Greg Sheridan on Roberts-Smith and lessons from Afghanistan

Posted on 6 June, 2023 by C.L.
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39 Responses to Greg Sheridan on Roberts-Smith and lessons from Afghanistan

  1. C.L. says:
    6 June, 2023 at 1:13 pm

    The combined tragedies of the behaviour uncovered in the Brereton report and the defamation court findings against Victoria Cross winner Ben Roberts-Smith will be further compounded if they lead to a weakening of the military capability of the Australian Army, or its special forces, the SAS and the Commandos.

    We all ought to remember that so far nothing has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt in a criminal court. Inquiries, even defamation cases, can produce headlines and strange findings. That is not to dispute this defamation ruling, merely to note it’s not a criminal conviction.

    Nonetheless, the evidence that some Australian soldiers may have killed civilians, killed prisoners or directed that they be killed is substantial. This is certainly a grave matter. Any Australian soldier is bound by the special laws of war and the general laws of morality. In World War II, Adolf Hitler ordered that any allied SAS member who was captured should be executed. This was rightly regarded by the allies as murder.

    However, it would be a folly on top of a tragedy if we now went crazy in response, tarring all members of a unit with the crimes of a few, or instituting reforms that make our already incoherent defence force even less capable of combat than it is now.

    As I’ve written before, the SAS was grossly overused in Afghanistan. This contributed to the poor judgment of some of its soldiers. It arose from the overwhelming desire of the defence establishment, and the governments it served, that the ADF should never go into combat or even be capable of combat.

    Since the Vietnam War, Australia has been involved in lots of deployments. But their purpose has been to show the Americans we are good allies, not actually to achieve any military effect, certainly not any strategic effect.

    We’ve sent ships and planes to the Middle East, but only to theatres where the Americans have complete dominance.

    We have used some of the most sophisticated planes in the world to bomb terrorists in environments where the Americans have complete air superiority and control. This is not to diminish the service of our military personnel. They do the jobs they are given and all military jobs involve risk.

    Very few countries in the world spend more money on their defence force for less military effect than Australia does. The only part of our entire ADF that we readily put into combat are the special forces, especially the SAS.

    The SAS always wants to serve. The very definition of a special forces soldier is that he has a bias to action and an internal locus of control. He wants to act, and believes he can master any situation he’s given. It’s too easy for others therefore to leave the job to the SAS. They get things done and can take care of themselves, so there won’t be heavy casualties.

    That appeals to Canberra. The way successive governments, starting with the Howard gov­ernment, used the army in Afghanis­tan and Iraq was an insult to the army. It was as if Canberra believed the army incapable of combat.

    Jim Molan, a magnificent man and soldier, argued that Australia should take overall responsibility for an entire province in Afghanistan. This would have been a strategic contribution. It would necessarily have involved more units of the army meeting insurgents and terrorists in combat. No government in Canberra would do that because we never wanted to have a strategic effect. Or, rather, we didn’t ever desire to have a military strategic effect. The strategic effect we hoped for was to show the Americans we were good allies. In that case we shouldn’t have been there at all.

    Don’t get me wrong. No one could be more in favour of our paying our alliance dues than me. But we should deploy military forces in combat for military, not diplomatic, purposes. This besetting, crippling mentality of learned helplessness blights our military in every dimension right up until today. We will do tough policing work in the South Pacific, search and rescue, disaster relief, and we’ll join the Americans in combat if they provide a benign environment for us. But we won’t join them in attempting to have any strategic impact of our own through combat or even deterrence. You can see this learned helplessness in the way all the big military decisions were deferred in the Defence Strategic Review.

    Not only was the SAS used to the exclusion of the regular army in Afghanistan, it was used for tasks that were not special forces tasks. Using signals intelligence to find and hunt high-priority targets is a special forces task. Pounding the ground is not.

    There are two iron laws of defence that will play out in this controversy. One law is that no matter how badly defence performs in producing capabilities, no senior civilian ever suffers a career reversal or takes any responsibility. Failures happen apparently by magic.

    The corollary is that with any military problem, the only people punished are junior soldiers, the lower the rank, the more likely the punishment. The Chief of the Defence Force, Angus Campbell, who has played his part in our equipment hopelessness, was for a time the Australian commander in Afghanistan. He had responsibility for his command. There’s not the slightest chance he’ll be giving back any medals.

