Shearer David: Ministerial Statements — Iraq—Deployment of Military PersonnelText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeShearer David: Ministerial Statements — Iraq—Deployment of Military Personnel[Sitting date: 24 February 2015. Volume:703;Page:1835. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]DAVID SHEARER (Labour—Mt Albert): The decision made today has meant that our troops will be going to Iraq and I do not think there will be anyone in the Labour Party who does not wish them well and hope and pray that they come back safely.In 2003 New Zealand was under extreme pressure like today to send troops to Iraq. We had the courage to say no. I do not believe there is a New Zealander around today who does not believe that that was the right decision to make. The National Party wanted to go. Here we are 12 years later and it is in Government and it is sending our troops into an infinitely more complex situation to do an even less exact and less understood role in Iraq. This decision is one that we will regret. It was a decision that was made months ago by John Key when he was talking to his allies. It was a decision that we already knew about if not just because we knew that the military had been training for all of that time. Since then we have had a huge number of justifications of why this is necessary and some of those have been rehearsed out again today.Going to war is one of the most difficult decisions a Government can make. The acid test is that if there are going to be casualties we can honestly look those families and the country in the eye and say that their lives were not lost in vain. Our forces will be going to Iraq to make no appreciable difference to the situation there. Any assessment—and I know as well as anybody else—knows that is the case. So the only reason I can see for us being there is to be part of the club as it is called. For me that does not stack up as a sufficient and adequate reason. There is a time to stand by our allies but we should make that decision independently on the basis of the difference we can make and how effective we can be. Sending our people into harm’s way to be part of a club is not sufficient for that sacrifice.“It is about doing something.” this Government says—doing something even if it is stupid. That is what it is all about. Our troops will not enter under any conventional status of forces agreement under which we have always sent our forces away in the past. We will be carrying diplomatic passports. It is a shonky deal a ruse to get around the fact that the Iraqi Government is so divided that it would be unlikely to agree to a status of forces agreement. That gives you some idea of how universally appreciated our presence will be in Iraq. The troops they will be training are likely to be heavily infiltrated by radicals. We have just heard today that on Camp Taji itself there will be only 16—one six—specialised trainers available on that base. So you can imagine that after $25 billion of US investment hundreds of US lives lost and 10 years—10 years—of training this is what we will contribute and we believe that risk is appropriate.And what will they seek to achieve? Well hopefully a better-equipped army. But we know that the Iraqis can shoot straight; that is not the issue. The problem is with the officers who have been withdrawn and plucked out of the Iraqi army and replaced by relatives and friends of those in power. It is the corruption the militias who are now more in control than conventional forces—and how are we going to fix that? Quite simply we are not. We have never been afraid to go into a conflict but Iraq is a situation where we cannot make a difference yet we subject our troops and New Zealanders in this country to increased risk from engagement. This will be a decision we regret.