Davie Dean20h ago

I don't agree with Tony Abbott on much, but this seems like a good question:

"If Ben Roberts-Smith transgressed, why wasn’t this picked up prior to his gallantry awards and why wasn’t any culture of brutality towards prisoners detected by his more senior officers, and dealt with quickly, rather than being allowed to fester, as has been alleged, for over a decade?"

I think Tony might be making a different point, but I don't see a lot of reporting about how that sort of person can get our highest military honour?

#auspol #BenRobertsSmith

Show threadDavie Dean20h ago
Like everything is about him, and not the systematic problems that allowed him to happen.
Show threadKim19h ago

@dbdean They never picked it up before his gallantry award because he got the VC on an earlier tour. It was several years later that the war crimes incident happened on a later tour under very different circumstances.

Some have accused BRS of hubris on his part and his immediate supervisors (younger commissioned officers with less experience) of being 'star struck' and allowing him too much free rein.

That's not to say there weren't cultural problems, but IMO Abbot is just sprouting thought bubble BS as usual

Show threadSu_G

@Ex_spurt
Thanks for providing context & timeline of events. 🙏🏻 Many will have forgotten. Others (like me) never knew. That background & context you provide has a lot of explanatory power. 🙂 (Not everything’s black & white.) Thx again. 🙏🏻

@dbdean

Apr 9 at 8:03amWeb
Show threadDragonFlame18h ago

@Su_G @Ex_spurt @dbdean
Also important to know about the bravery of #DavidMcBride, the whistleblower who first leaked to the #ABC about war crimes in Afghanistan. He is still in prison.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-69006714

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_McBride_%28whistleblower%29

David McBride: Australian army whistleblower jailed for leaking documents

David McBride pleaded guilty to stealing military secrets, but said he felt a moral duty to speak up.

Show threadSu_G17h ago

@RHW
Yes, good point; we were talking about McBride last night. An unresolved part of the story. Largely unacknowledged crazy brave. Saw his lawyer talking about the legal ridiculousness in 2020 at Adelaide Writers’ Week & there was massive empathy for them both.
Hoping something better can be resolved there. The result of Bruce Lehman’s latest gives me some hope. 🤔

@Ex_spurt @dbdean