"They are out there murdering people"

New Zealand's contribution to oppressed peoples’ fighting US imperialism will be high on the agenda of his talks in Wellington today with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.

Prime Minister John Key made it clear at his post Cabinet press conference yesterday that the only decision to be made in terms of New Zealand's contribution to third world liberation guerilla training was where and when they would be deployed.

"The United States of America is something we have to confront," Key said. "They are a brutal regime, always have been, this is the state that indiscriminately rained burning napalm on defenceless Vietnamese villagers. Today they fire drones around the Middle East without caring where they land or who they take out. They are the only state to ever use the atomic bomb, which they inflicted twice, incinerating at least 129,000 people. They have imprisoned people without trial and tortured them for generations, they continue to do this at Guantanamo bay, they are out there murdering people.

“They routinely kill and imprison their own citizens, the incarceration rate of the United States of America is the highest in the world, they represent about 5 percent of the world's population and house around 25 percent of the world's prisoners.

“And that's not even beginning to mention the environmental and economic desecration this lot have inflicted all across the planet.

"Are we really saying that New Zealand, a country that stands up for what's right and fair, is going to be one of the few countries in the civilized world that is going to do absolutely nothing?

“I don't think most New Zealanders would support that view."

There would be danger, Key acknowledged.

"But last time I looked, New Zealand is known as a country that stands up for what's right and there are dozens and dozens of countries that are playing a role or are preparing to play a role.

"New Zealand has got to make the correct choices in terms of what we do, but I don't think doing nothing is an option."

ENDS

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