A confidential report commissioned in 2016 by Australia’s erstwhile army chief Angus Campbell has recently come to light, revealing the “blood lust” of Australian soldiers while stationed in Afghanistan. In what is being described as Australia’s “Abu Ghraib Moment”, the report details how Australian personnel routinely tortured and executed prisoners and subsequently covered their tracks.
The document confirms long-held suspicions about war crimes committed by foreign soldiers in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2015 and formed the basis for a four-year inquiry into the matter by Supreme Court judge Paul Brereton. The Brereton report confirms many of the findings of the 2016 report by the Australian army and is set to be completed in the very near future.
Campbell is now the country’s Chief of Defense, the highest position his line of work, and was fully aware that “unarmed civilians and prisoners were shot or had their throats slit by some Australian soldiers” who “gloated” about their actions. Some of the victims were as young as 14 years old who were held and then killed on the mere suspicion that they were “Taliban sympathizers”.
Ultimately, the document speaks to a “complete lack of accountability”, the “unsanctioned and illegal application of violence on operations”, and a “disregard for human life and dignity” among Australian Special Forces (SF) soldiers. It also confirms an “insidious, abhorrent, and shameful” culture within the SF that “bred” “absolute psychos” with a “blood lust”.
The Brereton report has not been released but has been seen by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, and Fairfax Media. Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne has also been made aware of the contents of the report, displaying the “major gaps in knowledge” within the Australian government about the operations of Australia’s Special Operations Command. In fact, the Australian Defense Force released a statement saying that it has “for some time, been aware of allegations of significant issues involving the Special Operations Task Group in Afghanistan”.
This statement is made all the more disturbing by the fact that the report describes how war crimes allegations made by non-government organizations, the Special Air Service, and support stuff were “apparently muted by SF (special forces) leadership in Afghanistan”. For example, one Afghan interpreter repeatedly reported that Australian SF were killing farmers, “but no one ever followed anything up”.
Any complaints that did reach Australian shores and the desks of the ADF were dismissed as soldiers “blowing off steam”; otherwise, the leadership said that: “they were too high up the chain to see it”; that the “tempo was so high the priority was just to keep everything ticking over”; that “they did try to do something but were dismissed/marginalized/moved on”; or that “they only saw one incident, not the pattern over time”.
The revelations within the report appear to be corroborated by an unnamed United States Marine Corps (USMC) helicopter crew chief, who recently told ABC about an incident in which Australian special forces broke the ‘rules of war’ in Afghanistan by fatally shooting a prisoner because there was only room for six prisoners on an aircraft. He stopped short of calling Australian soldiers “bloodthirsty”, but said that they had a reputation for “wanting to shoot” and got “involved pretty often”.
An informant for the special forces, however, says that no matter how egregious the actions of the Australians, they paled in comparison to the conduct of British and American soldiers. He said, “Whatever we do, though, I can tell you the Brits and the US are far, far worse. I’ve watched our young guys stand by and hero worship what they were doing, salivating at how the US were torturing people. You just stand there and roll your eyes and wait for it to end.”
In fact, the International Criminal Court is currently investigating the actions of the Taliban, the Afghan government, and US troops between 2003 and 2014, including attacks on civilians, imprisonment, and extra-judicial executions. It is expected to build on evidence gathered during a 2016 report, when the ICC said there was “reasonable basis to believe the US military had committed torture at secret detention sites operated by the CIA”.
Amidst these troubling reports, Australian Defense Minister Linda Reynolds suggested that the federal government would work towards released at least some parts of the Brereton report. She said, “To the greatest extent possible, transparency through this process [of the Brereton inquiry] is critical and paramount, as is accountability for all findings of the Afghanistan Inquiry.”
Parallel to this, the Australian Federal Police dropped an investigation into ABC journalist Daniel Oakes for publishing the “Afghan Files” last year, which first brought to light the war crimes committed by Australian troops in Afghanistan.
At the same time, the ADF has stressed that it is working to address these “catastrophic cultural and professional shortfalls” by transforming the culture, ethics, and accountability within the special forces.
Confidential Report Reveals Australia’s “Abu Ghraib Moment” in Afghanistan
The report details the “blood lust” of “absolute psychos” within the Australian Special Forces.
October 28, 2020
IMAGE SOURCE: THE AUSTRALIANAustralian Defense Minister Linda Reynolds suggested that the federal government would work towards released at least some parts of the Brereton report.