Australian war crime butchery laid bare – pay tribute to the Alliance MPs who tried to keep us out

By
Martyn Bradbury
-
24
1195

The scope and breadth of war crime atrocities committed by Australian Special Forces is breathtaking in its violence and its obscene premeditation…

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

The report found:

    • Special forces were responsible for dozens of unlawful killings, the vast majority of which involved prisoners, and were deliberately covered up.
    • Thirty-nine Afghans were unlawfully killed in 23 incidents, either by special forces or at the instruction of special forces.
    • None of the killings took place in the heat of battle, and they all occurred in circumstances which, if accepted by a jury, would constitute the war crime of murder.
    • All the victims were either non-combatants or were no longer combatants.
    • A total of 25 perpetrators have been identified either as principals or accessories. Some are still serving in the ADF.

…there is no pretence that Australian Special Forces were doing anything other than naked murder for ‘blooding’ purposes of new recruits.

This are war crimes.

Australia should be deeply ashamed.

Domestically it calls into question our own joke white wash inquiry into war crimes from a NZDF who have lied, attacked journalists and manipulated news media to play down any wrong doing and it also reminds us of the political courage of those NZ MPs who refused to get sucked into this war in the first place…

TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com

…Helen Clark and Labour led us into this farce, Alliance MPs stood firm.

The NZ media may have forgotten, the True Left won’t ever forget who stood against this type of Imperialist tyranny.

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24 COMMENTS

  2. While not in any way suggesting he committed any war crimes it has always seemed obscene to me that we have made a national hero out of a man who, for inexplicable reasons, our government sent to Afghanistan to kill the citizens of that country.

  3. Why do these regular reports of military atrocity always come as such a big surprise every time they are released? We’ve had US special forces doing it, UK, NZ and now Australia. In each report the behavior is almost identical – kind of eerily so – involving the cold blooded killing of prisoners or unarmed civilians. This is really the stuff of psychology. What happens to these young men – I doubt any of them are over 40 – from all over the world when placed in these environments. After months of brutal and murderous training they are deployed with loose operational command in a foreign (weakly governed) country they can only see as enemy territory. Any one who’s read lord of the flies knows things aren’t going to end well. I simply don’t believe the report writers or government and military people expressing their shock and surprise at events. Because they know these reports are written long before special forces boots hit the ground.

  4. I now understand why Australia wanted to deport the (Australian) thieving, sex deviant murderers drugged out of their skulls to New Zealand, they weren’t horrible enough when compared to their fellow citizens

  5. Thousands of soldiers face losing their medals after bombshell war crimes report – but billionaire Kerry Stokes vows to defend the accused troops
    A report into allegations of war crimes by Australian soldiers has been released
    It revealed dozens of alleged unlawful killings and atrocities from 2006 to 2015
    Up to 3000 special forces soldiers could be stripped of their service medals
    Media Mogul Kerry Stokes has ‘vowed to defend and financially support troops’
    WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8967709/Australian-soldiers-STRIPPED-medals-report-atrocities-committed-Afghanistan.html
    ” Thousands of Australian soldiers could lose their medals after a report claimed there was no longer ‘sustained outstanding service’ after a damning inquiry exposed a litany of alleged war crimes.

    The atrocities allegedly committed by Australian Special Air Service members were so heinous they that more than 50 pages in Thursday’s report had to be redacted. ”
    ” The inquiry’s findings point to a culture of violence, mistreatment of war prisoners, and secrecy that allegedly covered up executions.

    In light of what has been labelled the ‘most shameful episode in Australia’s military history’, the SAS second squadron will be disbanded, and soldiers could be stripped of their medals and potentially be prosecuted for war crimes.

    Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it felt ‘disgust’ after viewing the contents of the report but also stated the inquiry was an ‘important step towards justice’ for the ‘unforgivable’ alleged crimes.

    Prime Minister Scott Morrison called Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s office on Thursday to express his deepest sorrow and assure him that a special investigator would be brought in to prosecute those involved. “

  6. Any one know which military and government fought hardest to obscure the truth of atrocities or white wash/excuse the the behaviour? My money is on the NZ military/government. But I would really like to know. In vain do I hope to never hear hawks such as H. Clinton, H. Kissenger, H. Clark praised… By anyone.

