A formal request from the Iraqi government for New Zealand's help in the fight against Islamic State is likely to be delivered tomorrow, when Iraq's Foreign Minister pays a brief visit to the country, Radio New Zealand reports.
Iraq request likely tomorrow http://t.co/pfNEwAn13V
— RNZ News (@rnz_news) February 11, 2015
The Government says it is still considering whether to send troops to train the Iraqi army as part of the US-led coalition against the Islamic State jihadists.
Foreign Minister Murray McCully said the visit was an opportunity to gain the Iraqi government's perspective on how New Zealand could best assist because up until now there had been very little direct communication.
"We haven't heard directly from the Iraqi government themselves, government to government, and I think that's a very important part of this process."
Labour's Foreign Affairs spokesperson and a former Foreign Minister Phil Goff said it was all part of softening up the public for a deployment and that, cynicism aside, this was an opportunity for McCully to ask some hard questions
“Why would we put more lives, more money into training the Iraqi army when efforts by the Americans to the extent of $25 billion worth have failed to make any difference?”
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, a former foreign minister, said the meeting was a convenient jack-up.
“So that he can be seen to be coming here to request New Zealand intervention in the Iraq situation against ISIS (Islamic State).
It's not even subtle, and what he'll do is come here and make that request.
“Mr Key will then say that he and the Government are responding to it, even when they have already made the decision a long, long time ago,” he said.
