New Zealand being sucked into Iraq?

Just how unpopular is the US-led occupation of Iraq in countries that don't get Fox News? The news broke here yesterday that Air New Zealand flew 2 charter flights that took Australian troops to Iraq. Prime Minister Helen Clark is "appalled". Foreign Minister Winston Peters has launched an investigation.

Why is this such a big deal?

After all, New Zealand has one officer in Baghdad, and previously had a few dozen engineers over there.

It's not like Air New Zealand was dropping bombs, or parachuting the Aussies into Sadr City. They just flew them to Kuwait. I don't know why the Australian Air Force couldn't do that, or failing that, Qantas. Maybe they were busy.

It appears that no-one here wants to be even tangentially involved in the killing. We went in, fixed the water supply in Basra, then left again. If the US wants to do a prolonged occupation, it will be doing it without any help, however tangential, from New Zealand.