Clark's gaffe hits British headlines

3.00pm

Prime Minister Helen Clark's Iraq gaffe has made it to Britain's newspapers but she remains adamant her Government's stance is right.

Miss Clark had to apologise to United States President George W Bush's administration earlier this month for her comments that the US would not have invaded Iraq if Al Gore was president.

However, she has stuck to her stance that New Zealand would support war in Iraq only if it was sanctioned by the United Nations.

Miss Clark is on a nine-day tour of Europe and in an interview with Britain's Financial Times insisted New Zealand was not feeling isolated as a result of her comments and stance.

"Not a bit. We could not have taken any other position," she said.

"Maybe I've been around too long but these things tend to pass. We've all seen far worse crises ... People will re-engage."

Miss Clark also reiterated her position that the unilateral action had set "very unfortunate precedents for the future".

But she insisted to the Financial Times that the US -- whose Secretary of State Colin Powell last year described New Zealand and the US as "very, very, very good friends" -- was still on excellent terms with New Zealand country and would soon reconcile itself to those who had opposed its handling of Iraq.

"In the heat of the immediate aftermath, a lot of things are said ... but at the end people will get back together," Miss Clark said.

"Give it a few weeks, a few months. Life goes on."

Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen, speaking for Miss Clark today, said the exact contents of the apology letter to US officials would not be disclosed.

"There's a basic issue here around diplomatic documents. Successive governments have declined to release those kinds of diplomatic documents, we have no intention of breaking that. Once you start breaking those laws, it's all on for everybody.

"We're simply going to stick by standard procedures."

While he had not seen the letter itself, he knew "the basic contents".

Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Phil Goff was the first to confirm an apology letter had been sent, but would not release it. Opposition MPs claim the US had wanted a commitment to reconstruction in Iraq to make up for the gaffe.

Mr Goff said the apology letter did not include an offer of assistance to the reconstruction.

Dr Cullen said the Government had not budged on how it would offer help to Iraq.

It had made multi-lateral commitments, through the Red Cross and a UN mine clearing operation, he told reporters this morning.

"Those are the commitments that we have made. We are prepared to make other commitments subject to appropriate multi-lateral cover."

- NZPA


Herald Feature: Iraq