Leading NZ investigative journalist to talk at Paraparaumu Library
By the Editor, Alan Tristram
Nicky Hager, arguably New Zealand’s best investigative journalist, is making a rare public appearance at a special event in the Paraparaumu Library early next month.
Mr Hager will speak on ‘Getting the Truth Out’ at the first event in a Friends of the Kāpiti Libraries’ Mini Literary Festival.
Hager’s scoops
One of Nicky Hager’s many scoops, outlined in his best-seller ‘The Hollow Men,’ exposed the National Party’s dubious links with rightwing funders – and led to the downfall of Don Brash as National leader.
His other best-selling books include ‘Other People’s Wars,’ which exposed the hidden story behind New Zealand’s involvement in the Afghanistan War – and the way NZ military and intelligence officials have colluded with US policies which violate human rights.
‘Topical’ topic
Janet Secker, chair Friends of the Libraries, says she chose ‘Getting the Truth Out’ as a topic because of its importance at a time when journalism is developing and changing.
She says tickets for Nicky Hager’s event on the evening of Friday, September 7, are available (for $20) from Keith Carley, (04) 902 0834. The event starts at 7.30pm.
This will be followed by a session the following morning (Saturday, September 8) with a panel of four journalists discussing the main issues confronting journalists as they struggle to get at the truth in the face of those who want to keep it hidden (tickets $20).
The mini-festival marks a change of gear for the Friends as it’s the first of their festivals to concentrate on non-fiction.
And the Friends have got the equivalent of a ‘Scoop’ by securing the participation of Mr Hager, whose continuing revelations about the hidden agendas of successive governments, and powerful corporations, have helped shore up our somewhat fragile democratic institutions.
Doubtless he’ll be asked about his links with Julian Assange, of Wikileaks,who he is said to have conferred with during a trip to the UK last year.
See what happens when the uncomfortable truth gets reported in the mainstream media:
One of the most damaging episodes in the BBC’s history was sparked by an early morning radio broadcast in May 2003. It would lead to the departures of both the Chairman and the Director-General in the space of 24 hours.
The nation had been told, in the run-up to the war, that Saddam Hussein was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction – so it was inevitable, when no weapons were found by the invading forces, that questions about the case for war would be asked. But the Government was incensed when BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan suggested that Prime Minister Tony Blair had deliberately misled Parliament with the claim that Iraq could deploy weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes.
Protests were lodged by Alastair Campbell, the Prime Minister’s press advisor, who demanded an apology. The BBC said it had nothing to apologise for.
In the following weeks it emerged that the BBC’s source for on the story was a weapons specialist, Dr David Kelly. He was named in the media, and obliged to explain himself – first in public, before the televised Foreign Affairs Committee at Westminster, and then in secret, before the Intelligence and Security Committee.
A week later David Kelly was found dead.
I admire Nicky for his courage to expose the truth in his books. However there is one subject that most mainstream journalists avoid like the plague – 9/11.
I understand their reluctance to investigate whether the public have been told the truth about 9/11. It would damage their ability to earn a living.
I am unable to attend this interesting talk as I will be getting the truth out about 9/11 at an exhibition at the Tug Boat, Oriental Parade on those dates.
Here is the text of a letter I sent to the NZ Herald yesterday:
Paul Thomas claims (Herald 25 Aug 2012) that the US did have a casus belli – a justification for war with Afghanistan. He repeats the well worn and discredited official story that Afghanistan provided a sanctuary for al-Qaeda to plan and instigate the 9/11 attacks.
Paul needs to spend a short while researching the facts of 9/11. For example, the Taleban refused to hand over Osama bin Laden unless the US provided evidence of his involvement. No evidence has ever been produced, and the FBI has never wanted him for the 9/11 attacks. No criminal investigation has ever taken place and no one has been charged for this monstrous crime.
According to the US National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) office fires caused the Twin Towers, and Building 7 (a 47-story skyscraper not hit by an aeroplane), to collapse at the speed of gravity symmetrically into their own footprints. What intelligent person could possibly accept this explanation?
Paul implies that the Iraq war was based on a lie – the phantom weapons of mass destruction. However given the readily available mass of evidence, what is the likelihood that the Afghanistan war was also based on a lie.