WikiLeaks cables reveal commercial motivations behind New Zealand troop deployment to Iraq

[Hannah Bell]

A secret cable sent from the US embassy in Wellington sheds new light on the decision by New Zealand's former Labour government of Prime Minister Helen Clark to deploy 61 army engineers to Iraq in 2003. The document, one of 1,490 sent from the embassy and being released by WikiLeaks, shows that the troops were sent in order to protect New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra's lucrative United Nations contract to supply Iraq.

Excerpts from the cable published in Monday's Dominion Post provide evidence of the mercenary character of New Zealand's support for the occupation.

The document states that unnamed senior officials from New Zealand's Ministry of Defence secretly told the US embassy that “it was not until Finance Minister Michael Cullen pointed out in a... Cabinet meeting that New Zealand's absence from Iraq might cost NZ dairy conglomerate Fonterra the lucrative dairy supply contract it enjoyed under the United Nations Oil for Food program...

Another cable sent in 2005 confirmed that “sending combat engineers to Iraq has enabled the giant New Zealand dairy exporter, Fonterra, to bid on lucrative Iraq-related contracts.”

Fonterra is New Zealand's largest company and controls about 30 percent of the world's dairy exports.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/dec2010/newz-d22.shtml

[notesdev]

1. The corruption level is intense

and global... makes the worst cynic look naive.

[Hannah Bell]

2. that's what's sad. you can't be cynical enough, you'll still be surprised.

[Selatius]

3. When capitalists become powerful enough, they can use the organs of the state to protect assets.

In this case, Fonterra oligarchs likely lobbied the government probably with a combination of lucrative job offers to ministers when they step down and threats that it will hurt New Zealand's economy if Fonterra didn't get its way.

[Hannah Bell]

4. pretty much a demonstration case. wars are for capital.

[JDPriestly]

5. Free market, blah, blah, blah.

What is free about out international markets? Absolutely nothing. It's all bribery, pay-offs, you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Quality, performance, customer service, price have nothing to do with much of anything in the international "free" market. I repeat again, the "free" market is not free.

[defendandprotect]

6. k