Judging our soldiers from the safety of home soil

It is apparent from the forewarning of the Prime Minister that there will be adverse findings in the Brereton report into war crimes allegedly committed by Australian special forces in Afghanistan (“War atrocities to shock a nation”, 13/11). If this is so, then as a nation we need to re-examine our moral position with respect to the commitment of Australian forces to mortal combat in war zones, particularly in the Middle East.

With the acceptance of the Geneva Convention and rulings of similar tribunals following World War II, rules of engagement were adopted that outlawed the killing of civilians on an individual level and on the vast scale that occurred in the previous wars of the 20th century. As a consequence, modern military protocol has arguably eroded the viability of special forces operating in enemy territory where the enemy is very often indistinguishable from the civilian population.

We have asked our Australian Defence Forces, and particularly our Special Forces, to operate in some of the most hostile terrain in the world. Many have endured far too many tours of duty, and many among them have suffered debilitating mental health issues on their return home. Judicial processes will now assess their worthiness from the lofty positions that have been mandated.

The righteousness that has shaped modern military protocol should now be applied to refusing to send our troops into fights they cannot win. We owe them that much.

Vicki Sanderson, Cremorne, NSW

Australia has never appreciated its armed services or given them the respect they deserve. They are sent into battle halfway around the world and when that particular battle is over they are sent on again to some other godforsaken place to continue their excellent work. The disgraceful treatment meted out to our returning troops after the Vietnam war was a case in point.

As an ex-army wife with a husband who was recruited from the British Army to serve with the Australian Army, I know first-hand how the troops are treated and how their families suffer. Perhaps there needs to be a larger recruitment policy if we are to keep first-class men and women in our services, to be sent time after time to foreign wars. National service was the answer at one stage.

We need our armed services and their long-suffering families to know they will be appreciated and cared for as they most certainly deserve and not persecuted when they come home. Only they can possibly understand what they went through rather than armchair critics who may or may not have ever experienced the horrors of battle and what it can do to people.

Patricia M. Smith, Mt Martha, Vic

I tell you firmly “what shocks a nation” — the publication of the beheading of innocent people by Islamic State terrorists, the videoing and publication of drowning in cages of innocent people by Islamic State terrorists, the sexual enslavement of female children, the killing of 3000 innocent people in September 2001 by Islamist terrorists, the destruction of Afghanistan by Islamist terrorists and on and on the list continues. One can only pray that evidence produced out of the Brereton investigation, as deeply shocking as it may be, is taken in the context of war and the nature of the enemy, whose atrocities are and continue to be far worse than anything it is suggested our troops may have committed.

Tony Brownlee, Sydney, NSW

It’s very interesting to read the headlines about atrocities by our troops, but it’s so easy to forget that they have been sent out at the risk of their own lives in confronting situations where you often don’t know the enemy confronting you. We should be very proud of our troops and not be hasty in condemning them when they’ve been fighting in circumstances that we could never appreciate unless we've faced it ourselves. Should there be any errors of judgment I feel those who have sent them there are just as responsible.

William C.L.Horn, Blairgowrie, Vic