Like all such documents, the Brereton report on alleged war crimes by SAS forces in Afghanistan changes nothing and changes everything.
We have known ever more of these events year on year for some time now. The events themselves are not surprising to anyone with a clear-eyed view of the military, any military. But none of that is the same as having it spelt out in an official document with the force of the state, or part of the state, behind it.
The document, with its stories of execution of Afghan civilians — the sadistic torture, the killing of teenage boys, the slitting of throats, the walking of young men to their deaths — is hideous, sickening, shaming to be Australian.
Shaming, not because one expects Australians to be “better” or even simply good — shaming to be associated with it by common citizenship, to be connected with it coming into the world. For the state to be speaking of these acts as accusation and confession all at once.
What the Brereton report has identified as the proximate context of the systematic terrorism, of 39 killings (at least), was a culture of performative death, of cabal and myth, right-wing memes and heavy metal imagery, all in the wider context of the Afghan war’s pointlessness — the strike against a Taliban regime sheltering Al-Qaeda, turned into a two-decades fiasco of heat and dust, initially, ostensibly, to shore up the corrupt, clannish Kharzai government.
And then…? Then simply to project power within Western politics — for the right to assert an idea of the West, for Labor and others not to be outflanked on national security. A war without purpose, except to be a war, absent from TV screens or any awareness of it over here, where it is a cipher.
A war whose fronts, battles, movements we know nothing of because there appear to be none. Just one endless grinding uncompletable occupation, which turns every civilian into an enemy and anyone trying to stay neutral into a collaborator.
The death cult the report alludes to was essentially fantasies of violence, projected onto real violence to give it meaning, a sure sign that there was no meaning at all.
One saw this in some of the earlier reports on the ABC a decade or so ago, when Australian soldiers were still being referred to as “our diggers” in stories that were little more than recruiting posters. It was the swagger, the tatts, the wraparound shades, the thick music blasting from the APCs, a war being stylised by its own participants, in its endless, historyless unspooling.
That could be said to be a universal feature of modern colonial wars, and the lack of inquiries by other nations into their own conduct may simply be because they are not interested in exposing it.
But it’s also worth asking whether there’s something uniquely Australian in all of this. We’re so accustomed to representing ourselves as the innocents abroad, our overseas forces as the armed wing of Contiki, to shield us from the fact that we may be worse than many, or most, because our overseas wars tend to be a projection of unfinished colonial violence at home.
Our “larrikin” image, acquired during World War I, may have less to do with a democratic spirit than that our troops in the Middle East were far more willing to terrorise and kill Arab and Turkish civilians than were the British or others — because such treatment was simply a continuation of the frontier wars at home.
If our propensity to terrorise black and brown people in a dusty outback has reappeared in Afghanistan now it’s because it simply reproduces the increasingly bitter stand-offs between certain sections of the white population and a colonised people.
This sadistic abuse of a native people may be far more “natural” to our troops than to others — simply what you do. If this is the case, then the cultural and social factors which the Brereton report has identified as motivating factors are the mere means to a deeper purpose, the lethal acting out of an unresolved violence at home.
That may not have occurred to, or be recognised by, our own leaders. You can be sure that in some form or another, that is how it will be recognised in Asia. We have to hold off lecturing the continent about human rights, just for a while.
But that’s not the most important matter in all this. What matters is our complicity in these killings — not the suddenness of battlefield deaths, or accidents, or even heat-of-the-moment stuff, but the terror of death and the pain of torture meted out to teenagers, slow and grinding, under cover of a pointless war the Coalition had no moral concern over (by the Coalition’s very nature) but that Labor could have got us out of at any point between 2007 and 2013.
Now rendered as accusation, as confession, for us to consider at our leisure, or bury beneath a half-billion-dollar war memorial, and the shouting and the trumpets of our annual “mateship” celebrations.
This sorry, shameful, tale tells one inescapable truth; it is unequivocal that protection of whistle-blowers with the courage to expose these acts are afforded the highest protection.
Then why is Julian Assange, languishing in a UK gaol and facing extradition to the US with the possibility of life in prison, not being given every bit of support possible by our Government.
Are we as a nation so gutless and fearful of the US we can’t even give one of our own, who had the courage, every bit of support necessary to secure his release?
