Back in September, John Key said that sending the SAS to Iraq was his "least preferred option", "at the very outer edge of what we'd be wanting to do". Today, he's changed his tune:
New Zealand's elite Special Air Service (SAS) could be deployed to Iraq to protect Kiwi troops sent to train local forces.
Prime Minister John Key confirmed that was one option under consideration as the government continues to weigh up its response to the rise of Islamic State (IS) n Iraq and Syria.
[...]
Speaking to Fairfax on his way to the G20 summit in Brisbane at the weekend, Key said the Government was still weighing up the shape of its contribution, and said he could not rule out deploying the SAS.
[As Pablo points out at Kiwipolitico, deploying the SAS even for "protection" will inevitably see them used in a combat role].
Do we need any more evidence of Key's deceit over this? He knows kiwis do not want to see our troops in Iraq, but the US has snapped its fingers, and so he offers up some human sacrifices. The last two months of prevarication and slow escalation have been about selling that decision to us. In the process they've made it perfectly clear that our government works for foreign masters, that we cannot trust anything it says, and that they view us as subjects to be lied to rather than citizens to obey.
Wouldn't it be nice to have a government which served us, rather than the US?
