War crimes inquiry: Actions of few endangering others

Allegations of murder against Aussie troops will be amplified by our enemies and used to recruit new members.

Chief of the Defence Force General Angus Campbell facing the media following the release of the inquiry findings. Picture: NCA NewsWire /Gary Ramage

The decision to pay compensation to the families of the citizens allegedly murdered by Australian Special Forces continues a long and well-established tradition of dealing with wartime problems in Afghanistan.

The report by the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force recommends the money be paid without waiting for any criminal cases to be resolved.

“This will be an important step in rehabilitating Australia’s international reputation in particular with Afghanistan, and it is simply the right thing to do,’’ the report notes.

Australia has been paying the families of civilians killed in the war there for years. In most cases, it amounts to a few thousand dollars, paid in cold, hard American cash.

So it’s hard to see how this will substantially rehabilitate Australia’s international reputation.

Broadly, Australian troops have an excellent reputation overseas.

Where we have paid compensation before, it’s been in circumstances where someone has become collateral damage, a tragic and apparently unavoidable innocent victim of war.

Under the spotlight, Chief of the Defence Force General Angus Campbell. Picture: NCA NewsWire /Gary Ramage

By contrast, the allegations contained in this report are that a handful of our Special Forces soldiers murdered, in cold blood, Afghani nationals who were farmers, civilians, prisoners or too badly wounded to continue to fight.

The report goes out of its way to state these were not “heat of battle’’ occurrences.

If proven, these are not actions that can easily be resolved by sitting on a carpet with community and family leaders, sharing cups of sweet tea, apologising, and handing over several thousand American dollars.

Some of our allies have bitter experience in this area. The Americans, with their enormous military machine, have had a small minority of soldiers go rogue – think Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, where naked detainees were humiliated and tortured.

Our politicians and military leaders have been talking to our democratic allies to reassure them that we are taking this issue seriously, and are committed to stamping such rogue behaviour out.

The international media will pick up these claims of war crimes and report them widely, in multiple languages across the globe. Our enemies will amplify them through social media and use them to discredit our work in the Middle East, and recruit new members.

The actions of a few have brought shame on Australia and made it more dangerous for their colleagues overseas.

Contrary to a statement from Afghanistan’s president palace, Prime Minister Scott Morrison did not express his “deepest sorrow over the misconduct by some Australian troops” in his telephone call with President Ashraf Ghani this week.

Chief of the Australian Defence Force General Angus Campbell did, but Mr Morrison did not. Any such expression of sorrow from the prime minister would come at the conclusion of any criminal proceedings, likely to be years from now.

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