  7. If I remember correctly Helen Clark’s government sent the New Zealand SAS to Afghanistan in secret and I believe this is the first time in our history that we have deployed out troops overseas where there was no public announcement or debate in parliament. Again, from memory, it only became public knowledge when Journalists revealed our SAS was there and the U.S.government confirmed it.
    Aunty Helen protested against New Zealand involvement in Vietnam so she realised if no-one knew we had fighting troops in Afghanistan no-one could protest about it. She can still claim to be a pacifist and keep her dirty little secret. Bad luck for her that no lie lives forever.

    • Stevie – What was Clark’s rationale for sending the SAS to Afghanistan, do you know ? Timeframe ?

      I’d understood that NZDF ex – Afghanistan were sworn to secrecy about New Zealand’s atrocities over there, but being sent in secret in the first place is sinister, and a rotten thing for Helen Clark to do, making them leave New Zealand in a clandestine way.

      A farm girl can be as impressionable as a state house boy – compelling reason for PM’s never to be allowed to treat persons anywhere as their play things. If this was a vanity issue, Clark’s cabinet cronies should have been called to account – low lifes. Any of them still in politics should be booted out – and kudos to all those who tried to keep us clean.

  8. The Clark government was neither socialist nor compassionate -just and extension of the neoliberal loot-and-pollute-the-world and support-financial-scams and sit-back-and-do-nothing-when-immoral-acts-are-perpetrated meme.

    As we march on towards self-induced extinction via continued use of fossil fuels

    October CO2
    Oct. 2020: 411.29 ppm
    Oct. 2019: 408.54 ppm

    it is difficult to find any substantive difference between the Adern government and the Clark government.

  10. Australian War Crimes Report Means Get The Fuck Out Of Afghanistan

    By Caitlin Johnstone http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/55899.htm

    ” “The Brereton report also found evidence that junior soldiers were required by their patrol commanders to shoot a prisoner to achieve their first kill, in a practice known as ‘blooding’,” SMH reports.

    Troops “carried ‘throwdowns’ – foreign weapons and equipment such as pistols, small hand-held radios and grenades to be placed with the bodies of enemies killed in action for the purpose of taking photos,” reports SMH. “This practice eventually was used for the purpose of concealing deliberate unlawful killings.” ”
    ” She heard one allegation that two 14-year-old boys were stopped by SAS, who decided they might be Taliban sympathisers. Their throats were slit.

    “The rest of the troop then had to ‘clean up the mess’ by finding others to help dispose of the bodies,” Crompvoets reported. “In the end, the bodies were bagged and thrown in a nearby river.” ”

    Afghanistan War Exposed: An Imperial Conspiracy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3LFbOSPfrE

  11. Empire Update: Trump Ending Afghanistan War? // More Weapons, Sanctions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
    Gregory Schmidt
    4 days ago
    FREE ASSANGE
    DrivenByRage
    3 days ago (edited)
    America is in Afghanistan for 2 reasons. Mineral resources and strategic locations for bases close to Iran, Russia and China. But all that is ultimately to protect the U.S dollars hegemonic power.

  12. Jeremy Scahills movie ” Dirty Wars ” revealed their were thousands upon thousands of special forces execution raids, often based on the most shit-house of information, killing untold innocents https://youtu.be/5KpzBAKJmig

    Joe Biden who our PM is keen and ready to work to work with seems set to expand this ‘special forces’ way of waging war ,,,,,,

    How Joe Biden Plans to Make The American Empire Great Again – https://youtu.be/o4g1PPGCfuQ

    The NZ inquiry into war crimes by our NZDF was a whitewash and the truth is probably much much worse than we will ever know.

    Yet another reason to get out of the 5 eyes white man english speaking butchers club,…. Although our ‘kind’ PM seems very chummy and servile to them.

    Is she Wayne Mapp in drag ????.

