JDN, irrespective of how many troops NZ sent to Europe, or anything else, NZ couldn't have defended itself against the Japanse. There were only a tiny proportion of NZers compared with Japanese who had successfully marauded down through Asia, despite opposition from the USA and Britain and others.
The reason the USA based a lot of troops in NZ was as a convenient staging post for attacks on Japan's positions through the Pacific Ocean and to ensure Japan couldn't move in here.
It wasn't to defend NZ that the USA fought Japan, including in NZ. It was to defend the USA. NZ and the USA had a common interest in that regard.
Similarly, NZ and the USA had a common interest in defending East Timor against Islamic Jihad, but Kissinger gave a green light to Indonesia to begin a genocidal invasion of East Timor. Bill Clinton, during his visit to NZ, decided under pressure that the invasion should no longer stand. Bill Clinton was an excellent president. He did lots of good things. Check out the markets for a start, kept Uncle Al on and Uncle Al dealt with things like the Mexican crisis, Asian contagion, Long Term Capital Management after the Globalstar crash...
I know people have a Pavlovian response when Bill is mentioned, but he had more going on than Monica.
Mqurice |
