It's not, and John Key should apologise.

On Wednesday the 3rd of October 2007 in a Radio NZ interview, John Key, leader of the right-wing New Zealand National Party said:

“Frankly, the war in Iraq is over”.

Like many listeners, we were stunned to hear this from a man who wants to lead New Zealand. Key has since claimed both that he is technically right and that his comment has been taken out of context.

But we’re not buying his excuses. We believe that he should unreservedly apologise to the people of Iraq and all those worldwide who are affected on a daily basis by the ongoing war. We think his comment belittles their suffering and sacrifice.

To get him to do the right thing - publicly apologise - we need your help.

We believe that people - especially visible public figures - should be held accountable for the things they say.

We understand that sometimes they’ll get it wrong, but we also think that when they do, they should try to make amends. John Key has shirked all responsibility for his callous comment and the New Zealand media have largely refused to challenge him.

Perhaps together, we, the people, can help hold him to account.

If you'd like him to aplogise too, please sign our petition - just fill in your details below - and pass it on to your friends. Click here to see who's signed already...

Regards, the team at The Standard.