Greens Call For Halt To SAS Deployments

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www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0702/S00529.htm

SAS 'rebellion' in Afghanistan welcomed
Wednesday, 28 February 2007, 12:38 pm
Press Release: Green Party
28 February 2007
SAS 'rebellion' in Afghanistan welcomed

Green MP Keith Locke welcomed evidence that our SAS soldiers have 'rebelled' against the mistreatment of prisoners by American forces in southern Afghanistan.

Mr Locke was commenting on media reports today that in 2002, an SAS unit fighting in southern Afghanistan called a protest meeting in Kandahar about the treatment of prisoners.

"Ever since the first SAS contingent went to Afghanistan, I have expressed concern at what would happen when our troops handed over prisoners into US custody.

"The world has been disgusted at the barbaric US treatment of prisoners. At least two prisoners have died in custody after beatings, while others been locked away for years without trial.

"I am glad our SAS troops took the step of registering prisoners with the Red Cross before handing them over, which may have acted as some restraint on their mistreatment in US hands. However, it must be said that the Red Cross has been unable to properly monitor US-held prisoners at Guantanamo Bay - where there have been gross violation of prisoners' rights.

"Although New Zealand has favoured treating those captured according to the Geneva conventions, it wrongly accepted the US definition that Afghan prisoners were not 'prisoner-of-war' because they usually didn't wear uniforms. Our Government has refused to recognise that a 1977 Protocol to the Geneva Conventions covered insurgent forces, who commonly don't wear a uniform.

"Until the issues surrounding the treatment of prisoners is clarified, New Zealand should not be sending an SAS unit back to Afghanistan. It is important that our armed forces do not contribute - even indirectly - to any processes that undermine the Geneva Conventions or the Convention on Torture.

"The Government also needs to assure New Zealanders that our armed forces have not, in any way, abetted the process of rendition, whereby prisoners are subsequently ferried into the hands of people in other countries willing to torture them on behalf of the US.

"The SAS are to be commended for taking the step of involving the Red Cross. We need to know what other steps were taken to distance this country from responsibility for inhumane treatment of prisoners, and whether SAS operations were reliant on an air war that has killed many civilians, and unfortunately fostered the resurgence of the Taliban."

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And this from Goff today: www.stuff.co.nz/3977441a11.html

New Zealand's elite Special Air Service (SAS) troops in Afghanistan have been involved in direct action several times, Defence Minister Phil Goff has revealed in a letter to a parliamentary committee.

"Casualties were suffered on both sides," he said.

"No New Zealanders have been killed but some have been injured and that has been made known by the New Zealand Government at the time."

Mr Goff's letter to the foreign affairs, defence and trade select committee follows an undertaking he gave it last year to consider how much information he could disclose about SAS operations in Afghanistan.

He said in the letter it was a long-standing policy not to provide details of SAS operations because protecting the lives of the soldiers outweighed the public "right to know" and he could not comment in detail.

But he was able to tell the committee the SAS had conducted operations in Afghanistan between December 2001 and November 2005.

The first deployment was for 12 months with two subsequent deployments each for six months.

The size of each contingent varied between 40 and 65 personnel, and they all worked alongside other special forces as part of the United States-led Joint Special Operations Task Force.

"Missions have been conducted in all seasons on ground ranging from open desert-like expanse through to the high altitude, mountainous landscape of the Hindu Kush," he said.

"Tasks for deployments have included special reconnaissance, direct action, close personnel protection and specialist search."

Patrols typically lasted for more than 20 days and were re-supplied by helicopter.

Mr Goff said the SAS troops had also been involved in actions where individuals were temporarily detained in order to capture Taliban or al Qaeda suspects believed to be among them.

"The NZDF understands that no person who has been held, even temporarily, in New Zealand custody is currently in the hands of the United States or other nations represented in the international forces," he said.

Mr Goff reported that the SAS were highly regarded by other international forces, and he included in his letter the US Presidential Citation awarded to the unit in December 2004.

Meanwhile, Mr Goff said he could not verify a report in today's NZ Herald that SAS forces deployed in Afghanistan had complained about the handling of prisoners they had captured and handed over to the United States.

The Herald said the soldiers called a meeting of other special forces at Kandahar base, concerned prisoners were not being properly registered.

The newspaper said the prisoners had their heads shaved, their belongings thrown into a pile with no photographs or ID taken, instead of being identified, photographed and fingerprinted.

"We have no record of any meeting being called of the nature that was suggested so I can't say that it's either true or untrue," Mr Goff told reporters.

He had no such record and neither did the Chief of Defence Force.

Soldiers, who did have concerns, would generally advise the senior national office in Afghanistan, Mr Goff said.

If there had been a clear breach of international standards, that would have been reported to the Chief of Defence Force.

However, Mr Goff felt that any New Zealand soldier who had seen people not being treated in the way they expected detainees to be treated would have spoken out about it.

"That's the way New Zealanders are."