US Foreign relations!!!!
Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2004 2:13 am
A recent incident in NZ. The full account can be read from the link at the end.
Two weeks ago, at the same time that American forces were preparing to liberate Fallujah, a sign appeared at a culvert on the causeway by
Christchurch Estuary. This was not unusual. Signs on culverts there were a local custom: Welcome home Millie, Congratulations Cookie and Liz, Happy birthday Francine, the kind of cosy messages that you'd expect in one of comfortable Christchurch's tight zones. That Tuesday, though, something different appeared. Alongside a sign reading "Happy 18th Ailsa", Tony Tucker, described as a local property investor, put up a placard: "American Shame: War Criminal Elected." It was important that people expressed their views openly, Tucker said later; after all, around the world people were dying for exactly that right.
The sign had broadcast its message to passing traffic for only a few minutes when Larry Detrich arrived. Detrich was a retired American computer consultant who had spent the last six summers in seaside Sumner. He decided to deconflict the airspace. He tore down the sign. He
explained to a Christchurch Press photographer that the sign was the work
of "socialist, communist, scum", representing a hateful fringe element of
New Zealand. And, he said, he did not want his friends coming down here
and being insulted. Having struck a blow for the free world, effected
regime change at the culvert and saved his friends from offence all with a
single surgical strike, Detrich declared mission accomplished and went on
his way.
Reaction was conducted entirely through letters to the editor of the Press. Shock and awe, catastrophic success, humanitarian mission, sensitive site exploitation ? perhaps it was a victory for all of those, but the battle for hearts and minds in south-east Christchurch remained unwon.Detrich faced mounting insurgency among the civilian population. They accused him of intolerance. They wanted certain Yanks to go home........
The NZ Listener
Mart
Two weeks ago, at the same time that American forces were preparing to liberate Fallujah, a sign appeared at a culvert on the causeway by
Christchurch Estuary. This was not unusual. Signs on culverts there were a local custom: Welcome home Millie, Congratulations Cookie and Liz, Happy birthday Francine, the kind of cosy messages that you'd expect in one of comfortable Christchurch's tight zones. That Tuesday, though, something different appeared. Alongside a sign reading "Happy 18th Ailsa", Tony Tucker, described as a local property investor, put up a placard: "American Shame: War Criminal Elected." It was important that people expressed their views openly, Tucker said later; after all, around the world people were dying for exactly that right.
The sign had broadcast its message to passing traffic for only a few minutes when Larry Detrich arrived. Detrich was a retired American computer consultant who had spent the last six summers in seaside Sumner. He decided to deconflict the airspace. He tore down the sign. He
explained to a Christchurch Press photographer that the sign was the work
of "socialist, communist, scum", representing a hateful fringe element of
New Zealand. And, he said, he did not want his friends coming down here
and being insulted. Having struck a blow for the free world, effected
regime change at the culvert and saved his friends from offence all with a
single surgical strike, Detrich declared mission accomplished and went on
his way.
Reaction was conducted entirely through letters to the editor of the Press. Shock and awe, catastrophic success, humanitarian mission, sensitive site exploitation ? perhaps it was a victory for all of those, but the battle for hearts and minds in south-east Christchurch remained unwon.Detrich faced mounting insurgency among the civilian population. They accused him of intolerance. They wanted certain Yanks to go home........
The NZ Listener
Mart