BRS charged a machine gun nest.. on his own.. it takes a certain kind of courage to do this.. yet it may be the case that a certain kind of 'cowboy' culture had infected the SAS.. not surprising or entirely unacceptable in such an outfit.. but.. as with a lot of soldiers coming home, the same characteristics that bring accolades in the regiment, are quite destructive in civilian life..
David McBride was an army lawyer, on deployment with the Australian military who took it upon himself to allegedly betray the code of silence that exists in military ranks. David McBride is going to go on trial for his choices.. All in all, if BRS must face the humiliation of common law and the defence of ( unproven ) truth, then it is only fair, whether guilty or not, that the person that indirectly brought him there, David McBride, should face the same.. He would not be popular amongst SAS vets i imagine yet they should be satisfied, that at least, he will face the judiciary
Yet it was John Howard who chose to send the SAS to economise on the 'volume' of the deployment.. Australia being a key partner in the War On Terror, meant that in the absence of larger battle groups moving out and taking territory, the primary activity it seems for the SAS, was conducting 'raids' on 'high value targets', which meant the SAS entering villages, farming areas, etc etc with all their firepower, all their skills, all their lethal force.
The whole Brereton enquiry is a result of John Howards decision to use the SAS instead of a larger, combined force, the whistleblowing activities of David McBride, and the activities of Australian SAS soldiers in the moutains of Afghanistan.
The fact that approx 39 potentially unlawful killings occured in the context of the War on Terror in it's entirety means that ultimately the collateral damage inflicted by Australia is small, but the damage in the context of the standards or disciplines that are 'supposed' to be within our rules of engagement is significant.. Afghanistan was a dangerous place to operate and the 41 diggers that persished are testament to that but the SAS are highly paid professionals, not volunteers.. For the rewards on offer, standards and behaviours must be enforced and then we know, 100% that our brave soldiers that do pay the ultimate price, did so with honour and that those who survive and who serve, are pillars of the honour and the integrity that the ADF must be known for and live under the flag of honour and discipline that their fallen colleagues died for, as opposed to a cowboy code of silence. It's a lofty aspiration but it's the only way.
However once again, I call on John Howard to take the stand, to apologise to the Australian people for joining the War on Terror. To apologise to the Australian people for sending our SAS in as the pointy end of the sword, knowing that they would be confronted with civilians, children, elderly in villages and on farms..
The genesis of this whole sorry saga lies at the feet of John Howard and yet he will never ever be held to account
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