War crimes can’t be swept aside, says Linda Reynolds

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds says allegations of 39 murders by special forces soldiers in the Brereton war crimes report ‘cannot be swept under the ­carpet’.

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds. Picture: Gary Ramage

Defence Minister Linda Reynolds says allegations of 39 murders by special forces soldiers in the Brereton war crimes report “cannot be swept under the ­carpet”, revealing they made her feel “physically ill”.

Despite suggestions that some soldiers might have been overcome by the “fog of war” after ­repeatedly capturing and then being forced to release suspected insurgents, Senator Reynolds said the allegations related to “straight-out murder”.

The minister defended the government’s slowness in naming a special investigator to prepare briefs of evidence against soldiers accused of war crimes, saying it was “identifying the right people for the jobs”.

Special forces veteran Heston Russell has cast doubt over the Brereton report’s finding that none of the ­alleged murders was “heat of battle” or “fog of war” killings. “The Australian public haven’t been given the chance to understand what the fog of war is,” the former 2nd Commando Regiment officer said.

“The fog of war is going out to capture the same insurgent that you’ve already caught three times, and had a fingerprint on a ball-bearing that was pulled from a suicide IED vest detonated in Kabul the week before.”

Mr Russell said he wasn’t suggesting some of the 39 alleged murders could have been “fog of war” killings, only that the soldiers at the centre of the allegations deserved the presumptions of innocence.