Yes, Rufus, clearly.
Take a look at the Petrov Affair (1954) and Mordechai Vanunu to add to the list; initially resident in Australia. For anyone keen to bang on about rights take a look at the parole presented to him.
Hopefully, this will shut down Nelson’s Folly at the Australian War Memorial and it can return to its original purpose – a place for reflection and memory, not a museum or “lived experience”.
We could have a war crimes wing for reflections…It shouldn’t upset the budget too much….with a bit of running water under a bridge & sunshine ,reflections can come cheaply..
Hear hear DF. I sincerely hope so.
Guy, sadly I’m not that surprised. It was pointed out to by a woman who knows these things from her youth, that the described behaviour of these soldiers is very much like bikie gangs’ rituals. Her take is that if they were doing these things to men, then they were surely also doing atrocious things to women. I haven’t seen any reporting on whether the investigation looked at rapes and sexual assaults. Did it, or are women victims totally invisible and don’t ‘count’?
“Her take is that if they were doing these things to men, then they were surely also doing atrocious things to women”
You could n’t be anymore right about that.
I grew up in Cottesloe, Perth Western Australia. As teenagers of drinking age we always went to the Sunday sessions at the Ocean Beach Hotel or the Cottesloe Hotel. 4 hours of heavy drinking and harmless revelry.
Unfortunately the SAS barracks were at Swanbourne just 3 ks from the OBH. The OBH was their favorite drinking hole. Everubody almost stood to attention when they arrived and nobody dared challenge them and spoke in whispers.
They had a favorite trick they used to play on the women. If ever their advances were met with rejection they would distract them and obtain their handbag/purse, or what ever and then visit the men’s loo and defecate in it and then return it to the rightful owner. You can guess the horrow from there. I only saw this once but was told it happened all the time. Not so fond memories
Detectable under DNA testing nowadays! However, (see my emgargoed post) one could begin traiing at 17 and be posted at 18 but not be entitled to a 5oz beer until age 21.
And the deliberate cruelty to refugees–recognized as refugees under international law, but imprisoned for years upon years because they came by boat? For year and years we’ve been saying that this compromises and demeans the whole of Australia. How can we accuse others of crimes against humanity when we deliberately commit these crimes at home-to Aboriginal people and to refugees. someone needs to recognise this hypocrisy and call the government bully boys out.Now.
In 2013, after Angus Campbell had been in charge of the ME and Afghanistan ‘campaigns’, for a couple of years, following his 5 years in the Dept of PM & Cabinet, as the ‘intel’ expert, a 7 odd year period where he apparently heard nuffinck about what was going on in Afghanistan, Campbell was given the reins of ‘Operation Sovereign Borders’ by Abbott.
He’s a very, very loyal ‘machine man’.
After Colonel, David, one needs political friends.
Before he entered PM & C, E, he’d been Chief of Staff for 2 ADF Chiefs, including Cosgrove.
Vladimir Putin has one bloke in the ‘ front office’, Dmitry Peskov. Dima’s not Vlad’s ‘Chief of Staff’, he’s “The Press Secretary for the President of the Russian Federation” (or, “The Kremlin”).
Some choose to obfuscate, others opt for plain speakin’.
A few grabs from a recent piece from the fella who goes by “Moon of Alabama” (who, I believe is a former European, prolly German, intel operative). The piece is headed;
“How Not To Challenge China”
“The headline of a recent Bloomberg column by one Tyler Cowen is:
“Covid is increasing America’s lead over China
Its remarkable only for its fervent nationalistic delusion….
This comes at the same day as a similar delusional State Department policy planning paper sees the light…..
Axios calls it a “Kennan-style paper”…..
The recommendations of the State Department paper listed by Axios are not practical steps but pure ideology…
Note especially the points 7 to 10.
They have nothing to do with China. They call for domestic propaganda, more domestic propaganda and even more domestic propaganda.
How brainwashing and stupidifying one’s own people is supposed to challenge China is beyond me.”
Recognise any vassal states?
Thanks for yet another source of info; viz., “The Moon… “. I think that their disclaimer is first class. As to the subject article (which is brilliant – a standard that will not be seen with this publication) I’m contemplating getting point 10 framed.
