US warplane kills New Zealand soldier in Afghanistan

This video from New Zealand says about itself:

Global Peace and Justice Auckland held a peaceful demonstration outside the Papakura army barracks of the NZ SAS between 12:00 and 2:00pm today. Chanting protesters called for the National-Act government to pull the SAS and all NZ military personel out of Afghanistan, and devote the army deployment funding to civilian rebuilding programmes.

Army staff videod demonstrators, and police maintained a patrol line along the barracks boundary, and patrol cars at each end of Grove Rd, which the barracks are on. 52 protesters received vocal support from locals, with most passing cars cheering or tooting and waving, in stark contrast to the obscenities from a woman leaving the army base.

Speakers compared the unjust slaughter in Afghanistan to the illegal wars of occupation in Vietnam and Iraq, and noted the impact these deployments had on Afghans, and the soldiers later in life.

From Radio New Zealand today:

New Zealander killed in Afghanistan ‘friendly fire‘

A New Zealander serving with the British Army has been killed in Afghanistan, apparently when a United States aircraft mistakenly fired on friendly forces.

He was a member of the 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, and had been on patrol in the Nad ‘Ali district of Helmand province, in the south-west of the country.

In a statement, Britain’s Ministry of Defence says the soldier was shot and died from his wounds on Sunday.

Linda Norgrove’s parents look to full inquest over Afghanistan death. A military report released last week did not answer all their concerns about the botched US rescue of the British aid worker: here.

Afghans Fume as Petraeus Ramps Up Air War: here.

Not worth it: Each tank sent to Afghanistan War costs U.S. taxpayers $4 million, not counting shipping and handling: here.

Canada: the former chair of the Military Police Complaints Commission, whose probing of the Afghan detainee prisoner issue is believed to have contributed to the Conservative government’s decision not to reappoint him, is worried about a “pattern of governance” and a “deterioration of democracy”: here.

Why our Afghanistan War Dead don’t Seem to be News: here.

New Zealand’s National Party-led government has signed an agreement with NATO to boost cooperation in a range of areas, including anti-terrorism, military training, disaster relief and intelligence. The Individual Partnership Cooperation Programme was signed in Brussels on June 4 by Prime Minister John Key and NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen: here.