Clark attacked over Iraq deployment

By KEVIN TAYLOR


Opposition MPs say Prime Minister Helen Clark has backtracked on comments that New Zealand would send military forces to Iraq only under the United Nations.

In Parliament yesterday they accused the Government of currying favour with the United States following Monday's announcement that up to 160 Defence Force personnel would go to Iraq and Afghanistan.

The decision won praise from the US State Department, which said the contributions were meaningful and welcomed.

But opposition MPs cited newspaper reports from late March quoting Helen Clark as saying New Zealand would not send peacekeepers to Iraq unless it was part of a UN operation.

The Herald reported her at the time ruling out contributing personnel to a US-organised peacekeeping force after the war, but saying the Government would be "delighted" to take part in a UN operation.

Yesterday in the House she denied being inconsistent, saying New Zealand had always been prepared to help provided there was "appropriate multilateral cover".

That cover came in UN Security Council resolution 1483, which recognised America and Britain as occupying powers but also appealed for international help for humanitarian and reconstruction work in Iraq.

"That resolution, which New Zealand I might say lobbied and advocated for and it is a good resolution, provides a very sound legal basis for these deployments," Helen Clark said.

She also said engineers were not peacekeepers.

But National leader Bill English said the UN was not in control in Iraq.

New Zealand's engineers would be under the control of the British, who were an invading force and an occupying power.

The Government was trying to repair damage done to the country's national interests by recent comments and bad judgment, he said.

It started with Helen Clark's comments that the Iraq war would not have happened if Democrat Al Gore had been US President, and culminated with Foreign Minister Phil Goff holding hands with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Act leader Richard Prebble said the Government was sending troops to secure diplomatic and trade advantages.

Green Party foreign affairs spokesman Keith Locke said the move was about "scoring more brownie points" in London and Washington.

But Progressives leader Jim Anderton and United Future leader Peter Dunne came to the Government's defence, accusing opposition MPs of hypocrisy.

Mr Anderton said it was the "height of hypocrisy" to claim on the one hand the Government was sycophantically crawling up to New Zealand's allies and then to criticise when it acted on a UN call for help.

Helen Clark said earlier the State Department's reaction to the deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan had been "very positive".

NZ's new missions:

* An engineer group numbering up to 60 will go to southern Iraq and operate with the British.

* NZ will lead or contribute to a 50 to 100 strong "provincial reconstruction team" in Afghanistan.

* The soldiers will be armed.

Herald Feature: Iraq