Support for USA in Iraq "Not a Deal to Die For"

Hone Harawira, MANA Leader and MP for Te Tai Tokerau
Tuesday 24 June 2014

“When John Key says ‘New Zealand fully supports the current steps announced by President Obama (in Iraq) 100%’ he is one step away from committing our troops simply to get a good trade deal with the USA,” said MANA Leader and MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Hone Harawira “and that should worry all NZers.”

“It’s the same deal that Prime Minister Holyoake was forced to agree to by President Johnson back in the 60’s” said Harawira “when the USA told us that if we didn’t send troops to Vietnam, they wouldn’t buy our butter.”

“And all we got out of that was dead soldiers flown home in body bags, troops being abused for fighting a dirty war, and the lingering death we now know as Agent Orange.”

“The ugly thing about the current crisis is that America isn’t actually sending troops to Iraq to defend democracy. They have openly stated that they will deploy troops to defend their embassy, their assets, and the deals they struck for oil.”

“So we’d be sending NZ soldiers to defend American interests, not Iraqi people.”

“We’d be better off standing with the independent nations of the world in condemning human rights abuses in Iraq and supporting efforts to reduce violence in that area of the world” said Harawira “and spending our money on feeding thousands of hungry kids here rather than on an American crusade which has already killed thousands of Iraqi kids over there.”

“The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement that Obama wants us to sign up to would make the Treaty of Waitangi worthless, severely limit the autonomy of the New Zealand parliament, and give foreign corporations legal rights over and above the sovereignty of the NZ government.”

“It certainly ain’t a deal worth dying for …”

ENDS

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