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The Brereton Report

arthwollipot

Observer of Phenomena, Pronouns: he/him
arthwollipot
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Source - I expect that there will be permanent links to this later.

The findings of the Brereton report have just been released. They are truly shocking.

Australian special forces were allegedly involved in the murder of 39 Afghan civilians and cruelly treated two others.

In some cases, they allegedly executed prisoners to “blood” or initiate junior soldiers, giving them their first kill, before inventing cover stories and planting weapons on corpses to hide their actions..

Brereton’s report describes the special forces’ actions as “disgraceful and a profound betrayal” of the Australian Defence Force and all it stands for.

His report details 23 incidents in which 39 Afghans were unlawfully killed, either by special forces or at the instruction of special forces.

None of the killings took place in the heat of battle, and they took place in circumstances which, if accepted by a jury, would constitute the war crime of murder, the report found.

All the victims were either non-combatants or were no longer combatants, the report finds. A total of 25 perpetrators have been identified either as principals or accessories. Some are still serving in the ADF.

In all cases, the report finds it “was or should have been plain that the person killed was a non-combatant”. The vast majority of victims had been captured and were under control, giving them the protection under international law.

Brereton has been investigating shocking allegations against elite Australian troops since 2016, when he was tasked with examining dozens of incidents in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016.

His work involved reviewing 20,000 documents and 25,000 images. His team interviewed 423 witnesses.

“We embarked on this inquiry with the hope that we would be able to report that the rumours of war crimes were without substance. None of us desired the outcome to which we have come,” he said. “We are all diminished by it.”

Aside from criminal prosecution, his recommendations include paying immediate compensation to victims and their families, revoking the meritorious unit citation to the entire Special Operations Task Group, and potentially cancelling the individual medals for those concerned.
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I expect that these war criminals will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. General Angus Campbell, the head of the Australian Defence Force, has indicated that he has accepted all of the report's findings and has announced a comprehensive action plan to address all of the report's 143 recommendations. He has also apologised to the people of Afghanistan.
 
In some cases, they allegedly executed prisoners to “blood” or initiate junior soldiers, giving them their first kill, before inventing cover stories and planting weapons on corpses to hide their actions.
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No verbiage should be spared to stress how sick and depraved this kind of thing is.
 
The report has recommended that 36 matters be referred to the Australian Federal Police for criminal investigation, relating to 23 incidents and involving 19 individuals.
 
Permalink:

Australian special forces involved in murder of 39 Afghan civilians, war crimes report alleges

Brereton report finds prisoners were executed to ‘blood’ junior soldiers and unlawful killings were deliberately covered up


Australian special forces were allegedly involved in the murder of 39 Afghan civilians, in some cases executing prisoners to “blood” junior soldiers before inventing cover stories and planting weapons on corpses, a major report has found.

For more than four years, the Maj Gen Justice Paul Brereton has investigated allegations that a small group within the elite Special Air Services and commandos regiments killed and brutalised Afghan civilians, in some cases allegedly slitting throats, gloating about their actions, keeping kill counts, and planting phones and weapons on corpses to justify their actions.

Brereton describes the special forces’ actions as “disgraceful and a profound betrayal” of the Australian Defence Force.
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Absolutely awful. I'm just waiting for someone to use the phrase "a few bad apples".
 
arthwollipot said:
Absolutely awful. I'm just waiting for someone to use the phrase "a few bad apples".
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Could you clarify? I'm not familiar with Australian military (ETA and this is the first time I've heard of this incident). Your phrasing suggests to me you think an initial murder is typical of soldiers in your military and that doesn't sound right to me.
 
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RecoveringYuppy said:
Could you clarify? I'm not familiar with Australian military (ETA and this is the first time I've heard of this incident). Your phrasing suggests to me you think an initial murder is typical of soldiers in your military and that doesn't sound right to me.
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No, it's not. But whenever people who are in a position of power with insufficient oversight are caught abusing that power, people say "oh but it was just a few bad apples" in an attempt to excuse those in authority who ought to have known about and prevented the abuse. It happened for Abu Ghraib and it happened for some of the BLM circumstances. I am hoping it doesn't happen here too.
 
My instinct upon hearing about this is that the SAS (Special Air Services Regiment, for those who don't know) should be disbanded, if not the whole Army.

This says

"Many people spoke of how widespread the knowledge of wrongdoing was, making it very difficult to believe that the lack of oversight can be put down to simple disinterest."

arthwollipot said:
Right now it looks like this is being taken VERY seriously by both the military and the government. But it's early days yet - we'll see how it pans out over the next few weeks and months.
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I am disturbed that Brereton has been looking into it since 2016 and nothing sounds like it has been done to stop it till now.
 
If past experience is anything to go by then my guess is that eventually some private soldier will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law while nobody in the higher ranks will even be named.
 
