'War on terror' just got closer

Mark Dawson, Editor of Wanganui Chronicle

We have watched from the sidelines as a "war on terror" - sometimes bogus; sometimes genuine - has been waged thousands of kilometres away from the safe haven that is New Zealand.

This "war" - nebulous, imprecise, apparently all-embracing - has been an excuse for mass surveillance of innocent citizens; torture; and land grabs, and also as a useful vote-winning slogan.

It is not a war being won by the United States and its allies - the growth of the Islamic State movement in Iraq and Syria proves that.

Now John Key is taking New Zealand into the war with the prospect of troops being deployed in Iraq, most likely in a training capacity.

In doing so, he has immediately increased the risk of an attack on Kiwi soil or on Kiwis overseas.

That doesn't necessarily make his decision wrong. He will argue that Isis poses a grave threat to the stability of an inter-connected world and we must do our bit. The fact that NZ now has a seat on the United Nations Security Council adds weight to the argument that we must be seen to be a "good citizen".

And it is probably true that in a globalised world with its advanced communication technologies and ease of travel, we could not have stayed immune forever from the brutal acts of those at odds with the Western democratic perspective.

But it is to be hoped that our "opposition to terror" does not over-run our civil liberties and, while Key has admired Australia and its premier Tony Abbott's sabre-rattling, he should be cautious about following our neighbour's example.

Australia has just enacted laws - on behalf of the "war on terror", of course - that make it illegal to report matters of national security, while a report or advert that could be considered as aiding recruitment for a foreign army now carries 10 years' jail time.

A free press, a foundation of a democratic society, could now be a casualty in this "war".