Bothers me a lot…
Australian authorities have arrested and charged the country’s most decorated living soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith, 47, with five war crime murders allegedly committed during the war in Afghanistan.
Roberts-Smith, a former member of the Australian Defence Force, was arrested at Sydney Airport on Tuesday. His arrest has sparked outcry from a former Australian prime minister, who argued its unfair to judge the actions of “men in mortal combat by the standards of ordinary civilian life.” X owner Elon Musk also weighed in on the arrest, calling it “insane.”
The Australian Federal Police and the Office of the Special Investigator said Roberts-Smith is being charged in connection with the killings of five unarmed Afghans in three separate incidents between 2009 and 2012. AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett alleged that Roberts-Smith either killed the unarmed Afghans himself or instructed a subordinate to kill them. If convicted, Roberts-Smith faces life imprisonment on each charge.
Full article, HERE from Fox News.
It’s enough to make one wonder ‘what’ is the real point? Is this somebody out to ‘get’ Roberts-Smith, or something else? Supposedly, the investigation was started in 2017, so 8 years after the fact???
By lawyers who weren’t there, and who made the original complaint and why 8 years later, rather than at the time???
Of interest is the comment from the investigator that “We don’t have access to the crime scenes, we don’t have photographs, site plans, measurements, the recovery of projectiles, blood spatter analysis, all of those things we would normally get at a crime scene.”
What are they basing the investigation on then? The recall of people that were there? What was the ROE at the time, the specific orders given to Roberts-Smith and/or his bosses?
This kinda reminds me of the BS ROE our folks had to put up with where if the bad guys didn’t have guns in their hands, they couldn’t be shot, even after they had been observed shooting at our folks. And the lawyers wanting to know if any ‘children’ had been harmed.
Not that I ever saw anything defining what a child was… In a part of the world where children were routinely used as lookouts, trigger people, suicide bombers, etc.
Thankfully, I was not there and never had to make one of those decisions, but I knew folks that were and did.
And where does this leave Roberts-Smith? Even if he’s found not guilty, he is ‘tainted’ with the accusations, VC or not.
Sigh…
The folks could arm up and revolt and help this guy out…..,oh,it’s Australia,my bad,they gave up their guns.
This should do wonders to getting folks to enlist there.
I would say if this man commited true crimes would not someone there speak out at the time,and,if they did why 8 years?
It is sending a message.
Not all Aussies caved.
Since you are so brave, how’s it going with cleaning out the Epstein Stables, solving 9/11, RFK, JFK, the warrr on drugs/poverty/stupidity? President Occasio Cortez will refresh your resolve.
Cortez will actually be the spark,hell,we started country with a revolution and had a war of succession here(wrong side won),we are due for another in country war.
To those who did NOT give up their firearms in Aussie land,kudos!You will need them I feel soon,as we also will.
Breaker Morant all over again.
Hey Old NFO,
I had seen a blurp on “X” that the person leading the charge is some female with a bunch of metals(Don’t know accurate the pic is) but it is some new office that is DEI related to the military and apparently they are trying to “revamp” the Australian military to bring it to 21st century norms….or something like that. You are correct, if some kid wanted to enlist, they sure wouldn’t enlist in their armed services,especially if they were going to be thrown th the P.C. wolves.They would enlist in somebody’s else’s armed services that would appreciate it like the United States. Australia no longer has a warrior ethos
In other words, they want to geld the Aussies Special forces and set an example ‘pour encourager les autres’ that behaving in a manly way is not acceptable.
My dad was an infantryman in the WWII ETO. He told me that their SOP was to sneak into a village at night (no night vision other than the mark one eyeball). Then set up outside doors and windows. Upon a signal, grenades would go in the houses followed by spraying the rooms with automatic weapons fire, move into the buildings, rinse and repeat as they cleared rooms and moved on to the next house. He said that the civilians had been moved out of the villages but I doubt anyone cared whether civilians were killed to not. Sucks to be on the loosing side in a war.
Story is bullshit, relayed by wannabe murderers, and now recounted by same blowhards. You and your kind will be very brave patrolling the wire of the ‘Muricanizashun Kamp. Nobody would bother putting you in one.
Stefan – This was the method of urban combat still taught in US Army basic training in 1988. Move in pairs. Guy #1 tosses two grenades into opposite corners of a room, then waits for them to cook off. Guy #2 goes in and hoses the room down on full auto. The guy #1 then goes in and looks to see what’s there. Repeat for every room in every building. Never go through a first floor door. Enter through upper story windows, or blow holes in the walls.
The Russians had similar doctrine, but guy #1 carried a sack of grenades and a sharpened entrenching tool (short shovel).
In war, the only lives with any value are ours. Sucks to be everybody else. War is organized mass murder and arson on industrial scales. Don’t pretend it’s anything else.
True–it’s a lot better to be on the tightening side.
New Aussie Recruiting Drive
The Australian Army wants people who won’t hurt anybody. Don’t even think about killing. So if you are a chanter, believe in the vitality of aromatherapy and can keep up with an elite drum circle, the Aussie Army wants you, regardless of sex, gender or criminal record.
General Bruce aka Lizzie Farnsworth He/She/It
There has to be something we don’t know. He poses a threat to the current crop of criminals in power…so they are going to crucify him.
A slur on all good Australians. Perhaps that is the point? Those in power saying, “Behold, we can put our boot on any neck anytime we please”.
All- Thanks and you DO raise some interesting points… dammit…
Ben is very tall.
According to someone who knows, when the locals were asked “Who killed those people?” they replied “The big one.”
That’s it. That’s the totality of the identification.
As you note, that question was asked YEARS after the events, and nobody is even sure if those asked were actually there.
According to that same source, the locals were NOT asked, “Were the dead guys armed, or otherwise active enemies when they were shot?”
So, you tell me – a real issue, or a targeted campaign for reasons yet unknown?
Cynic that I am I’m willing to bet real money that Cpl. Roberts-Smith was planning a run for political office or endorsing a candidate on the “wrong” ticket. Can’t have a VC winner championing The Wrong Side now, can we?
You might be on the right track there, Stretch.
Heaven forfend that we ever have a politician with real-life, heroic achievements, instead of the insipid crop of panty-waisted quasi-morons that always seem to be the only choices come election time.