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arthwollipot said:
No, it's not. But whenever people who are in a position of power with insufficient oversight are caught abusing that power, people say "oh but it was just a few bad apples" in an attempt to excuse those in authority who ought to have known about and prevented the abuse. It happened for Abu Ghraib and it happened for some of the BLM circumstances. I am hoping it doesn't happen here too.
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Thanks. I primarily have the BLM incidents on my mind in regards to the "just a few bad apples" argument. In BLM it's being used to deny a rather obvious widespread/nationwide systemic problem. I thought you might be suggesting a similar scale for this problem. Hopefully, as bad as this is, it's not as pervasive.

Orphia Nay said:
My instinct upon hearing about this is that the SAS (Special Air Services Regiment, for those who don't know) should be disbanded, if not the whole Army.
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I'm of the opinion that "special"/"elite" (scare quotes meant to be scary) forces should be disbanded on a regular basis. They should only be formed for special purposes. Keeping armies and police forces representative of the population is key to keeping them from becoming tools of oppression. Ideally they be would randomly conscripted from the population with short terms of duty and limited "career" positions.
 
The Great Zaganza said:
Really hope Australians don't just pardon their war criminals.
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I think it is important to prosecute these criminal acts to the full extent. Australian troops need to be see as having clean hands and legal governance, so they can go into difficult situations and work with the locals A proper trial is required.

Dad was a Group Captain and psychiatrist in the RAAF in Vietnam and other campaigns. He discussed the problem that if you train elite soldiers to be killing machines that's what they become. We don't want killing machines
 
psionl0 said:
If past experience is anything to go by then my guess is that eventually some private soldier will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law while nobody in the higher ranks will even be named.
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No, this will not happen. Not this time. The behaviour of the SAS is beyond belief and can’t be swept under the carpet.

I tend to agree with Orphia. Get rid of the SAS, retire and/or charge anyone near the chain of command during those years and completely revamp training. Throw the book at each and every one of the SAS savages.

What many people outside Australia probably don’t realise is how deeply he “ANZAC spirit” imbues the nation. It was a cornerstone of the early days of our nation (we became a nation in 1900). ANZAC Day is our National day of remembrance. We have always been proud of our soldiers and their (before now) reputation for bravery and integrity.

I’m incredibly angry and saddened.
 
Matthew Ellard said:
I think it is important to prosecute these criminal acts to the full extent. Australian troops need to be see as having clean hands and legal governance, so they can go into difficult situations and work with the locals A proper trial is required.

Dad was a Group Captain and psychiatrist in the RAAF in Vietnam and other campaigns. He discussed the problem that if you train elite soldiers to be killing machines that's what they become. We don't want killing machines
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I totally agree with every word of this post.
 
It looks to me as though the rinsing of this has already begun.

Australian special forces were allegedly involved in the murder of 39 Afghan civilians...

becomes:

The report has recommended that 36 matters be referred to the Australian Federal Police for criminal investigation, relating to 23 incidents and involving 19 individuals.

Halved during the course of the report, which then ends up with the encouraging note:

In particular, it can be anticipated that, in the light of the frequency of deployments, and conditions not dissimilar to those relied on in Blackman, mental health defences including adjustment disorder will be invoked

Maybe just stop joining wars thousands of miles from home that have zero to do with Australia. We're guilty of the same ********.

But pacifism is bad...
 
arthwollipot said:
Source - I expect that there will be permanent links to this later.

I expect that these war criminals will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. General Angus Campbell, the head of the Australian Defence Force, has indicated that he has accepted all of the report's findings and has announced a comprehensive action plan to address all of the report's 143 recommendations. He has also apologised to the people of Afghanistan.
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That is bad! I get the impression that the kind of person you need in order to train him(/her?) to the level of a special ops soldier is also likey the type of person to develop a "by all means necessary" attitude. And with that the rule book disappears. Objectors get drummed out because they're not team players. It becomes a self-perpetrating monster that jealously guards its domain.
 
The Atheist said:
It looks to me as though the rinsing of this has already begun.

Australian special forces were allegedly involved in the murder of 39 Afghan civilians...

becomes:

The report has recommended that 36 matters be referred to the Australian Federal Police for criminal investigation, relating to 23 incidents and involving 19 individuals.

Halved during the course of the report, which then ends up with the encouraging note:

In particular, it can be anticipated that, in the light of the frequency of deployments, and conditions not dissimilar to those relied on in Blackman, mental health defences including adjustment disorder will be invoked

Maybe just stop joining wars thousands of miles from home that have zero to do with Australia. We're guilty of the same ********.

But pacifism is bad...
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What nonsense. 23 events involving 19 individuals (ie SAS soldiers) caused 39 deaths. Have a look at the redacted report posted earlier.

You won’t though.

It seems that you and psion are saying the fix is in. You are wrong. The consequences on Australian military leadership and training will be epochal.
 
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