It has been
reported that the day this article (set out below) was published by the Australian
public broadcaster, the then Chief of the Defence Force and Acting-Secretary of
Defence referred said article to the Australian Federal Police.
Six days
short of two years after that Defence Force complaint and, after a lengthy
investigation by the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force as well
as the arrest of a whistleblower in September 2018, the AFP decided to raid ABC
offices at Ultimo on 5 June 2019.
This raises a
suspicion that the two raids
conducted over the last 48 hours may have been held back so they did not occur
during the recent federal election campaign - thus raising politically sensitive questions the Morrison
Government might have been obliged to answer before polling day.
As this is
the third instance in which journalists and a radio commentator have been approached
in the last few weeks by either the federal police or the Dept. of Home Affairs
and questioned over source/s of information contained in articles or on air
commentary, one has to wonder what the Morrison Government and its agencies are
playing at.
The original article……
ABC News, 11 July 2017:
Hundreds of pages of
secret defence force documents leaked to the ABC give an unprecedented insight
into the clandestine operations of Australia’s elite special forces in
Afghanistan, including incidents of troops killing unarmed men and children.
The ABC can reveal that
some of the cases detailed in the documents are being investigated as possible
unlawful killings.
The Afghan Files
This is one story in a
seven-part series based on leaked documents exposing Australian special forces
troops’ role in the Afghanistan war. For context, they are best read in order.
This comes a day after
the ABC revealed the alleged cover up of the
killing of an Afghan boy and another alleged incident in which a father and son
were shot dead during a raid.
The documents, many
marked AUSTEO — Australian Eyes Only — suggest a growing unease at the highest
levels of Defence about the culture of Australia’s special forces as they
prosecuted a bloody, secretive war against insurgents across a swathe of
southern Afghanistan.
One document from 2014
refers to ingrained “problems” within special forces, an “organisational
culture” including a “warrior culture” and a willingness by officers to turn a
blind eye to poor behaviour.
Another document refers
to a “desensitisation” and “drift in values” among elite Special Air Service
soldiers serving in Afghanistan, while others allude to deep divisions between the
two elite units which primarily comprise the special forces - the SAS based in
Perth and 2 Commando Regiment based in Sydney.
A large proportion of
the documents are reports on at least 10 incidents between 2009-2013 in which
special forces troops shot dead insurgents, but also unarmed men and children.
The Inspector General of
the Australian Defence Force is investigating at least two of the incidents as
part of its inquiry into the conduct in Afghanistan of special forces, which
includes alleged unlawful killing…..
NOTE
* Details of the first AFP raid on the home of a News Corp journalist on 3 June 2019 and the 2018 article which allegedly prompted that raid is at http://northcoastvoices.blogspot.com/2019/06/on-4-june-2019-federal-police-raided.html
* Further ABC stories:
#4
The spy and the SAS soldier with a loaded Glock#5Who
is the enemy? Australia’s secretive rules of engagement
Still waiting on the
official report concerning the alleged unlawful killings……
ABC News, 8 March 2019:
A lengthy investigation
into possible war crimes committed by elite Australian soldiers in Afghanistan
will not be made public before this year's federal election.
Senior military and
government figures have told the ABC they are not expecting the long-awaited
report by the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force (IGADF) to be
ready for release until at least the second half of this year, well after
voters go to the polls in May.
In 2016 the IGADF began
examining "rumours of possible breaches of the Laws of Armed Conflict by
members of the Australian Defence Force", but inside the special forces
community frustration is growing at how long the process is taking.
One special forces
veteran, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told the ABC that there were
"natural justice impacts" from having the inquiry extended, and that
it was "painful" for those involved.
"I can only hope
the ultimate findings are of sufficient gravity to justify this extended
process," the former high-ranking Commando said.
For almost three years
New South Wales Supreme Court Justice and Army Reserve Major General Paul
Brereton has been leading the secretive IGADF investigation, which is believed
to have uncovered numerous
concerns about the conduct of elite soldiers, including several incidents of
possible unlawful killings.
Many in the ADF had
originally anticipated the inquiry would be completed by 2018, but in a
statement to the ABC the Defence Department has confirmed the independent IGADF
inquiry is "ongoing"……
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