Their manliness speaks for itself: Ben Roberts-Smith: War hero loses landmark defamation case.
Nick McKenzie looks to have let out a sigh of relief and is nodding confidently at Chris Masters. He gave Masters a brief, one-armed hug with his left arm.
Channel Nine executives and lawyers are whispering excitedly amongst themselves…
The enemy were despicable dogs. But enough about journalists, prime ministers and generals…
A new breed of digger *bends over
This is based on the evidence given by the enemy, or are there other corroborating witnesses?
One of his mates made the claims. A bit he said, she said. But civil cease are only balance of probabilities. In my view balance of probabilities ends up being whatever whoever is judging the thing wants it to be. See also workplace investigations.
Well said.
High risk bringing this action as all the witnesses would have been treated equally..Unfortunately the risk has not been worth it.
See for example, Goose Morristeen’s “Brutal Truths”.
Just who does the monstrous meeja smear machine go after next? Donaldson VC?
To all patriotic young men currently in the armed forces of this stupid, stupid country – get out, now. The whole stinking farcical potemkinesque edifice needs to collapse.
As I write this, various imbeciles on Sky are opining that BRS will shortly be facing murder charges. This will be after his display at the AWM is ripped out.
Absolutely digusting.
“The enemy”. CL as usual can’t distinguish between military conflict and murder of civilians. The whole point of this case is that Australian military do not accept criminal standards. Unlike Putin’s Russia.
There was no claim that Roberts-Smith murdered civilians.
Nine admitted they were terrorists.
Do you even read the news?
Secondly, should Joe Biden be prosecuted for murdering a civilian father in northern Syria in early May?
Yes or no?
Is that the bloke who wasn’t on the scene at the time?
After all this time … can someone explain to me what he actually did wrong?
What are you talking about? The Australian military weren’t even part of this trial, and anyway the top brass didn’t bother doing any supervision and had no idea what was going on over there.
But name the “criminal” action you believe was committed.
Alpha male, private school-educated, politically conservative.
Alpha Male, private school educated, politically conservative… and courageous and patriotic, CL.
Beyond the understanding of those who seek to denigrate him, but not beyond their envy and spite.
Crusader and Nix are the same person I am guessing. He spews the standard Leftist garbage, and Putin has free rental in his head.
Let’s show BRS he’s not alone. If you are on Facebook add an “I Support BRS” frame to your profile picture.
Jannie
Crusader/Nix also has the habit of verballing people, rather than debating them. “Putin lovers” he screeches, but cannot produce any evidence when challenged.
Worse than Grandpa Ed Simpson-Case.
I believe “alpha male” comes into it – a reporter goes after a soldier (and he’s seeking some sort of fame for himself; witness the sanctimony, then the gloating).
Australia has seen this ugliness before. Our soldiers bad/their soldiers good.
No loyalty.
Won a VC in a war the media class disapproved of. Now if he’d been a cosplay bogan donning camo to go to Ukraine…
Did the ‘trial’ establish exactly how it’s possible to kick somebody off a cliff? I mean, I’ve seen it done many times in Beano comics and Road Runner cartoons, but I imagine the real world dynamics might be more complex. Were anvils or cases of dynamite involved? But never fear, the tv showed video of some guy with a rag on his head saying ‘oobbedah joobbedah!!’ which apparently means ‘The big guy did it!!’ Case closed.
Roberts-Smith is a bit of a Champagne Charlie, isn’t he?
From the Upper Classes, never done an honest day’s work in his life.
Will any of his former SAS comrades step up to defend him?
The investigative journalist said the decision would offer some relief to victims in Afghanistan who also gave evidence.
“Ali Jan was a father, a husband,” he said. “He was kicked off a cliff by Ben Roberts-Smith, and was murdered with his participation.
“There is some small justice for him (and) for all the Afghan villagers who stood up in court.”
The villages who said “no , he not Taliban” and “how much you pay us?” and “what you want us to say?” . They sure as hell weren’t standing up in court, they were on the phone and you don’t have to guess who was standing right beside them as they gave “evidence”.
Again, with the media it’s what is NOT reported that matters.
Did the ‘trial’ establish exactly how it’s possible to kick somebody off a cliff?
There were SAS witnesses who gave evidence to that effect.
I’m thinkin’ little malnourished goatherder, >handcuffed, >20 metre drop in close proximity, >Size 15 boot.
“I’m thinkin’ ”
Grandpa Ed Case and thinking are an oxymoron.
The ambiguity makes it even worse for Nine’s argument since I think you can lawfully summarily execute unlawful combatants. The question would be whether the Afghan was a lawful or unlawful combatant, not whether he was a civilian or combatant.
All of the enemy combatants in Afghanistan were unlawful.
Roberts-Smith did SIX combat tours. He and his comrades were rotated over and over and over – and over and over – again. To play Australia’s customary lapdog role for the Americans, a succession of prime ministers used the SAS and commandos because they knew the regular army was incapable of deployment to an actual shooting war. The degree of trauma and stress wilfully piled on these men is difficult to quantify. Moreover, the catch ‘n release regime that was part of the RoE recklessly endangered their lives.
Second, I’ve read a lot of the testimony of various witnesses – including those in the SAS. It struck me that some of these men were not up to the regiment’s legendary standards. A few of Roberts-Smith’s accusers were borderline malingerers – clearly resentful of his gung-ho commitment to hunting and killing the enemy. A ‘punch-in, hang fire and get TF outta here alive’ mentality had kicked in. One operator came to a firefight with an un-oiled and, consequently, unusable heavy weapon.
What C.L. says…
Roberts Smith killed defenceless people. It is not clear at all they were an enemy. But even if they were, Australian military has rules of engagement. CL it seems, on all fronts, does not like the rule of law unless it’s his own selection.
Ditto.
CL
Second, I’ve read a lot of the testimony of various witnesses – including those in the SAS. It struck me that some of these men were not up to the regiment’s legendary standards.
Time to cut back. There is only a limited number of elite soldiers in a small army, and some must remain with standard units if their standards are to be maintained.
Reduce the SAS and the commandos each to a single squadron/company. This would have the additional advantage of forcing future governments to think deeply before making hairy-chested decisions. They would have to limit the commitment or deploy standard units.
Crusader needs to read the Geneva Conventions.
Are you able to provide some details? Do you actually know anything about this … because it sounds like you are just making stuff up.
By all means explain how these rules of engagement were broken … provide some reference. All evidence from this trial is online so link to the material in question.
Crusader, I note you have been unable to provide any details of your accusations, no links, nothing specific. You are happy to accuse people, but can’t deliver anything when pushed.
You remind me of that Trampo moron who keeps telling us that electricity prices are going down because of all the solar and wind. He never did explain how that was supposed to work. That guy was so incredibly dumb that he believed electricity is measured in MW/h … is it something about all Leftists that they prefer to double down on stupid, every single time?
He also stated that solar panels and wind turbines are recyclable.
LOL.
Thanks for the info, C.L. I haven’t followed the case but I always found the alacrity with which some of his comrades-in-arms testified against him peculiar.
I also find these varying RoEs ruinous. The standard should be uniform across all conflicts rather than bespoke, which seems to be motivated merely as a means of PR rather than justice in combat.