    The government is now pushing a great deal of politically correct nonsense on the army. It has restored the rainbow morning teas. It rejoices in its membership of LGBTQ lobby groups. Diversity, equity and inclusion are all the rage. Recruitment advertisements make no mention of combat or what a life of service in the army is really all about. I am strongly in favour of diversity in the army and the ADF. But diversity should work this way: you encourage people from widely diverse backgrounds to apply, but then the selection and promotion procedures should be absolutely colourblind and gender-blind.

    We forget what the army is for. The key role of the army is to close with and destroy the enemy. You hope you never need to do that, but that’s what you have a military for. The Australian Army, like many Western armies, is now subject to a bewildering range of woke requirements that have nothing to do with being an effective army, nor indeed with being an ethical and moral military either. Given the emphasis on teamwork and group cohesion, this kind of poison can spread through a military at devastating speed.

    The Brereton report was wrong to disparage the idea of soldiers as warriors. This self-image has traditionally been at the heart of the US military, the most effective in the world. Effective soldiers believe they are warriors for one reason – that’s what they are. The tragedies recently revealed ought to make senior commanders and politicians reflect on the irresponsible and mistaken nature of their previous policies. Think that’s likely? They shouldn’t be used to ruin the one bit of the ADF we’ve been willing to deploy in combat, or to make our small, gravely undergunned and incoherently structured military even less combat effective than it already is.

    —————————
    In The Australian

  2. Rabz says:
    6 June, 2023 at 1:59 pm

    Incredible – Sheridan has actually made some semi coherent points in that piece.

  3. Perplexed of Brisbane says:
    6 June, 2023 at 2:15 pm

    Like in every sphere of endeavour, the senior leadership are gutless and corrupt and those at the front suffer. I have no doubt as to the capability of individual combat soldiers but that capability is blunted when the rear echelons tie one hand behind their backs.

    I’ve always understood that Australian Infantry was well respected as being as well trained as or better than any regular force around the world, also being tough and uncompromising.

    I guess that has to change as we don’t want our new masters to suffer any casualties when they try to take us over.

  4. Boambee John says:
    6 June, 2023 at 5:14 pm

    Back in the Noughties, there were articles by infantry officers in the Army Journal about the failure to deploy infantry units to Afghanistan. It seems that they were ignored.

  5. Franx says:
    6 June, 2023 at 5:23 pm

    However, it would be a folly on top of a tragedy if we now went crazy in response, tarring all members of a unit with the crimes of a few

    Which few.
    Not sure, but have any been convicted following the Brereton Report?
    If not, then there is a casual slipping into unjust presumptions of guilt, even if meant to implicate only ‘a few’.

  6. C.L. says:
    6 June, 2023 at 5:33 pm

    Well picked up, Franx. That was my only problem with the column. As much as he seeks to moderate the blame tornado, he still yields too much to Brereton.

    Last night Avi Yemini hosted a podcast with Heston Russell on Roberts etc. Much of what he says about the accusers and their motivations is revealing. He knows those blokes.

    Heston is also in the news for clue-batting Peter Stefanovic.

  7. Nix says:
    6 June, 2023 at 6:05 pm

    RS forced his accusers to satisfy a judge that he did what they reported. The judge did so, endorsing the finding of another inquiry. If RS is charged with crimes, as seems more possible now, it will be application if Australian law. If our military decide to take disciplinary action within its command, that will be an entirely appropriate response to any breakdown in its standards of discipline. None of that is woke. Making excuses for criminals seems to be the theme around here.

  8. NFA says:
    6 June, 2023 at 6:23 pm

    crusada nixed again

  9. Fat Tony says:
    6 June, 2023 at 8:44 pm

    Given that the SAS is the one organisation that can cause real harm to the government “leaders”, it is understandable that the government would want them neutered.

  10. Mantaray says:
    7 June, 2023 at 5:39 am

    Campbell got a DSC for his direct and magnificent command / handling of the troops in Afghanistan….at a time when the DSC was awarded for close-to-combat activities.

    Campbell will not now lose that DSC because he was NOT responsible for any naughty stuff which may have, might have, could have occured since he had NO direct or magnificent role in any close-to combat activities commanding / handling the troops in Afghanistan.

    I hope this clarifies the apparent muddy confusion. I’m doing what I can to help Nix (6.05pm) out!

  11. Fat Tony says:
    7 June, 2023 at 9:13 am

    Campbell got a DSC for his direct and magnificent command / handling of the troops in Afghanistan….at a time when the DSC was awarded for close-to-combat activities.

    I doubt General Tojo had a personal hand in all (or any of) the killings/murders he was responsible for – but he was still hanged for it.

    I think the General Tojo Principal should apply here as well to Campbell.