    • Wayne Mapp’s memory may not be the best, but he never received a knighthood, or governor-generalship, or scored a top ambassador’s job, so he’s probably on the level.

    • Jeremy Scahill’s “Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield”
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qqw-2-GR2k
      Jeremy Scahill, National Security Correspondent for The Nation, is the author of the best-selling new book “Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield” and the writer, producer and subject of an award-winning documentary of the same name, which goes into wide theatrical release this week.

      Scahill sat with Reason’s Matt Welch for an extended conversation about the book and movie, which thoroughly investigate the way America conducts its covert wars in the post-9/11 world, and how Barack Obama’s embrace of drone strikes, rendition and targeted assassination have cemented the policies of the Bush Administration which declared the entire world “a battlefield.”

      Other subjects discussed include Scahill’s skepticism of President Obama’s recent foreign policy “rethink” speech (14:00); how any adult male in a drone strike area is posthumously labeled a “suspected militant,” (16:15); the Department of Justice’s absurdly broad definition of an “imminent threat,” (20:15); the mysterious case of the American-born terror-advocating imam Anwar al-Alwaki, who was assassinated by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen (21:15); the “shameful” persecution of Yemeni journalist Abdulelah Haider Shaye, who was set to be pardoned and released by the government of Yemen until President Obama intervened (32:31); his disappointment in the Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats for being “nowhere” on civil liberties (38:41); and his surprising credit to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky) for his epic filibuster where he read into the Congressional record “for the first time ever…the names of U.S. citizens killed in operations authorized by President Obama.” (40:22)

    • Jacinda knows which side her bred is buttered, and how to play the game for the maximum personal gain. And she knows how to con the masses into believing bullshit.

      But like most politicians she has already got greedy and complacent, and is too busy pretending to govern to notice what is happening in the real world, which is falling apart super fast. (This time I’m not talking about the record low Arctic ice cover.)

      Everything I read tell me the US will not hold together for much longer, as the professional criminals in power circle further enrich themselves and their mates at the expense of everyone else (and the planet), and rapidly drive US society towards civil disobedience and armed revolt and collapse. America is a multi-century crime scene, and the level of criminality has shifted into hyper-drive in recent years. Biden is a sick joke:

      ‘Ownership of capital is concentrated in the hands of the top 10%, as the chart of equity ownership reveals, but the concentration is actually much more limited: the top 0.1% control so much wealth / capital that they “own” virtually all the power.

      I hope it’s not a big surprise that America is now a rigidly two-tier society and economy. If you’re an executive at a big Wall Street investment bank, you can rig markets and embezzle billions and you’ll never face any personal legal consequences such as being indicted for fraud and being imprisoned.

      But try being an employee at a local credit union and embezzle $5,000–a prison sentence is very predictable.

      If you’re one of the 500,000+ people busted for possessing cannabis in the U.S. every year, then you’re not rich and powerful, because when the spoiled-rotten child of the rich and powerful gets busted, the charges are quietly dropped, or cut to a modest fine and a misdemeanor, etc.

      “Justice” is for sale in the U.S., along with rigged markets, political power, healthcare and everything else. Why should we be surprised that the economy is also two-tiered?

      The lower tier of the U.S. economy has been decapitalized: debt has been substituted for capital. Capital only flows into the increasingly centralized top tier, which owns and profits from the rising tide of debt that’s been keeping the second tier afloat for the past 20 years.’

      https://www.oftwominds.com/blognov20/2-economies11-20.html

      And for good measure:

      ‘In early November, sufficient ballots made their way into the hands of upstanding election officials for reliable confirmation that Trumpworld had foundered on the shores of the deep state. The president’s political insurgency is now forestalled, at least until 2024. But this is hardly cause for celebration when his defeat has resulted in the reaffirmation of business as usual, a business which, for half a millennium, has thrived on the exploitation of the great many for the enrichment of the very few, and which, in the modern state, is now expressed as neoliberalism – an ideology which comfortably accommodates the state’s criminal offenses. While this criminality is primarily predicated on an invidious taxonomy of human worth, the government’s gaping ethical void also allows for the relentless breeding, fattening and killing regimes of factory farmed livestock, and permits the gross, unsustainable exploitation of botanical, lithic, and chemical elements for industrial use. The nation’s vast historic and contemporary mining of fossil biomass and its conversion into cheap thermal energy has significantly contributed to the chemical restructuring of the Earth’s atmosphere and to the resultant global warming. The cheap energy of oil and gas has metastasized urban development and enabled rural monocropping which together have decimated the biological diversity of the U.S. land mass. These profoundly existential planetary ills exist as the ultimate brand extensions of the criminal enterprise that is the United States.

