Don’t be too quick to demonise our boys in Afghan

Chief of the Defence Force General Angus Campbell has been quoted as saying war crimes have been committed by “a clique of non-commissioned officers”. I am appalled that generals and politicians have sent these brave young men out at the risk of their lives to fight a dirty war in which the enemy has no rules and are now turning on these men because they have come home with mud on their uniforms. I am starkly reminded of the old army axiom, “Sh.t runs downhill”.

I doubt any previous successes of our men in battle have been because they were sticklers for rules. War is not like that. I now await the trials of those who ordered and those who carried out the mass massacres of tens of thousands of civilians in Dresden in World War II.

Flt Lt (rtd) F.W. Pike, Abernethy, NSW

General Angus Campbell has rightly issued an apology to the Afghan people, via their Prime Minister, for alleged war crimes committed by Australian troops when serving in Afghanistan. Will the Taliban be issuing a similar apology for its misdemeanours in that war? A peace agreement has been struck between the US and the Taliban that promised up to 5000 Taliban prisoners would be set free by the Afghan government. One of these will be the assassin of Australian soldiers Hekmatullah.

Anthony Anderson, Templestowe Lower, Vic

In the 1960s I worked alongside American airmen fresh from a tour of duty in Vietnam. They told me their biggest fear, unlike the world wars beforehand, was not knowing your enemy. Was it the man sitting next to you on the bus or the lady pushing the pram? Don’t be too quick to demonise our boys in Afghanistan.

Elizabeth Jobson, Tamborine Mountain, Qld

Surely disbanding the Perth-based Special Air Service Regiment is penalising current serving members, not those who may have been involved in the events detailed in the Brereton report? Those squadron members who have been discharged from the ADF will not suffer as much as the proud serving members will.

This appears to be a knee-jerk, backside-covering action.

Ray Galliott, Duncraig, WA

Perhaps it might be helpful to try to put some perspective into this shocking report. There are more than 40,000 members of the Australian Army. It is understood that members of the SASR and Sydney-based 2nd Commando Regiment were deployed to Afghanistan on many occasions over a period of 15 years. It has not been revealed whether these atrocities, for which there can be no excuse or reason, were committed during a single deployment or over a period of years. It is understandable that members of these two regiments could well become thoroughly disgruntled with frequent deployments to this most inhospitable war zone and thus feel that the sooner the area is rid of Taliban extremists the sooner we will cease deploying here.

No atrocity will ever be condoned but if the 39 “murders” occurred over the 15-year period the average appears much more presentable and even perhaps more understandable.

It does appear from what has been released that a few egotistical rotten apples have deeply contaminated the entire barrel. One must feel desperately sorry for those who have frequently stood in harm’s way and done their duty in accordance with the laws of conflict, laws to which the Taliban has never signed up.

Nick Bailey, Ngunnawal, ACT

The news that Australian special forces may have committed up to 39 murders of non-combatants in Afghanistan during the years of war is shocking and outrages many. Australia has supported military action in this country to fight oppression by the Taliban and the suspected rise of terrorism there. These are the same reasons many Afghanis, especially from the Hazara ethnic group, were forced to flee their homeland.

Some found their way to Australia and arrived as refugees seeking safety here. It’s time to grant permanent residence to all Afghan refugees and asylum-seekers. It is one small way that we can acknowledge the wrongs that have been done in their country by so many for so long.

We offered this to Chinese students after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989; let us do this now for Afghan refugees.

Louise Redmond, national president, Rural Australians for Refugees, Katoomba, NSW