{"id":1063582,"date":"2023-06-01T14:28:23","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T14:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jacobin.com\/2023\/06\/soldier-ben-roberts-smith-war-crimes-australia-military\/"},"modified":"2023-06-01T19:24:34","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T19:24:34","slug":"an-elite-soldiers-downfall-has-created-a-dilemma-for-australian-politicians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/06\/01\/an-elite-soldiers-downfall-has-created-a-dilemma-for-australian-politicians\/","title":{"rendered":"An Elite Soldier\u2019s Downfall Has Created a Dilemma for Australian Politicians"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n\n\n\n

Former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has failed in his bid to sue journalists for exposing his war crimes in Afghanistan. His downfall is set to embarrass the political elites who championed him.<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n \n
\n Ben Roberts-Smith returns to the Federal Court of Australia on June 9, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. (Sam Mooy \/ Getty Images)\n <\/figcaption> \n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n \n

The most high-profile defamation case in Australian history has concluded. Former Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has failed in his attempt to sue media organizations for publishing details of his war crimes in Afghanistan. Today\u2019s outcome was not the conclusion of a criminal trial, but of a civil case initiated by Roberts-Smith himself. It was one of the most expensive trials ever held in Australia.<\/p>\n

Investigation of Roberts-Smith\u2019s alleged war crimes is still ongoing, but the Federal Court in Sydney found that, on the balance of probabilities, Roberts-Smith did do most of the things the journalists reported. His actions included the murder of unarmed civilians.<\/p>\n

Roberts-Smith has become the face of bad behavior on, around, and after the battlefield. But his fall from grace has raised some uncomfortable questions about the cozy connections between big business, the military, and parliament. As a consequence, the political elite now finds itself in an awkward position, simultaneously pondering criminal charges against former soldiers and trying to prepare the Australian public for a new war with China.<\/p>\n\n \n\n \n \n \n

\u201cBut Were I Not Better Than You\u2026.\u201d<\/h2>\n \n

While Roberts-Smith has not been criminally charged, the court findings confirm he likely murdered several people<\/a>. His victims include incapacitated or imprisoned civilians, and a teenage boy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Shadow Minister for Defense Andrew Hastie, who served alongside Roberts-Smith in Afghanistan, testified that Roberts-Smith once walked past him after killing two prisoners<\/a> and said \u201cjust a couple more dead cunts.\u201d He removed the prosthetic leg of a murdered prisoner, then drank beer<\/a> from it at the Fat Lady\u2019s Arms, an on-base bar.<\/p>\n

In a spectacular own goal, Roberts-Smith\u2019s lawyer attempted to discredit witnesses during the trial by arguing the allegations were too awful to be true. \u201cIt\u2019s like Robert Duvall in Apocalypse Now,\u201d he scoffed<\/a>, \u201cIt\u2019s Colonel Kilgore on ice. It\u2019s insane. It\u2019s the sort of thing that would be said by an ostentatious psychopath.\u201d Indeed.<\/p>\n

Roberts-Smith did not act alone. Despite his comeuppance in court today, the larger question of Australian war crimes and the dangerous culture of the \u201celite\u201d special forces is far from resolved. Witness testimony at the trial, the government-commissioned Brereton Report<\/a>, and corroborating news stories paint a grim picture. Australian troops abroad have engaged in murder<\/a> for both sport and bonding, massacres<\/a> of women and children, racist theatrics, and blind hero worship.<\/p>\n

Footage has emerged of soldiers flying the Nazi flag<\/a> over Australian tanks, and using the Confederate flag<\/a> to show helicopters where to land. Several, including Roberts-Smith, sported<\/a> crusader patches on the battlefield \u2014 symbols of a Christian war to dominate the Muslim world. The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) admitted that neo-Nazis groups have and are infiltrating<\/a> the armed forces. As one soldier present at the time told<\/a> investigators: \u201cGuys just had this bloodlust. Psychos. Absolute psychos. And we bred them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n \n \n \n

The Battlefield-to-Boardroom Pipeline<\/h2>\n \n

Many Australians will now have questions about how someone as clearly dangerous as Roberts-Smith was so celebrated and protected by the political establishment.<\/p>\n

Scandal-ridden<\/a> consultancy firm PwC \u2014 whose former executive leader sits on the SAS Resources Fund board<\/a> \u2014 courted<\/a> Roberts-Smith for a professional role after he returned from Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

