Readers' Comments

Reader Comments on Aardvark Daily 18 September 2001
Note: the comments below are the unabridged submissions of readers and do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher.
From: Adam Knight
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: I'd rather they blew something up offshore!

If I had an choice between having a target for terrorists
in New Zealand or anywhere else I'd choose to have it off
shore anytime!

New Zealand may be far away from anything and neutral, but
that's not going to stop people coming here to hurt
American or European interests.  France was not interested
in attacking New Zealand when it bombed the Rainbow Warrior
in our waters, it was (in its view) protecting its national
interests!  The plane blown up over Lockerbie was destroyed
because it was American, not by anyone with a grudge
against Scotland.

Let the people who have an air force, navy, and army
protect their own targets, and let's not endanger New
Zealanders!




From: Rob K
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: FBI - You don't WANT feedback

Re: Yesterday's column

Good point about no feedback or auto-reply on the FBI
website.  But unlike a customer service site in which
feedback would be reassuring, an anonymous tipoff site
would not get the same desirable effect.

You want to be able to send something in and know that you
WON'T be followed up on.  That's the point of anonymous
tipoffs :) Of course, it might be neat if they had a check
box to offer a validation of receipt.

Keep this in mind:  An investigator will not give you an
update on an investigation just because you gave the
investigator infomration.

Good observation, Bruce!
Rob K
Baton Rouge, LA




From: Martnz
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: NZ as a Data Haven?

The current Computerworld has a "NZ Promoted as e-biz hub"
article on the front page.

Could be that thousands of kilometres of undersea cable are
a bit too easy to break and a bit too hard to repair?

Fine as long as we are low-profile and perceived as
friendly, but would you bet on NZ challenging the World's
less "pleasant" community in international waters?




From: Dominic
For : Right Of Reply (for publication)
Subj: relations

I understand that NZ is not part of the ANZUS alliance
because of it's position on Nuclear weaponry. I may be
wrong.

I can't see this country compromising it's position on
nuclear weaponry for the cause of fighting global
terrorism. I sense we are more passionate about our
position than what we're willing to admit.

I think that the world perceives NZ as a "lifestyle
country". Quite frankly, I believe this perception is
governing how the world treats us. It's not to our
advantage at times.

All the people I've spoken to about your column tell me
that they'd rather have desirable living conditions - as we
do - than anything else. I got told that they will fight
for our way of life harder than what the USA is going fight
for ending terrorism.

I find that interesting.




From: Sam Wallace
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: NZ

The concern over the potential loss of IT oppportunities
pales by comparison with supporting a Gov't that has a huge
recent history of barbaric intervention responsible for
millions of innocent deaths-far, far outweighing the
horrific events in the U.S. last week. Check out
http://www.zmag.org/reactionscalam.htm for serious
reporting i.e. not tabloid media...
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