Anthony Hubbard in the Sunday Star Times on the New Governor General: Afghanistan torture haunts next governor-general. You think?
Afghanistan is the site of a particularly nasty war. And for better or for worse our Military are trying to bring some sort of civilization to that sad region. Of course the place was hardly the Garden of Eden before Western involvement, nor before the Soviet involvement that preceded that.
And let us not forget the reason why we are there and that is Afghanistan exported its pathology, in particular it was the origin of an attack on the United States which left nearly 3000 dead in streets of New York, Washington and the fields of Pennsylvania.
I'm against torture of course, and I am also against the death of infants through abuse. Just last week another baby died of head injuries in Starship hospital, This is not an event that took place in a far off war zone but in our own backyard. An event so common now that most of us barely noticed.
I wish John Key and Jerry Mateparae could fix things so babies in New Zealand could sleep safely in their cradles, its a hard problem - no?
But one that it is reasonable to look to them to try and resolve.
Holding them accountable for uncivilized behavior in Afghanistan by Afghanis is probably too much of a burden to lay upon their shoulders.
Afghanistan is the site of a particularly nasty war. And for better or for worse our Military are trying to bring some sort of civilization to that sad region. Of course the place was hardly the Garden of Eden before Western involvement, nor before the Soviet involvement that preceded that.
And let us not forget the reason why we are there and that is Afghanistan exported its pathology, in particular it was the origin of an attack on the United States which left nearly 3000 dead in streets of New York, Washington and the fields of Pennsylvania.
I'm against torture of course, and I am also against the death of infants through abuse. Just last week another baby died of head injuries in Starship hospital, This is not an event that took place in a far off war zone but in our own backyard. An event so common now that most of us barely noticed.
I wish John Key and Jerry Mateparae could fix things so babies in New Zealand could sleep safely in their cradles, its a hard problem - no?
But one that it is reasonable to look to them to try and resolve.
Holding them accountable for uncivilized behavior in Afghanistan by Afghanis is probably too much of a burden to lay upon their shoulders.