International Peace Bureau and NZ Peace Foundation

Hon Jenny Shipley & Other Members of the Cabinet
Parliament Buildings
Wellington

12 February 1998

Dear Mrs Shipley,

We understand that the Cabinet is due to meet on Monday 16 February to decide the New Zealand Government's response to the US request for assistance in its plan to conduct military strikes against Iraqi installations suspected of manufacturing and storing chemical and biological weapons.

We are therefore writing to you and all other Cabinet members to place before them the following realities, which we strongly urge you to take into account.

88,000 tons of bombs dropped on Iraq in 1991, causing hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties, did not stop Saddam Hussein. Even General Schwarzkopf agrees that weapons of mass destruction cannot be controlled by a selective, reckless US-led punitive expedition, which could easily spin out of control and lead to use of nuclear weapons by Israel or the USA - the
ultimate "own goal".

Military contributions to the massive US war machine are irrelevant to your decision. The USA and UK know they will not get UN authorisation for a military strike to indulge their rapacious arms industries, because of the Russian, French and Chinese Security Council veto. So they need Western approval to ignore wiser UN counsels again. The US request for that approval from the New Zealand Government demonstrates that it recognises and values the international influence which New Zealand wields, especially among the non-aligned and developing nations. This derives from New Zealand's courageous leadership with South Africa, Ireland, Sweden, Australia and others in challenging Western nuclear policies which undermine efforts to promote disarmament and strengthen international law.

Besides, New Zealand is in no position to offer any meaningful military assistance, especially with its commitment to the Bougainville peace process. Even Australia's contribution is no more than symbolic, and merely presents an international image of subservience to US demands. By limply following the UK, Canada and Australia, New Zealand also risks destroying its fine, and growing, reputation for taking a more independent, mediating role.

Instead of highlighting the weakness of its ability to contribute in defence terms, New Zealand should use its far greater diplomatic influence by supporting the UN Secretary General's efforts to mediate. It should speak out strongly on the huge hazards of a military operation - which, we repeat, will solve nothing. It should also clearly call for this extremely dangerous crisis to be eased by more Russians and French in the UNSCOM inspection team, and for even-handed condemnation of all proliferators of weapons of mass destruction.

Yours sincerely,

Robert Green Kate Dewes
Commander RN (Ret'd) IPB Vice President
NZ Peace Foundation International Representative

Rt Hon Jenny Shipley MP
Prime Minister
Parliament Buildings
Wellington

14 February 1998

Dear Mrs Shipley,

Further to our letter of 12 February, for your Cabinet meeting on Monday to decide how New Zealand should respond to the growing crisis in Iraq, we wish to draw your urgent attention to the enclosed report "The United States vs Iraq: A Study in Hypocrisy" by William Blum, author of "Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II".

We are further alarmed by a report on British Channel 4 TV News - not denied by the British Government - that even after the 1991 Gulf War, Britain supplied Iraq with a nerve gas antidote.

In this first test of your leadership in foreign affairs, we look to you not to sacrifice all the courageous achievements by your predecessors in upholding the United Nations, and New Zealand's distinctive role in not always following Australia's enthusiastic support for military responses to conflict - which especially in this case, will almost certainly create more
problems than it solves.

Yours sincerely,

Robert Green Kate Dewes
Commander RN (Ret'd) IPB Vice President
NZ Peace Foundation International Representative

Rt Hon Jenny Shipley MP
Prime Minister
Parliament Buildings
Wellington

15 February 1998

Dear Mrs Shipley,

You have stated that all diplomatic avenues must be exhausted before New Zealand would support a military strike against Iraq. It is vital, therefore, that you should call for immediate investigation by the UN General Assembly into the adoption of a resolution asking the International Court of Justice for an Advisory Opinion on the dispute. As a strong supporter of the Court, and with unrivalled experience of it, New Zealand should lead on urgently pursuing this avenue.

We enclose a joint letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan from International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) and the International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA) [below], in which the way ahead is
sketched out. What is needed is a group of like-minded governments to co-sponsor this initiative. We suggest that South Africa, Ireland, Sweden, Brazil, Mexico, Egypt and Malaysia would be supportive and influential.

An alternative route is to ask UNICEF, as a UN agency qualified to request an Advisory Opinion and the one which would be directly affected by the likely casualties from a bombing campaign, to pursue this in the knowledge that it had New Zealand's support.

We request that you raise this possibility in the Cabinet meeting tomorrow.

Yours sincerely,