KEY POINTS:
The work done by facilities at Waihopai, near Blenheim, and Tangimoana, in the Manawatu, has been the subject of rumour and speculation since they began operating. Protest groups have highlighted their top-secret nature by referring to them as spy bases and calling for information about them to be
made public. Therefore, by far the most interesting aspect of the raid on Waihopai by three men belonging to the Anzac Ploughshares group was the unveiling of what lay beneath the station's rubber domes. There, exposed to the world by the protesters' sickles, was what appeared to be a fairly conventional satellite dish. Leading-edge technology this did not appear to be.
Waihopai is, it seems, what its owner and operator, the Government Communications Security Bureau, has always insisted in terms of serving New Zealand's needs for foreign intelligence. Wednesday's disclosure makes it reasonable to conclude that it intercepts foreign communications and shares information with the United States, Canada, Australia and Britain as part of the Echelon electronic snooping network. That information-sharing is, of course, what irks the likes of the pacifist Anzac Ploughshares. They claim Waihopai is feeding information to the US in support of wars New Zealand does not support.
It is easy enough to understand their reservations about the American-led invasion of Iraq. But their criticism rapidly becomes ill-founded when it is recognised that the station is, more importantly, part of the US effort to monitor terrorism. The Anzac Ploughshares say the raid was "responding to the Bush Administration's admission that intelligence gathering is the most important tool in the so-called war on terror". They seem oblivious to the fact that Waihopai could be pivotal in preventing another 9/11. Its communications interception capability could pick up the planning of such a plot or, indeed, thwart a terrorist outrage closer to home.
A disturbing extreme self-righteousness is also evident in the action of the three men who raided Waihopai - Catholic priest Peter Murnane, organic gardener Adrian Leason and Hokianga farmer Sam Land. This was a criminal act involving damage to property. The cost, to be picked up by the New Zealand taxpayer, is estimated to be more than $1 million. As successful as the raid may have been as a publicity stunt, thanks to a fortuitous heavy fog and an obvious security failure, it warrants only scorn.
The trio seem not to understand this. They are part of a group that proclaims its aim of spreading the message of disarmament by, somewhat ironically, using violent means to disable warplanes and military equipment. In any civilised society, such tactics will always be offensive. They tar not only those responsible for such zealotry but those who pursue the same cause through acceptable avenues of expression, such as sit-ins and demonstrations. The latter approach has, of course, already been used in relation to Waihopai. A small band of protesters marched on the station as recently as January. They achieved no result or resonance, a pointer to the public being unconvinced of the merits of their case. The marchers were, as a neighbour of the base suggested, "speaking to themselves".
Anzac Ploughshares might use this failure to justify more radical tactics. But vandalism will never be acceptable. Unlike well-orchestrated protests, there is no chance that it will attract the level of popular support which places pressure on a government to change direction. Instead, it invites contempt. Such is the lot of extremists. Their ability to win publicity is matched in inverse proportion by their failure to win adherents.