  12. jupes says:
    7 June, 2023 at 9:51 am

    It arose from the overwhelming desire of the defence establishment, and the governments it served, that the ADF should never go into combat or even be capable of combat.

    Should never even be capable of combat. Wow.

    That is where we are right now. The bozos leading the ADF have done more to destroy our military than any enemy in any war. Those responsible are the real criminals. The crime is treason.

  13. Bruce of Newcastle says:
    7 June, 2023 at 9:52 am

    Going woke risks destroying the ADF as a real fighting force.

    Um, that’s the whole idea. The Left isn’t dumb, they’re just evil. They know that the Right doesn’t do revolutions because of Judaeo-Christian ethos. The only other danger to the Fabian victory is the military, Pinochet-style. And the most dangerous military formation in Australia is the SAS. The BRS thing make any sense now?

    Obama and Biden have been overtly pushing exactly the same wokification for exactly the same reason, since the military has historically been an organization containing lots of Trump supporters. They aren’t blind to the danger.

    The difference which has accelerated this in recent years has been the incorporation of the climate religion into Leftist dogma. It all becomes urgent when you believe thermageddon is coming in five years or ten or whenever the latest Gaian prophet announces. It’s the worse case of noble cause corruption in history, and CAGW isn’t even happening.

  14. Ed Case says:
    7 June, 2023 at 11:24 am

    In World War II, Adolf Hitler ordered that any allied SAS member who was captured should be executed.

    That’s garbage.
    The Germans considered anyone wearing a Uniform to be under the Geneva Convention.

  15. Old School Conservative says:
    7 June, 2023 at 11:50 am

    Ed Case says:
    7 June, 2023 at 11:24 am
    In World War II, Adolf Hitler ordered that any allied SAS member who was captured should be executed.

    That’s garbage.

    Just on the off chance that Ed is making things up (yep, slim chance I know) I did an internet search for Hitler murders SAS prisoners

    Imagine my dismay to find that Ed is wrong!
    I found stacks of resources detailing Hitler’s notorious “Commando Order” requiring all soldiers caught behind enemy lines to be executed in contravention of the Geneva Convention.

    To further blight my day, I found even Ed’s go-to resource Wikipedia, quoting the same facts that shoot down his assertion.

    My trust in Ed is shattered.

  16. Ed Case says:
    7 June, 2023 at 11:52 am

    I found stacks of resources detailing Hitler’s notorious “Commando Order” requiring all soldiers caught behind enemy lines to be executed in contravention of the Geneva Convention.

    Yeah, not wearing Uniforms, aka Terrorists.
    In other words, not covered by the Geneva Convention.

  17. Old School Conservative says:
    7 June, 2023 at 11:53 am

    The key role of the army is to close with and destroy the enemy

    More honoured in the breach than the observance these days.

  19. Old School Conservative says:
    7 June, 2023 at 11:57 am

    Ed, Ed, Ed, you ignoramus of mega proportions. Get your handler to read this extract from Wikipedia:
    The Commando Order (German: Kommandobefehl) was issued by the OKW, the high command of the German armed forces, on 18 October 1942. This order stated that all Allied commandos captured in Europe and Africa should be summarily executed without trial, even if in proper uniforms or if they attempted to surrender.

  20. Buccaneer says:
    7 June, 2023 at 12:00 pm

    Who’s betting Wikipedia gets a revision shortly?

  21. Ed Case says:
    7 June, 2023 at 12:17 pm

    In other words, Terrorists were executed.
    Not seeing a problem here.
    Is there something Holy about terrorists in OSC Land?

  22. Crusader says:
    7 June, 2023 at 12:35 pm

    Ed: Discipline fell apart. We have rules of engagement. Unlike others like Putin

  23. Ed Case says:
    7 June, 2023 at 12:57 pm

    Civil Standard of Proof is a very high standard, not a coin toss with a double headed penny, as some are trying to make out.
    Channel 9 tried to settle before the Trial, with each side paying their own Costs, bur Roberts-Smith declined.
    Now he’s up for everyone’s Costs, plus.
    So, you’ve gotta question how someone with such poor judgement was ever placed in charge in the SAS, and the personality types that are selected.
    He was doing all this vile stuff, but no one was prepared to say enough?

  24. Franx says:
    7 June, 2023 at 2:06 pm

    He was doing all this vile stuff, but no one was prepared to say enough?

