Free Republic

the fourth Labour government of 1984-90 (the anti Nuke govt) was only a Labour party in name. They stripped back the state, sold off assets ran hospitals and schools like businesses amongst other things, so they were definitely not socialist. And if anything our Nuke free stance was courageous, I think America was shocked that such a small nation wasnt taking their bully tactics, most countries would simply back down, we didnt.

no not a michael (this is like guess who)

Exactly, the problem began with mis-reporting by the Christchurch Press (who have come under criticism from other major NZ newspapers) which has been picked up by people obviously ignorant of Politics in New Zealand, and with what appears to be a grudge against NZ. Former Prime Minister and our current Ambassador to the US Jim Bolger made a our position clear, so one would hope that this will be the end to these unjusified attacks on New Zealand.

No im definitely not a heather

to add to what i just said, you should maybe check out www.labour.org.nz/clark/index.html and have a look under speeches and releases and just see who it was that established a book of condolences in the foyer of parliament for mourners to sign, which will then be handed on to the United States Embassy which has thanked Miss Clark for her offers of support and condolences.... Thats crazy for someone who many of you have protrayed as an American hater isnt it.

The reason why Prime Minister Clark has not used the ANZUS agreement, is because in 1986 the US Government notified the Cabinet of the day that they no longer wished to have a defence relationship with New Zealand and had no interest in protecting our sovereignty, basically because the then Prime Minister Rt Hon. David Lange, made New Zealand a Nuclear-Free Country (the First country in the world to have such a policy) and denied access to US (and all other including australian) Nuclear War ships. So in fact New Zealand ceased to be a member of ANZUS in 1986. However the US government has asked our Cabinet to put our elite SAS forces on alert with the British Army suggesting them as suitable to the US, along with the SAS our intelligence services are also being used. I take great offence at your remarks and personal attacks on our Prime Minister. As for your World War remarks, New Zealand was involved from the start in Both world wars and did not wait to be attacked, as a result per-head of population more soldiers from New Zealand died than ANY other country, which is something we as a nation we are proud of. We may be small (current pop 3.8million) but we give our all, and irrational and ignorant attacks on a small country like ours, does nothing to stop terror attacks. So in future why not do some proper investigation into the background of decisions and events, and base your articles on facts instead of using the writings of a regional newspaper with absolutely no political credibility like the PRESS. Why not spend your energy attacking the people who attacked you, not the people who your country snobbed following a disagreement on policy. Miss Clark was right in not recognising ANZUS, as it hasnt applied here since July 1986, so while you may not like the fact that we didnt back down to you like so many other countries, we are what we are and that is Nuclear Free and Proud, but we are also, as our Government said when it held a special session the day of the attacks, committed to assisting in the fight against terror attacks, just as we were during the Boer War, World War One AND Two, the Korean War, Vietnam, the Solomon Islands, the Gulf War, Bosnia, and currently in East Timor (a place which the US refused to help the UNs work) so get your facts right in future before attacking another small country, we have nothing in our past to be ashamed about!