Wellington has traditionally allied itself militarily with Washington and London and sent forces to be part of the 1990–1991 Gulf War.

New Zealand foreign minister Philip Goff reiterated the Labour Party government’s stance during the visit here by U.S. official James Bolton, who toured Southeast Asia and the Pacific in January to garner support for the imminent invasion. "Doveish NZ tells US super-hawk we won’t come to your war party" was the headline in the January 12 Sunday Star-Times.

At present, eight New Zealand military personnel are part of the armed forces that enforce the snooping operations carried out by the UN "inspectors." New Zealand military staff participated in previous UN teams that destroyed Iraqi weapons. Active from 1991 until 1998, these units earned the hatred of Iraqi working people, as the leader of one New Zealand contingent, Major David Le Page, explained to the New Zealand Herald last September. "When you cross the road," he said, "people would throw rocks at you, spit at you, and even try to run you down with their cars."

The frigate HMNZS Te Kaha is one of a group of warships from seven countries policing the Straits of Hormuz, which provide entry to the Arab-Persian Gulf from the Gulf of Oman. In April a New Zealand air force Orion surveillance aircraft is scheduled to be sent to join these patrols.

The crew of Te Kaha boards up to three ships a day, reported the New Zealand Herald, inspecting cargoes, papers, and sailors. Crew members are specially trained to board vessels by rope ladder.

The force is also mandated to escort United States and allied warships through the area.

Prime Minister Helen Clark denies that this naval deployment has any connection to the preparations for war on Iraq, saying that the ships are on the hunt for "al Qaeda terrorists." Just a look at a map of the area involved--Iraq, the Gulf, and surrounding waters--exposes this lie.

The government has indicated that it is readying medical and logistical military units to dispatch when war breaks. This is the same level and type of contribution made by the then-National Party government to the 1990-91 assault on Iraq.  
 
Imperialist trade conflicts
At the same time, the government’s reluctance to give unequivocal vocal backing to Washington’s course registers real concerns on the part of the ruling families here.

Minister of Trade Negotiations James Sutton has expressed worries that tensions between Washington and European powers like Paris and Berlin will undermine steps to free up trade--particularly in the agricultural commodities that are a mainstay of the New Zealand capitalist economy. "It’s hard to envisage any significant further progress in trade liberalization occurring without an accommodation occurring between the European Union and the U.S.," he told the Sunday Star Times.

Referring to factors that helped to speed up the global spread of the 1930s depression, Sutton said, "U.S. protectionism spread the economic catastrophe pretty effectively around the world then and I think war in Iraq would be in a way a manifestation of a similar response."

Sutton also pointed to the impact of a war in Iraq on New Zealand’s markets in the region. "If there’s war in the Middle East then Middle Eastern countries will reduce spending on butter and increase spending on guns--and we don’t sell guns and we do sell butter," he said.

Sheepmeat sales from New Zealand to the Middle East are substantial, bringing in around $NZ100 million a year ($NZ1 = US$.54). The 120,000 tons of milk products sent there total 5 percent to 6 percent of the dairy industry’s total production for export.

Sutton accused Washington of "arm-twisting" other nations into backing its war on Iraq. The next day he backed off this, saying that he had merely meant to note that "an energetic diplomatic campaign was under way."

Government ministers have been less circumspect about identifying with Washington’s stepped-up propaganda and actions against north Korea. "Our voice will be part of the pressure" against Pyongyang’s alleged development of nuclear weapons, said Foreign Minister Goff.

The New Zealand government sent funds to north Korea after the signing of the 1994 Agreed Framework, the accord under which Washington, Tokyo, and Seoul agreed to provide fuel, food, and assistance in the construction of nuclear power plants, in exchange for a freeze on the north’s development of nuclear weapons.  
 
Intervention in the South Pacific
While they participate in the preparations for war in the Middle East, the imperialist governments of Australia and New Zealand have stepped up their interference and intervention in the nations of the South Pacific on the pretext that after September 11 they face an increased danger of destabilization by terrorist groups.

Referring to the alleged need to prevent the Solomon Islands from becoming a "failed state," Goff said, "The problem with Afghanistan was you had a failed state in a vacuum and that vacuum was filled by al Qaeda."

This follows the occupation of East Timor in September 1999 by a predominantly Australian and New Zealand force acting under the auspices of the United Nations. This was the biggest operation by the New Zealand armed forces since the Korean War, with some 5,000 personnel being deployed over three years, many soldiers sent twice or more, and territorial reservists called up.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Clark has used the preparations for war as justification for holding down government spending on social entitlements. Her first major interview of the year, published in the January 18 New Zealand Herald, was headlined, "War clouds keep spending on leash."  
 
 
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