The actions described in the book Hit & Run could constitute war crimes under the Geneva Convention. The case for an independent inquiry is now becoming overwhelming, writes geopolitical analyst Paul Buchanan. Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson make serious allegations in the book Hit and Run. Among other claims, the authors argue that the New … Read more
The former defence minister says civilian death suggestions are plausible, and that NZ needs to ‘find out what really happened’ in Operation Burnham. Wayne Mapp, the New Zealand defence minister at the time of the Tirgiran Valley raid at the heart of the claims in Hit and Run, has admitted in a blog post at … Read more
Residents of the Afghan area where NZ forces undertook Operation Burnham in 2010 say the NZ Defence Force claim it took place in Tirgiran Village is a nonsense, like describing an attack on ‘Otago City’. Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson have meanwhile conceded that they were out by 2km in locating the villages, but argue it … Read more
The Chief of the NZ Defence Force, Lieutenant General Tim Keating, has wholesale rejected Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson’s account of events in their book Hit & Run (read a summary of its contents here), saying NZ troops have never operated in the villages where, according to the book, at least six civilians were killed. Hager … Read more
The government response to the revelations contained in Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson’s Hit and Run have so far amounted to a collective shoulder shrug. Barrister Felix Geiringer explains why that’s simply not good enough. Now that the lie about civilian casualties in Afghanistan is well and truly exposed, the anti-inquiry spin appears to be … Read more
Jess McAllen paints the picture from a Unity Books packed with media, activists and more, eager to discover the subject of the new book and the quality of the catering. Hit & Run has dominated NZ headlines since its publication less than 24 hours ago. It contains a very serious allegations of SAS involvement in … Read more
In their new book Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson offer evidence of a botched raid that killed six civilians and led to a scramble to conceal the truth. Danyl Mclauchlan reviews Hit & Run: The New Zealand SAS in Afghanistan and the Meaning of Honour and weighs up the prospects for an inquiry. This review … Read more
Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson’s new book presents compelling evidence that our SAS was responsible for killing at least six Afghan civilians, wounding at least another 15, and handing over a man to be tortured for information. The appearance that we have been systemically lied to about what our soldiers do in our name is … Read more
Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson have just published Hit & Run: The New Zealand SAS in Afghanistan and the meaning of honour, which they say ‘tells the story of a dark and guilty secret of New Zealand’s recent history’, and makes the case that six civilians were killed and 15 wounded in an SAS operation. … Read more
A sequel to Dirty Politics? A blistering John Key exposé? An homage to soup? Ahead of tomorrow’s big launch, we play bookmaker. A famous New Zealander has revealed the release date for a long-awaited new work, igniting a frenzy of speculation, the likes of which we haven’t seen since at least the other week. Nicky … Read more
To mark the release of a new online film about intelligence agencies and privacy, seven New Zealand artists reflect on self-censorship in the surveillance age. As many as 11% of Yahoo Chat conversations involve naked participants. That is what British surveillance agency GCHQ discovered while testing their surveillance powers in the operation “Optic Nerve”. While … Read more
It’s a struggle to like either of the creeps who locked horns in the High Court, but the measure of the winner’s character will be in how he spends the damages, writes Toby Manhire The Hollow Men was turned into a stage play. Secret Power was adapted into a visual art spectacular. And now another … Read more
Following an acclaimed showing at the Venice Biennale, Simon Denny’s politically charged Secret Power is now on view at Te Papa. Henry Oliver spoke to investigative journalist Nicky Hager about his role as special adviser on the exhibition. I met Nicky Hager last year on the Golden Staircase of the Marciana Library in Piazzetta San … Read more
Nicky Hager tells The Spinoff about his case in the High Court, Dirty Politics a year on, and his next book – “one of the most important projects that I could imagine”. Nicky Hager has been back in headlines lately after court documents revealed, among other things, that Westpac had provided his transaction statements to … Read more
From the legalistic urges of Colin Craig to Dirty Politics to the Kim Dotcom Town Hall spectacular, the unstoppable weirdness of the 2014 New Zealand general election was best encapsulated by the hashtag #PeakCray. In this chapter from the new collection Moments of Truth: The New Zealand General Election of 2014, Nicola Kean recounts the … Read more