New Zealand's opposition leader, John Key, the head of the centre right National Party, has an interesting take on the Iraq war, one perhaps not seen since George Bush stood on the USS Abraham Lincoln with a Mission Accomplished banner behind him. Asked why he had not mentioned Iraq in his party's foreign affairs document he told Radio New Zealand that "frankly the war in Iraq is over".
Mr Key was understandably mocked. But that hasn't stopped him attempting to clarify the comment (the words "frankly" and "over" appear pretty clear to me, but whatever) with the claim he was "technically right".
The New Zealand Herald explains:
Mr Key defended his comment by saying he was "technically right", and he had meant the "conventional war" was over. Asked when he felt the "conventional war" had ended, Mr Key referred to when Saddam Hussein was overthrown and pointed to the fact an Iraqi government was now in place [...]
"I should have said the conventional war. I meant to say the conventional war," he said. "I can understand why someone would think it's odd - I just think I'm technically right."