The Seven Group \u2014 whose subsidiaries have enjoyed lucrative Department of Defence contracts<\/a> \u2014 hired Roberts-Smith as a general manager in 2015. Owner Kerry Stokes subsequently bankrolled<\/a> Roberts-Smith\u2019s legal costs for the defamation trial, and lambasted<\/a> investigative reporters as “scumbag journalists.”<\/p>\n

One of Roberts-Smith\u2019s defense witnesses was former Liberal Party defense minister \u2014 now head of weapons manufacturer Boeing Global<\/a> \u2014 Brendan Nelson. Nelson defended<\/a> Roberts-Smith as \u201cone of the greatest Australians in terms of heroism the country\u2019s produced.\u201d<\/p>\n

As recently as September, Roberts-Smith attended<\/a> the Queen\u2019s funeral. Due to the ongoing trial, he was not given a free ride on the prime minister\u2019s plane. The assistant shadow minister for defense, Phillip Thompson \u2014 who was a soldier in Afghanistan<\/a> at the same time as Roberts-Smith \u2014 was furious<\/a>. He demanded that any public servant who expressed doubts about Roberts-Smith be sacked because they \u201cdo not uphold Australian values.\u201d<\/p>\n

There will probably be a few red faces in board and party rooms around the country this week. But temporary embarrassment will not alter the extremely cozy relationship that has been built between Australian billionaires, politicians, the military, lobby groups, consultancies, and large defense corporations.<\/p>\n\n \n \n \n

Swallowing Cold War Pills<\/h2>\n \n

In March this year, Oliver Schulz became the first Australian to ever be charged<\/a> with war crimes. Schulz was a fairly low-level soldier. As one of the investigative journalists sued by Roberts-Smith put it,<\/a> the Brereton Report suggests that no Australian between the rank of lieutenant and lieutenant general knew anything about war crimes in Afghanistan. This has generated widespread skepticism. If none of the remaining eighteen men referred for criminal investigation<\/a> are charged, those at the top will look even more suspicious.<\/p>\n

The political establishment is happy to throw some grunts under the bus<\/a> if it has to. But it has a dilemma on its hands. In 2011, the Australian government was told that the Taliban was no longer the main security priority. Desperate to contain China with its own \u201cpivot to Asia,\u201d the United States insisted that US troops be stationed in Australia\u2019s north on permanent rotation. While Roberts-Smith was committing war crimes in Darwan, Afghanistan, the first US troops were settling into their new posts in Darwin, Australia.<\/p>\n

In the decade since, many more bricks have been laid in the path that could lead Australia into war with China<\/a>, such as the escalation of the Talisman Sabre<\/a> war games and the AUKUS<\/a> nuclear submarine procurement deal. Disappointingly, publications like the Sydney Morning Herald, <\/i>which determinedly exposed Roberts-Smith\u2019s crimes, have become brook-no-dissent<\/a> cheerleaders<\/a> for war with China.<\/p>\n

But a majority of Australians think<\/a> the country should remain neutral if there were to be a conflict between the United States and China. The prospect of war will hardly become more popular if criminal courts begin a marathon session exposing Australian military cruelty and incompetence.<\/p>\n

There is clearly some uncertainty about what to do next. The government\u2019s last-minute attempt to delay the ruling on national security grounds suggests it is nervous. Prosecutors will no doubt be watching the public fallout from the Roberts-Smith trial outcome to decide on their next move. Compounding their hesitancy is a US law that forbids its military from helping foreign forces who have committed war crimes. The United States is annoyed<\/a> that guilty verdicts might accidentally criminalize Australia-US cooperation in the event of a conflict with China.<\/p>\n

The elite are now in a catch-22 of their own making: prosecute and erode trust in Australia\u2019s institutions, or don\u2019t, and erode trust in Australia\u2019s institutions. But with public confidence in politicians already at an all-time low<\/a>, there\u2019s not much faith left to betray.<\/p>\n

Twenty years ago more than half a million Australians took to the streets<\/a> to warn<\/a> of the dangerous<\/a> consequences<\/a> of the forever wars. They were ignored. Today\u2019s result is yet more proof \u2014 if any were needed \u2014 that they were right.<\/p>\n\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n\n\n

This post was originally published on Jacobin<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The most high-profile defamation case in Australian history has concluded. Former Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has failed in his attempt to sue media organizations for publishing details of his war crimes in Afghanistan. Today\u2019s outcome was not the conclusion of a criminal trial, but of a civil case initiated by Roberts-Smith [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1650,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1063582"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1650"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1063582"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1063582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1063583,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1063582\/revisions\/1063583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1063582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1063582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1063582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}