NZDF head Lt General Tim Keating has unexpectedly resigned, just two months before his term of office was meant to end. But he wants everyone to know that it has absolutely nothing to do with alleged war crimes committed by his men in Afghanistan in 2010, or the lies he told about them:
The Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant General Tim Keating has announced he is stepping down from his role.
Keating announced the move in an email sent to all Defence Force staff on Tuesday.
He did not give a reason for his resignation, but said he was not standing down due to the allegations about Operation Burnham in 2010 which was the subject of the book Hit & Run.
From his email, he's still in complete denial about those crimes, publicly at least. But this sort of resignation, so soon after being exposed as a liar, and on the eve of the government announcing an inquiry into NZDF's coverup, seems... suspicious, neh? Almost as if he is jumping overboard after something unpleasant was finally forced to light.
But a mere public inquiry may not be enough. If war crimes have been committed, their perpetrators and accessories after the fact (which almost certainly includes Keating) need to be prosecuted. And that's a job for the courts, not an inquiry.
