Alan Jones: War Crimes report hangs our troops out to dry

The Brereton Report into alleged misconduct by our troops in Afghanistan tars battlefield soldiers as war criminals - while unfairly letting top generals off the hook, writes Alan Jones.

Surely, the demoralisation of Australia’s servicemen and women is now way beyond unacceptable. The Prime Minister has contributed to this demoralisation.

He can repair part of the damage by sacking the Chief of the Defence Force, General Angus Campbell and the Chief of Army, Lieutenant General Rick Burr.

Both are part of the headline allegations of “truth.”

Burr has lost the support of the wider Army. Soldiers and officers are speaking out in disgust with Campbell and Burr and have been reprimanded.

The wider defence force has been ordered not to speak about or even mention anything to do with this Inquiry on their personal platforms.

The source of controversy is the report known as the Brereton report by Major General Brereton, also Mr Justice Brereton, a Justice of the NSW bench.

An Australian Special Operations Task Group soldier on patrol in Afghanistan. Picture: Department of Defence

Brereton says the Commanders of Australia’s Middle East operations, who included the Chief of the Defence Force, Angus Campbell from 2011-2012, were not accountable because they did not have, Brereton’s words, “A sufficient degree of command and control to attract the principles of command responsibility.”

Hang on.

That is not what the Yamashita Standard says.

Yamashita was court martialled for, “Failing in his duty as the Commander of the Japanese forces.”

The US Supreme Court upheld the decision that he be hanged, arguing, “a Commander can be held accountable for crimes committed by his troops, even if he did not order them, did not know about them or did not have the means to stop them.”

Yet the Brereton report is at pains to exonerate the Commanders.

Chief of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) General Angus Campbell. Picture: AFP

You can waffle around all you like, but enough damage has been done to our soldiers and their families.

The Prime Minister told the Nation that we would have to confront “brutal truths.”

That comment has gone around the world. Our soldiers are “guilty”, despite no one having been charged.

All of them, because no one is named.

And that was before a single chapter of the report had been published.

Then the Prime Minister apologised to the President of Afghanistan. What for?

None of this has been proven.

Sorry.... Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Picture: Getty

The Foreign Minister wrote to her Afghan counterpart, “Apologies for the misconduct.”

None of this has been tested in Court. The Australian public are angry and they should be.

How do you defend the nation by demoralising those charged with that responsibility?

Already, Campbell has apologised to the victims’ families. Victims?

What do we know about the status of the so-called victim other than what is alleged and untested?

Who has apologised to the Australian families?

But no, General Campbell says these families in Afghanistan “will be compensated” and Campbell has apologised to the Australian people for the “shameful findings”.

Burr said he was “sickened”.

The pile-on continues.

General Campbell has been awarded a Distinguished Service Cross for “Distinguished command and leadership in action as Commander of the joint taskforce 633 on operation Slipper from January 2011 to December 2011.”

The war in Afghanistan has been known as Operation Slipper.

General Campbell is effectively exonerated in the report which finds that the post he held in 2011/12, as Commander of our Middle East operations, known as Joint Taskforce 633, was too remote from the field to have a sufficient degree of command and control.

Well, why did Campbell get a combat leadership award, a Distinguished Service Cross for, “Distinguished command and leadership in action……”

Brereton says he was too remote from the field to have a “sufficient degree of command and control.”

Australian Special Forces soldiers from the Special Operations Task Group based in Oruzgan Province in Afghanistan. Picture: Supplied

If Major General Brereton knew Campbell, who was in command when these alleged offences took place, what weight can be given to Brereton’s virtual exoneration of Campbell and repudiation of the Yamashita Standard enshrined in the Geneva Convention, to which we are a signatory?

Is it valid for the layman to ask how Campbell could receive a medal for his command and leadership of the troops and then be exonerated because he was too remote to command and lead the very same troops?

Or is our club of generals reading from the Daniel Andrews quarantine playbook?

The same General Campbell on Thursday November 19, as Chief of the Australian Defence Force, publicly stated that he would be writing to the Governor-General of Australia, General David Hurley, also a former Senior Officer of the Australian Army - requesting that the Meritorious Unit Citation, awarded to the Australian Special Operations task groups, deployed to Afghanistan during the period April 30 2007 to December 31 2013, be revoked.

All those men, thousands of them, some of them dead!

They gave their lives.

And this unacceptable move by Campbell comes before any criminal charges are laid or any offences have been tried before a Court of law.

Yet Campbell seeks to penalise and reprimand all special forces veterans and their families.

Campbell hangs on to his Distinguished Service Cross and is effectively exonerated by Brereton, even though he was the Commander of the Middle East Operations.

Now he wants to stand justice on its head.

Guilt, before proof.

Campbell and Burr should be sacked immediately before more damage to morale is done.

How do we effectively defend the nation if the behaviour of our “leaders” becomes a profound disincentive to enlist?

But for now, the Australian public can play their part.

Sign the petition to go to the Governor-General urging that the Meritorious Unit Citation awards stay in place.

www.voiceofaveteran.org