      Almost four years of the Trump insurgency have not changed these fundamental realities, but they have shifted the terms of the debate. Generals, politicians, lawyers, financiers, the intelligence community, tech entrepreneurs, factory farmers and developers lay awake at night because one of the levers of power over which they believed they had some control was wrested from their hands by an uncultured, overweight, racist, loud-mouthed, sexist pig. For that we should be grateful, for it exposed a vulnerability that has rarely been evident in the almost impregnable bastions of wealth, power and privilege that exist at the core of this nation. It was, as so many in this country recognized and related to, a moment in which the cunning of the uncouth triumphed over the self-servingly venal noblesse oblige of the well-born, well-educated, well-dressed and well-mannered.

      Now, we are about to return to a time when the evils of Empire operate with impunity, fully protected within the carapace of democracy, that shell of legitimacy that occludes its own fraudulence and shelters the broader larcenies of the state. The porcine face of corruption soon departs to be replaced by the establishment candidate who has, over his almost five decades in subaltern power, faithfully served the super-rich and the egregiously powerful whose interests are served by their government’s inhumane criminality.

      Any euphoria experienced in Trump’s dismissal must surely be tempered by the depression that descends upon consideration of the impending elevation of Biden, poster-boy of the Peter principle, to the highest political post in the land. A career politician deeply mired in mediocrity, connivance and compromise; he reached his apotheosis in the eight years he served as Obama’s wingman. Infinitely less patrician and vastly less intelligent, he was nevertheless an appropriate ornament to Barack’s imperial presence, emphasizing the president’s blackness in ways unavailable to the man himself. Now, he will be assisted in his work of walking back every mildly progressive program blithely promised during his lackluster campaign, by Prosecutor Harris: younger, smarter, more ambitious and far more ruthless than her boss. Thus threatened, we can be sure that her role in the traditionally thankless task of vice-president will be further trivialized by ‘The Big Guy’ and reduced to a token signifier of his commitment to The Movement for Black Lives.

      Biden’s elevation to the Presidency will critically constrain the development of a progressive agenda within the Democratic party for a further four or eight years and likely assure a more aggressive foreign policy. In the last half-century, there was never a military action, CIA assassination, or trade sanction against a foreign power that he meaningfully opposed. Despite campaign trail disavowals, we can expect a continuation of Obama’s criminal war in Yemen as well as the cessation of troop withdrawals from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The generals will be back in charge.

      Long-time recipient of thin blue line union support, Biden is incapable of delivering peace on our streets – which demands a defunding of their militarized police presence. The future president’s commitment to the continued success of the health insurance industry will fatally constrain the development of socialized health and welfare provisions. Wall Street will continue to be privileged over Main Street. Already reneging on his campaign promise to ban fracking, he remains supportive of the country’s oil industry and seems increasingly confident in his eschewal of the Green New Deal.

      The nation’s new crime-boss-elect is a man of mind-numbing mediocrity, but he will, I suspect, be hugely successful in sustaining the criminal enterprise with which the electorate has entrusted him.’

      https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/11/20/the-nations-new-crime-boss/

      Russia and China, with their superior weaponry, will not tolerate American imperial adventurism any longer, so if Biden does attempt to resurrect the Clinton-Bush-Obama playbook it will lead to even faster collapse of the American Empire than we are already witnessing.

  13. The Chimera of a Trade deal with USA was the rationale for sending troops to Afghanistan just as it was for Holyoake sending Kiwis to Vietnam.

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