributes applied in a business sense.

The balance of the conference entailed a number of presentations from our company owners on specific topics.  Following the conference we were provided a standard demonstration of SAS capabilities.  We then completed the day at the base with refreshments and were delighted to be joined by unit members, before having dinner in the city.

In appreciation, the Manager paid for consumables and made a substantial donation to the NZSAS Trust – a trust established to benefit members that have actively served in or been posted to the SAS, and their dependents.  The trust provides welfare assistance, support and financial assistance to maintain a reasonable quality of life for members, to provide support and assistance in times of crisis, and to provide support and financial assistance for further education and vocational training.

We feel very privileged to have been hosted by the SAS and the overwhelming feedback we received from those attending was that it one of the best, or the best, corporate day  they had experienced.  The unit members we met were an absolute credit to our armed services. A very common perspective from our attendees was how applicable unit members’ leadership and personal skills were to business and what excellent business leaders the members would make in the future.

We regret that there has been media coverage of the day, and that some of that has been negatively focused.  We have never sought media coverage for these conferences, but the nature of this one obviously led to it.

We will continue to support initiatives that support business excellence.

We have provided a summary of the day on its website and I enclose a link to this for you if you are interested:

http://www.directcapital.co.nz/News.aspx?id=90

If you have further questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Regards

The Direct Capital Team

I really don’t see what all the fuss has been about.

The Herald reports:

Labour leader Phil Goff said the SAS should not be fighting for a corrupt regime that had failed to lift the “hearts and minds” of the people.

I’m confused. Is Phil Goff saying the SAS should have refused to obey instructions from the last Government?

I agree it was despicable they way they defended the actions of Taito Philip Field, but I think saying the SAS should have refused to fight for them is a bit too strong.

Appalled is my reaction to the decisions of APN and Fairfax to run photos of SAS soldiers at work in Afghanistan, which show their faces.  The reported defence is:

Herald assistant editor John Roughan said the paper stood by the decision to use the picture which, he said, had real news value.

“The soldiers were in a public street, in a major city, visible to anybody, wearing their uniforms, carrying their guns, photographed as the New Zealand SAS.”

For fuck’s sake, they are not in Kabul to go to the movies. They are there because they take part in some of the most dangerous operations possible against the Taliban and associated forces.

By all means, run the photo – but why the hell didn’t you black out the face of the solider? There are some things more important than news value.

Trevor Mallard blogs:

We are now at a point where there is no evidence of an exit plan for Afghanistan. The point where there could be a quick anti-terrorist solution is well past. History is littered with armies that have left there defeated with tails between their legs.

Nothing I’ve seen to date convinces me that we should send the SAS back.

I could not resist commenting:

I am amused that Labour had such high confidence on Bush’s exit strategy that they sent the SAS in not once, not twice but three times. And one of those was a 12 month deployment so effectively four times. The notion they were only sent when in hot pursuit doesn’t explain why they were there as late as 2005.

All I can conclude is that Labour had faith and trust in Bush’s exit strategy but none in Obama’s exit strategy.

The Herald editorial:

More fundamentally, most New Zealanders recognise their country must play a role in the escalating war against the Taleban. If the conflict is lost, Afghanistan will again become a bolt-hole for terrorism.

It is not just about Afghanistan.

There are good reasons for heightened New Zealand involvement at an early stage. This is looming as a defining time in the struggle. The Americans, with Iraq now much less of a distraction, have poured 20,000 more troops into the country, sparking major new offensives against the Taleban in the south and east. Most encouragingly, the Obama Administration has insisted on a new strategy, which places less emphasis on tracking and killing Taleban fighters and more on protecting Afghans from the insurgents.

The change in strategy seems very wise.

The Americans had some success with this strategy in Iraq, but Afghanistan is far more complex, if only because the Taleban, largely composed of members of the Pashtun tribes, is so well integrated. Even striking deals with more-moderate Taleban leaders will prove far from easy, given the international coalition’s emphasis on human rights and gender equality.

And the Pashtun are very nationalistic, only really uniting against foreigners.

Nonetheless, this is not a struggle that New Zealand can shirk. Sending the SAS has nothing to with currying favour with the White House. It is about the way Afghanistan provided a training ground for worldwide terrorism. Last week’s bombing in Jakarta reinforced the fact that every effort must be made to prevent that happening again.

Also, this is exactly the sort of combat the SAS has trained for. And from all accounts are very proficient at.