Today, dawn breaks over what is for many in the defence community a tragic Anzac Day.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Why? Start with fact. A Supreme Court judge, Paul Brereton - a person who joined the Army Reserve as a teenager and trained as an infantryman; a person embedded within the warrior ethos and no stranger to the complexities of combat; later becoming a major-general in the Legal Corps - has meticulously investigated allegations of war crimes committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan. He didn't seek to find guilt, just the truth. And that is what makes his findings so terrible.
Brereton deliberately, properly, limited his inquiry. He wasn't interested in killings that occurred during combat, when the shooting was going on - even if these had resulted in the unquestionable deaths of innocents. The judge spent a huge amount of time trowelling through the details of every moment, not to accuse but to understand. He didn't, initially, seek soldiers to prosecute; he wanted to find out what actually occurred.
The result is detailed in the report issued earlier this year, a thick wad of pages with words, paragraphs, pages and even entire sections blacked out in an effort to ensure maximum possible fairness for the 25 soldiers he determined murdered 39 Afghans. He recommends 19 cases of war crimes should proceed.
In the wake of these findings, Defence Force chief General Angus Campbell last year moved to revoke the meritorious unit citation awarded to the SAS, the special forces regiment at the centre of the allegations.
Instead of supporting General Campbell, the new Defence Minister, Peter Dutton, has now pulled the rug out from under him - overturning the decision without providing any cogent reasons.
This badge, a small yellow rectangle edged in silver bearing a star, now serves to mark out members of a unit which a comprehensive and detailed report determined harboured murderers.
The values so many gave their lives for are being trashed and tarnished by politicians and others who are closing their eyes to the truth and refused to hear anything they don't care to hear. They prefer myth to fact, and a poorly understood, imaginary past to a future grounded in reality.
What was once a source of pride for this unit is now a mark of shame. And that's a tragedy this Anzac Day.
- Nicholas Stuart is a Canberra writer and a regular columnist.
Nicholas Stuart
Nicholas Stuart is a Canberra writer.
Nicholas Stuart is a Canberra writer.
