Wednesday 31 October 2018

The disturbing story behind Willie Apiata’s Victoria Cross. (June 27, 2018)

25 July 2018 at 4:30 pm
The disturbing story behind Willie Apiata’s Victoria Cross.
Paula Penfold challenges the “cowardly” Lt. Col. Tim Keating to come clean.
The Panel, RNZ National, Wednesday 27 June 2018
Jim Mora, Paula Penfold, Allan Blackman, Caitlin Cherry
JIM MORA: …. Thank you, that’s interesting from you. Allan Blackman. And—Paula Penfold.
PAULA PENFOLD: I would like to talk about the soon to be departed Chief of Defence, Lieutenant General Tim Keating, who I see has been doing a series of media interviews today. I haven’t heard it yet, unfortunately, but I understand he was on Nine to Noon this morning with Kathryn Ryan, and I know that he’s done at least one other interview with journalists, I imagine there are probably more. I find that intriguing, because we at Stuff Circuit have been asking Lieutenant General Keating for an interview for four years now. And, knowing that he was about to depart his post, we went to see him as he was departing a Select Committee a couple of weeks ago.
He wasn’t, I suppose it has to be said, best pleased to see us, but we did get to ask him a couple of questions because we have been doing this investigation for quite some time now. And after we published The Valley in August last year he put out a thirty-four page statement responding to much of what we said, and said that he would be investigating the allegations that we raised abut the 2004 battle in Uruzgan, which led to the Victoria Cross for Willie Apiata. Now I wanted to know what had happened with that investigation because he said that he would be responding publicly and then he never did, so I wanted to know whether that was going anywhere. And he said yes indeed, that it was undergoing a legal investigation but I’m interested in the fact that this man who, this Chief of Defence who held a conference on transparency in the NZDF at the end of last year, has elected to do some media interviews, and I’m sure those journalists did a very good job, but they’re not the ones who have been investigating and publishing these allegations; we are, and he won’t answer my questions.
I’ve issued a public apolog— uh, “apology”!—a public invitation to him on this very program previously to front up and answer some questions from us because these are allegations that are serious allegations about what our SAS troopers did in that firefight, including that we provoked that firefight ourselves, that we mistreated the bodies of the dead enemy by strapping them to the bonnets of our military vehicles and dropping them on the ground in the village bazaar, that we kicked in doors, and that we flexi-cuffed innocent civilians. He has not answered those questions. He does say that there’s an investigation under way, but he will be departed by the time that investigation is completed, and he said yes it’s the warrant of his office under which that investigation happens. But I thank that personally, as the, you know, chief executive of a government department, he should have fronted and answered those questions before he left. And so I think Lieutenant General Keating, in making the selective choices he has about media appearances, has been cowardly. And I would also like to add that we have had contact from very, very many serving soldiers who say that he will not be missed.
JIM MORA: All right, so you’re seeking further elucidation from the outgoing Chief of Defence before he finally departs.
PAULA PENFOLD: I am. He said when we fronted up to him at parliament that he will not be tried by media, to which I said, That’s not the intent, the intent is simply to answer, uh, to ask you some questions. That’s all we want to do.
JIM MORA: Paula Penfold, Allan Blackman on the Panel. Thank you both.
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