Today in Parliament, Prime Minister John Key was forced to answer questions about his plans to send the NZDF to Iraq to train that country's war-criminal army. Meanwhile, the NZ media were reporting from Vanuatu about the absolute devastation there and the need for international assistance. Which raises the obvious question: why are we sending the NZDF to Iraq rather than Vanuatu?
While the NZDF likes to pretend otherwise, disaster relief is what they really exist for. Its the mission they've trained for, the mission they're good at. And unlike Iraq, it would actually help people, actually do some good, and make friends rather than enemies.
If we can spend money to kill people, we can spend it to help people as well. Rather than spending $65 million to send kiwi troops to die in Iraq, we should spend it on helping our neighbours in the Pacific.