Afghanistan

via The Brigade

Santa delivers presents to some naughty people.

John Key has announced that the SAS are coming home at the end of March:

Prime Minister John Key has confirmed the SAS will be withdrawn from Afghanistan in March.
Mr Key made the announcement this morning, saying the Special Air Services troops had done the job they were sent over for.

“You made a difference. It’s time to come home.”

Mr Key had earlier said he did not expect to extend their 30 month deployment past March, but had left a slight chance open for it to be extended, saying that the SAS itself had wanted to stay on.

Today he said he did not regret deploying the troops again.

Labour had opposed the deployment, saying the SAS was effectively assisting a “corrupt” regime in Afghanistan.

Me Key said the SAS had done its job helping Kabul’s Crisis Response Unit (CRU) “to the very highest of standards,” says Mr Key.

“Tragically, they have also paid the highest price, with two of the SAS’s fine soldiers losing their lives in the course of this work and I would, once again, like to pay tribute to Corporal Doug Grant and Lance Corporal Leon Smith who were killed in action.

“I deeply regret the loss of our soldiers but I do not regret our commitment to operations in Afghanistan.”

A contingent of troops has conducted a ceremonial handover parade with a difference at Camp Bastion.

via The Brigade

Afghanistan – touch down in flight from Augustin Pictures on Vimeo.

Paul Holmes wrote a short form playbook for smacking up Phil Goff. Why it has taken them this long to play some of them is beyond me:

When a Labour leader, who had been in Parliament at a senior level in the fourth Labour government in the 1980s, comes along in 2011 and condemns even a partial sale of state assets, the National leader should surely turn round and remind him that he sold the assets in the first place – and sold them so completely that New Zealanders no longer have control and have to endure the rapaciousness of privatised Telecom for 30 years.

When a Labour leader gets stuck into the government for our presence in Afghanistan, then a gentle reminder of who put our SAS in there needs to be forthcoming, surely.

…When Goff spoke of the nobility and wisdom of removing GST on fresh fruit and vegetables, he needed to be reminded that for more than 20 years he was one of the Labour group who said it wouldn’t work and would be too confusing.

When, as late as July this year, Labour were on the record as being opposed to any raising of the age of retirement, and when David Parker admitted on Q&A on Sunday morning that the movement of the superannuation age to 67 had been decided only a fortnight before, Key could have suggested the politics of desperation.

This is why Labour’s message isn’t resonating. People remember that Phil Goff was a staunch defender of the policies he now rails against.

via The Brigade

“Please meet Landon.. his dad Marine LCPL Andrew Carpenter made the ultimate sacrifice while serving on his second deployment with the 3/8 in Afghanistan earlier this year.. a month before his son was born. In the picture, to the right, Andrew Paul Carpenter’s dog tags dangle from his dusty boots. A small Bible, bookmarked with his wedding announcement, rests on the floor beside them.”

Labour has announced that they would bring back the SAS sooner if they became the government, inside 90 days:

Labour would bring New Zealand’s SAS soldiers home from Afghanistan within 90 days of assuming office.

The move was announced today as part of the party’s defence policy.

It was originally embargoed to 7pm but was released early after the embargo was broken.

Defence spokesman Iain Lees-Galloway said Labour would bring the current rotation home within a month and a half and would not send another group.

The Provincial Reconstruction Team would remain in Bamiyan province until 2014.

” We should not be putting the SAS in the middle of a civil war between a corrupt government and a brutal, fundamentalist opposition, where allegiances are constantly shifting and accountability hard to establish,” he said.

Uhmmm…

Nov 26 + 90 days = Feb 24 if you calculate strictly by days. If you use 3 months then 26 February.

The SAS are due home in March.

So Labour are promising to bring home the SAS a whole one week early! Whoopee that’ll win more votes.

Yet another stealing underpants strategy.