John MacDonald: Get the Kiwis out of Iran and Israel - and leave it at that - Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald

The US air strikes on Iran yesterday are a disaster. A disaster that New Zealand needs to stay well clear of.

Before yesterday, the prospect of it happening was a disaster-in-the making. And, now that it’s happened, it’s an absolute disaster. 

Not because of what might happen today, tomorrow or the next day. But, what will happen when the world least expects it.  

Not just in terms of what Iran itself will do. I’m talking about the inevitable terrorism activity because of what happened yesterday. 

Because, if there’s something US President Donald Trump seems to have forgotten in all of this - before he ordered those bombers to fly to Iran and back - is that history often, if not always, teaches us something about the future. 

When I heard about the attacks yesterday, the first thing I thought about was 9/11. When the world was changed forever after the Al Qaeda terror attacks. 

Why do you think they happened? What was the lesson that you think might have been learned from that? That Trump might have learned? 

The lesson 9/11 taught us was that the US and the Middle East don’t mix. 

The September 11 attacks happened because of the United States’ history of supporting Israel. That was the nub of it. And it might be why the US has been shy of launching attacks on Iran in recent years. Until yesterday, anyway. 

And what better display of the US supporting Israel can you get, than yesterday’s airstrikes? 

Which is why I see some very grave consequences coming. As I say, it won’t be today. It won’t be tomorrow. And I hope I’m wrong. But do you really see these peaceful negotiations happening after yesterday?   

Seven bombers flying 37 hours from Missouri to Iran and back. Bombing three sites - involving not just the stealth bombers, but other fighter jets and a US submarine, as well. 

Seventy-five bombs dropped - including 14 “bunker busters”. Which, by the way, was the first time ever that these bunker busters have been used. 

And then we had Trump and his military bosses crowing about “severe damage and destruction”. But then turning around and saying they don’t want war with Iran. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying that the US “is not looking for war in Iran” and that the “world is safer and more stable than it was 24 hours ago”. 

That’s not how I’m seeing it, at all. 

And Donald Trump saying after the bombings, “now is the time for peace”. Really? 

Quite rightly, UN head António Guterres is saying “there is no military solution.” 

He’s saying that the airstrikes are a dangerous escalation which “could rapidly get out of control - with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region, and the world.” 

Which is exactly how I’m feeling about it. 

And I hope that the most-involved New Zealand gets in all of this is sending the air force plane to help kiwis who want to get out of Iran and Israel. There are about 80 New Zealanders in Iran and about 100 in Israel.  

And that needs to be it. Because this conflict is not something we need to be involved in.  

I’m pleased to see the Foreign Affairs Minister keeping his cool and not banging the drum about New Zealand doing its bit. Defence Minister Judith Collins is the same. 

In fact, Winston Peters says it’s the most serious issue he’s had to respond to during his whole time in politics. Likening the way the world is waiting to see what happens next, to the Cuban missile crisis in the early 1960s. When it looked like the US and the Soviet Union could go to war with each other after Soviet missile sites were discovered in Cuba. 

So let’s get the Kiwis home who want to come home, and leave it at that. 

Because, if we sign-up to anything involving Donald Trump, we’ll have absolutely no