Army retains sense of hubris despite stripping of medals

The Albanese government has stripped distinguished service medals from some commanding officers who held senior roles during the war in Afghanistan in which Australian soldiers killed Afghani citizens. But the most notorious, former SAS corporal Ben Roberts-Smith, keeps his tarnished Victoria Cross.

The VC winner was feted last week at a Special Air Services function in Perth attended by Kerry Stokes, his biggest patron, enabler and chairman of the Seven Network. It was Stokes who bankrolled Roberts-Smith’s delusional and self-destructive defamation court action against this masthead that led to damning adverse findings against him. An appeal against that defamation judgment is under way.

Ben Roberts-Smith: sued for defamation and lost.Credit: Stan

It’s that kind of hubris that undermines public belief that the army has learnt from what Defence Minister Richard Marles described on Thursday as “arguably the most serious allegations of Australian war crimes in our history”.

These are hard days to be a soldier. Civilians are being killed in the Middle East and the royal commission into veterans’ suicide found 3000 personnel have probably died unnecessarily and vets were 20 times more likely to die by suicide than in combat.

Now Marles, on the recommendation of the Brereton inquiry, has belatedly stripped distinguished service medals from some officers who served in Afghanistan.

In 2016, Major General Paul Brereton began his investigation into the conduct of Australian forces in Afghanistan during the 13 years of Operation Slipper. Four years later, he concluded there was credible information of unlawful conduct involving 25 Australian personnel relating to the killing of 39 Afghanis.

Marles said the Brereton recommendations and the Privacy Act prohibited him from disclosing the officers’ identities. But the Herald‘s Matthew Knott revealed government sources claimed fewer than 10 people had had their awards cancelled.

The issue of medals revocation has been hanging around since the Coalition government rejected Campbell’s offer to hand back the medal awarded for his command of troops in the Middle East after the Brereton report. The issue flared last year when Roberts-Smith lost his defamation case against the Herald, Age and Canberra Times. The Federal Court found the publications had proven on the balance of probabilities Roberts-Smith had murdered four unarmed civilians in Afghanistan.

Australian SAS Association head Martin Hamilton-Smith accused the government of betrayal and “spitting at the feet of our Australian veterans” – but we believe it is to be regretted the decision did not affect those accused of war crimes themselves, such as Roberts-Smith.

Nick McKenzie reports today that an investigation into Roberts-Smith had ballooned and now includes several more egregious war crimes in addition to the four executions.

Marles said the medal revocations was the final step in government action emanating from the Brereton Report, and of its 143 recommendations, 139 were closed. Four issues were on hold as the Office of the Special Investigator considered prosecutions.

The investigation was a mammoth and long. It depended on the courage of whistleblowers and was abetted by a media prepared to stand by its journalism to bring the army’s shameful war crimes to attention of the Australian public. Despite Marles’ reassurances, much seems to remain in-house, a perception made all the more credible by Roberts-Smith’s arrogant and stubborn refusal to do the right thing and surrender his medal.

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