As to the 2nd to last question, have you worked anywhere where the management (typically public service but not exclusively) appoints applicants dumber than themselves? I have seen it more than once.
Ditto for our political class. Carl Sagan made just that point to Robyn Williams (of the Science Show) 35 years ago when referring to the USA
Indeed, I have worked in a place with such promotional processes. Didn’t concern me, wasn’t interested, just kept roaming about doing what I reckoned needed doing. Mostly got left alone because the results were usually solid.
One of the pluses of perusing MofA comes in the readers responses, in both argument, and news from beyond the perimeter.
Like this little gem, under the article in question;
“I find it curious that after signing the RCEP, China, Japan and South Korea still want to form their own trilateral FTA;
“The negotiations for the trilateral FTA are expected to speed up significantly. And within the RCEP, the three parties will achieve an even higher level of openness commitment….”
For more, Karlof1, No 27.
And, bubbling away under all this, is the reunification of the Koreas. ‘Moon Man’ in Sth Korea is keen, and the diplomatic heft is being lent by the Chinamen and Russians.
> Mostly got left alone because the results
> were usually solid.
Interesting. My experience also. Even the neo Rudds left me alone, after a while, when what was required was on their desks by due dates and, most importantly, was factual and made them look good.
“One of the pluses of perusing MofA comes in the readers responses, in both argument, and news from beyond the perimeter.”
In general, such a declaration would horrify me but, given the apparent audience (Cky. could achieve the same with 1/10 of the subscribers, higher rates and higher quality articles) I am less anxious.
On the other hand Bill Bishop wrote a lot of sense, to a very high standard about a decade ago and (apparently) almost went broke. Now he (i.e. his publication) dribbles crap (at best) for a much larger audience and hence much larger revenues. The treatment of the RCEP by Axios (17 Nov.) is amateurish at best. I am not a subscriber but I have contributed stuff (by way of severe academic criticism) so I get regular “free-bees”.
“I find it curious that after signing the RCEP, China, Japan and South Korea still want to form their own trilateral FTA”
The answer to this question turns (entirely) upon what the academics refer to as ‘Liberalism’ (in comparison to ‘Realism’ – see e.g. Mearsheimer). In other worlds, liaisons (trade, research exchange etc.) are also instruments to dissect international relations.
There is the Biden/Pompeo (not that dissimilar) game of inferring that Japan is “one of us”. Utter fantasy and time will tell.
There was a very real possibility of Trump making a contribution to the reunification of Korea about four years ago. Abe actually desisted from his sabre rattling over N.Korea. Until then Abe was making provoking remarks (via a search engine). I remember remarking at the time that if Trump pulls that matter off (and manages to issue VISA to North Koreans) he will get a 2nd term. However, his myopic and puerile phobias as to the loss of hegemony for the USA took him in a contrary direction.
Xi desires Korean unification so it will happen (on that basis alone) and probably [my guess] by 2026.
I join the unsurprised here. But now we know with excruciating detail why our SAS are the first the US wants to send into their battles and why our governments offer them with mawkish pride in the ANZAC tradition. And, as Guy points out, they are OUR SAS.
Among the intertwined tragedies the Brereton report exposes, one that will be impossible to manage is the unwarranted shame heaped on all ADF members and that will be unjustified. None off them had any part in the disastrous decisions made by the hawkish and kow-towing Howard government. It is shame enough for servicemen to know that they did no real good in either Iran of Afghanistan. Now the reflected shame that some SAS are actually terrorists, probably the best trained terrorists in the world, will be unbearable.
I am very respectful of the impossible job our ADF has been asked to do in these ridiculous geo-political adventures started by cowboys in Washington. As I read somewhere recently; in war, there are no uninjured soldiers. I am enormously sad about the injuries every one of them has incurred. But the atrocities committed by what appears to be a few SAS members, wearing the same uniform as the regs, but not be visited on all ADF members. They will feel awful enough without that.
It will make future ANZAC Days even weirder that Anzac Day has become over the past 10-15 years, a day I recoil from embarrassed about the strange vicarious thrill many, mostly white, Australians have created around a celebration of a complete defeat under the direction of colonial masters. Perhaps some will start heeding Paul Keating’s criticism of Anzac Day and what we have allowed it to become.