KEY POINTS:
Sometimes you have to wonder how our senior politicians and police force get themselves into messes such as the so-called terrorist arrests.
Last month, New Zealand took centrestage worldwide in the "war against terrorism", dramatically invading a terrorist camp and mobilising hundreds of armed police nationwide. Dozens of homes were stormed, with 17 terrorist suspects and their belongings carted off to prison.
On that day, armed blockades were stationed on roads around Ruatoki, near the Ureweras. All vehicles were searched and, in many cases, their drivers and occupants detained and photographed. Locals were not permitted to leave town. More concerning, though, was that even after the suspects had been arrested, police in full battle regalia continued house-to-house raids in Ruatoki, targeting residents who were not even involved. Disturbing stories are starting to circulate that many innocent residents were imprisoned in their bedrooms for hours while their homes were ransacked.
Once the suspects had been apprehended and the raids completed, Police Commissioner Howard Broad breathlessly informed the country that the arrested suspects would be charged under the Terrorism Suppression Act. Though he couldn't give the public more information, he assured us that he had ample evidence and we should trust them. In fact, he went so far as to say that he would stake his professional reputation that these were bona fide terrorists. It was all very dramatic, of course. Given what we now know, you'd have thought commonsense would have been for the police to say they had arrested these people on firearms charges with more serious charges pending.
Helen Clark and John Key admitted to having been briefed by the commissioner and senior officers of our spy agencies. When the Terrorism Act was first passed, we were assured that it was not intended for domestic crimes - political or otherwise - but was merely for our protection against foreign terrorists. Our terrorism laws would give our police appropriate powers to detain terrorists who intended or were killing people or blowing up things to terrorise us. So when the commissioner tells us that the police have a watertight case, it's a serious matter.
The problem with this story, of course, is that the political community in New Zealand is very small and many of the people are known.
Tame Iti is the most high-profile prisoner and police were always drawing a long bow if they thought that most New Zealanders would actually believe he was a terrorist, intent on mayhem and murder. Iti has assured those close to him that the police have nothing on him and he is looking forward to his trial. It could be his finest hour.
As the names of the others have been released, the police case is becoming even more absurd. It was incredible to me that some of the people I know who were arrested were being deemed terrorists. They are a mixture of Maori sovereignists, environmental campaigners, anarchist political activists and, admittedly, a few oddballs.
I spoke to one of the bailed prisoners who assured me that not only did he not believe in violence but that he had not even touched a gun in his life, let alone fired one. The more information I get, the clearer it becomes that there is not a hope in hell the ones I know will be convicted on terrorism charges. I don't doubt that the police have evidence that most of those arrested were running around in the bush with guns. This may mean that they can be charged under our gun laws. How our politicians and the police have got themselves into this mess has nothing to do with these people in the Ureweras. The Suppression of Terrorism Act was a knee-jerk reaction at the behest of the United States and British Governments in reaction to 9/11. Our current laws were written to accommodate the US terrorism hysteria at that time and far exceed the United Nations requirements that each country was asked to implement. The politicians from both main parties passed bad law and then foolishly gave our police and spy agencies 10s of millions of dollars a year to spend on spying on our domestic political activists. Given that these agencies need to justify their budgets, this fiasco was inevitable.
Predictably, the Solicitor-General tried to save the police commissioner's butt at his press conference on Thursday. Despite the spin, he conceded that there were no grounds to lay terrorism charges against anyone. But alarmingly, rather than the politicians and police now backing off, we actually have our bunglers calling for us to give them even more power and lower the legal protections of citizens who our police agencies deem to be nominees for terrorism. This is farce on even more farce. The terrorism laws need to be thrown out and new laws written that accommodate the United Nations' sensible requests. Our present terrorism laws are 5 per cent UN requirements with the other 95 per cent added to please our US allies. Why we feel the need to jump to George W. Bush's mad political agenda is beyond me.
There is an old saying that when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. I suggest that our politicians and our police commissioner do exactly that.
