Helen Clark revelled in her Paris visit this week after being kissed on the hand by French President Jacques Chirac. The whole thing obviously went to her head. She spoke of New Zealand being linked to a French/German/Russian/Chinese bloc instead of a “small Anglo-American group.” So once again we turn our back on traditional allies like Australia, Britain and the US. This follows insults to Australia and the US in previous weeks where the PM accused Australia of trading Australian lives for trade and said the Iraq War would not have happened under an Al Gore (Democrat) presidency. The latter remark, after a Washington protest, resulted in an apology, although the PM is still refusing to give Parliament the text of this.
The irony of all this is that Jacques Chirac was the person who repatriated Rainbow Warrior saboteur Dominique Prieur. Also, through documents found in the bombed out Iraqi Foreign Ministry and security agencies, the French have also been caught out for feeding information to Baghdad on US war intentions. French-US discussions were channelled to Baghdad to assist Saddam Hussein! Other documents showed French cooperation with Saddam’s security forces to thwart human rights protests in France over Saddam’s evil regime. The French, of course, benefited by billions of dollars under the United Nations oil-for-food deal. No wonder they threatened a UN veto on military action. Helen Clark finds it convenient not to address all this. The extraordinary thing is how the New Zealand news media is so compliant that it is not putting all this together. The adulatory coverage of her trip to Europe could have been written by her own spin-doctors.
Bill English
Leader of New Zealand's NATIONAL Party.
May 2 2003