Helen Clark and George W. Bush talk in the Oval Office at the White House. Photo / Reuters
Helen Clark and George W. Bush talk in the Oval Office at the White House. Photo / Reuters
Parallels are being drawn between the United States’ involvement in Iran and how the “war on terror” began more than two decades ago.
After the 9/11 attacks in 2001, New Zealand’s then Labour-led Government strongly opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq.
Prime Minister at the time, Helen Clark, becameaware of a potential invasion of Iraq in early 2002 while attending the Queen Mother’s funeral. She made it clear New Zealand’s participation was off the table.
Clark called for Saddam Hussein and his sons to “avert the catastrophe of war” after US President at the time, George W. Bush, gave them 48 hours to leave the country. Days later, the invasion began.
“A new and dangerous precedent is being set. It may be possible to justify one’s friends taking such action, but where then is our moral authority when other nations use the precedent which is being set?” she said at the time.
She told The Front Page now, 22 years later, it’s clear nothing has changed.
“Nothing has been learned at all because the Iraq War had disastrous consequences. One loses track of the great many people who died of starvation, hunger, and poverty in Iraq after the invasion, let alone the spin-out with Isis.
“The huge security threats in the country to this day. Who would wish that upon the people of Iran?” she said.
Prime Minister Helen Clark takes her seat next to Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen after reading her statement to the House following news the US had commenced its attack on Iraq, March 20, 2003. Photo / Mark Mitchell
US President Donald Trump floated an Iranian regime change on social media, posting: “If the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change???”.
Clark said forcing change in the short term can be unpredictable and volatile.
“I think I would speak for virtually everyone in New Zealand in saying that the Iranian regime is not a nice one, to say the least. All power really resides with the Supreme Leader and the Revolutionary Guards, who report to him. Yes, they elect a president, sometimes more reformist, sometimes less. But, without a lot of authority, the Supreme Leader calls the shots.
“So, it’s not a nice regime, nor was Saddam Hussein’s regime. It was horrid. But, the problem is when outside forces take it into their own hands to force regime change, you can have a sort of spin-out,” she said.
An assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader hasn’t been ruled out, with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei himself reportedly accelerating succession plans. Reuters reported that senior clerics are meeting regularly, while Khamenei and his family have gone into hiding.
Clark said if he were to be killed, what would happen next?
“They have already assassinated senior military and nuclear science figures, but there’s a whole structure under them. So, it may be that you go from the devil you know, to then down to the captains and sergeants of the operation with a lot more unpredictability.
“It’s just not as simple as saying we will remove X and Y and somehow there’ll be a democratic regime in the image of the West. That’s not going to happen,” she said.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
