Hard News by Russell Brown

11:57AM Jul 4, 2013 • Read Post

Hard News: A GCSB Roundup

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• Kumara Republic, 16:24 Jul 28, 2013

  No surprises here...
  * US spy agencies eavesdrop on Kiwi
  * Defence rates investigative journalists as threat

  And with any luck my GCSB spoof logo will be available on Cafepress next week.

  The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report

• Stephen R, 08:54 Jul 29, 2013

  Went to the march in Wellington on Saturday. I would have said there was about 2000 people, but stuff reported "500", though I don't know where they got that number from.

  Only some of the speeches made me cringe. Russel Norman impressed me as a public speaker. Then, to top it off, the news on Sunday reported that they were spying on John Stephenson because he was a subversive for telling people what they're doing...

  *sigh*

  I have some sympathy for the defence force, but only some. They've been sent to Afgrandstand, they haven't been given the resources to keep prisoners they capture. They're not allowed to give the prisoners to people who will mistreat them (which, unfortunately, appears to include the US and the UK). So what can they do?
  a) shoot them all (take-no-prisoners).
  b) let them go (take-no-prisoners lite)
  c) hand them to whoever will take them, and pretend not to know what happens next.

  If they choose c) as the least bad option (from their point of view), and the press reports that and makes them look bad, I'm not surprised they feel a bit upset; but mostly I blame the government(s) who put them in that situation. If we can't trust the people we're fighting alongside not to torture people, then we shouldn't be fighting alongside them; but that's a political decision, not a military one.

  Wellington • Since Jul 2009 • 259 posts Report

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