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Cabinet Minister Jim Anderton has revealed a split in the Government with his comments comparing events in Iraq to the Vietnam war.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has ripped into Mr Anderton, saying his comments about US President George W Bush were "ill-informed and regrettable".
But Mr Anderton, who is currently duty minister for the Governemnt, is sticking to his criticism of the United States' decision to send more troops into Iraq - while accepting he was speaking out of line from government policy.
The Greens accused Prime Minister Helen Clark and Mr Peters of being more concerned with not offending the US than "telling it like it is".
In an interview with the Press newspaper, Mr Anderton drew comparisons between the US sending more troops to Iraq and the Vietnam War "fiasco".
He said in the interview that it was hard to see how an additional 20,000 to 25,000 US troops in Iraq would be capable of making any real difference "and this has an eerie Vietnam revisited element to it".
Mr Anderton added: "One wonders whether the lessons I would have expected to be learnt from that fiasco have been learnt in any way at all.
"It is literally years since Mr Bush landed on an aircraft carrier and announced the war was over. I don't know whether he remembers that.
"We remain consistent with our original view about military action not being a sustainable or long-term contributor to the peaceful development of Iraq."
Prime Minister Helen Clark said yesterday that Iraq faced enormous challenges and the situation there was of great concern to New Zealand and the whole international community.
But she steered clear of any criticism of Mr Bush's decision to send more troops to Iraq.
A spokesman for Helen Clark said Mr Anderton had been speaking to his local newspaper and the statement issued last night by the Prime Minister was the Government's position.
In that statement, Helen Clark said attempts to bring peace to Iraq had foundered in the face of a bitter insurgency marked by sectarian violence. She said the challenges for Iraq were enormous and its survival as a nation relied on its communities rising above their differences and working towards a common goal.
Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said: "The Government's duty minister Jim Anderton is right on the button when he described George Bush's war in Iraq as another Vietnam, but Helen Clark and her Foreign Minister Winston Peters seem more concerned about not offending George Bush than telling it like it is.
"The fact that Clark has been willing to bag her closest coalition partner in order to keep relations with the US friendly is not something I would have expected from a leader who just three years ago inspired New Zealand by refusing to bow to pressure to join the 'coalition of the willing'."
Mr Anderton said today he had been speaking to his local newspaper so had been wearing the hats of local MP, leader of the Progressive Party and as the Government's duty minister.
He said: "When you're duty minister you're kind of covering all bases and sometimes it's a bit of what you think yourself personally and what you're representing. So I can't say that it's a fully considered government position because you don't get the chance of having a fully considered government position, but it's what I think and I think it has to be seen in that context."
National leader John Key said the Government had started the year with a foreign policy shambles.There was no doubt that Mr Anderton, number three in the Cabinet, had been simply reflecting on what he had heard around the Cabinet table, Mr Key said.
- NZPA, NZ HERALD STAFF