    The ‘vile stuff’ remains a television defamation event, the telling of which event a court has found largely plausible.
    There was no actual charge of a crime.
    Maybe that’s because it’s not up to television shows to declare criminal charges.
    The defamation trial is likely to be appealed.
    Whatever the outcome, the issue at hand remains a defamation case, in relation to which defamation case, and in the absence of charges and absence of finding of guilt, it is unjust to deny a presumption of innocence regarding the ‘vile stuff’ of war crime.

  25. Ed Case says:
    7 June, 2023 at 2:21 pm

    Presumption of Innocence starts when Criminal charges are laid, not before.
    He’s just lost a $25 m.+ Defamation Case, unless he can find a bigger fool who can afford to blow another $25 m. on an Appeal, it’s all over.

  26. Franx says:
    7 June, 2023 at 2:31 pm

    Interesting, Ed Case. Thanks for the clarification.
    I suppose, then, that without charges, it becomes even more egregious to presume guilt.

  27. Boambee John says:
    7 June, 2023 at 3:38 pm

    Ed Case says:
    7 June, 2023 at 11:24 am
    In World War II, Adolf Hitler ordered that any allied SAS member who was captured should be executed.

    That’s garbage.
    The Germans considered anyone wearing a Uniform to be under the Geneva Convention.

    Tell that to the Royal Marine canoeists shot after being captured after a raid on a harbour in Occupied France.

    Learn to Google, Grandpa Cletus, you slack jawed, semi-literate yokel.

  28. Boambee John says:
    7 June, 2023 at 3:42 pm

    Ed Case says:
    7 June, 2023 at 12:17 pm
    In other words, Terrorists were executed

    Stupid, even by your sloppy standards. Personnel uniform operating behind enemy lines are not terrorists. Idiot.

  29. Ed Case says:
    7 June, 2023 at 3:53 pm

    I suppose, then, that without charges, it becomes even more egregious to presume guilt.
    Hey, Franx, who’s presuming guilt?
    The guy has just had findings made against him that he could have easily avoided, so he’s already got 3 paws on the Tar Baby.
    The Judge has just handed down a 740 page judgement outlining his reasons, why not read that first?

  30. pbw says:
    7 June, 2023 at 4:24 pm

    Ed,

    The civil standard of judgment is “on the balance of probabilities.” What one judge considers the balance to be could easily differ from that of another judge.

  31. pbw says:
    7 June, 2023 at 4:28 pm

    Ed,

    Channel 9 tried to settle before the Trial, with each side paying their own Costs, bur Roberts-Smith declined.

    Obviously he was guilty. Obviously he didn’t have a leg to stand on. Obviously his legal team thought so too. Or so it seems to you. But not to any unbiased observer.

  32. Old School Conservative says:
    7 June, 2023 at 4:36 pm

    Ed Case says:
    7 June, 2023 at 12:17 pm
    In other words, Terrorists were executed.
    Not seeing a problem here.
    Is there something Holy about terrorists in OSC Land?

    Now the Hitler apologist goes fully anti-civilisation.
    Allied forces trying to stop the biggest threat to life and liberty in Europe are now branded terrorists by Ed and his handler. Totally misrepresenting the fact that uniformed prisoners were executed in cold blood by the Germans, our voice of progressive ideology now sees no problem in such horrendous, criminal behaviour.

    His rantings are not those of a sane man.

  33. pbw says:
    7 June, 2023 at 4:36 pm

    Ed,

    Presumption of Innocence starts when Criminal charges are laid, not before.

    Another self-evident truth… in some universe unknown to the rest of us.

  34. Ed Case says:
    7 June, 2023 at 4:37 pm

    The civil standard of judgment is “on the balance of probabilities.” What one judge considers the balance to be could easily differ from that of another judge.

    You’re clutching at straws here, pard.
    He’s had his day in Court, it didn’t cost him a brass razoo, but $25 million of Legal Talent couldn’t get him a win.

  35. Boambee John says:
    7 June, 2023 at 4:41 pm

    Grandpa Cletus has the same (non-existent) understanding of civil law as he has of the Geneva Conventions.

    Stick to advising young women on their selection of underwear for a night on the town.

  36. Ed Case says:
    7 June, 2023 at 4:43 pm

    Allied forces trying to stop the biggest threat to life and liberty in Europe are now branded terrorists
    Bomb a school bus, buirn down an orphanage, you’re a terrorist, what’s a Uniform got to do with it?

  37. Lee says:
    7 June, 2023 at 4:56 pm

    Tell that to the Royal Marine canoeists shot after being captured after a raid on a harbour in Occupied France.

    John, wasn’t that the subject of The Cockleshell Heroes (1955)?

    A film I have not seen in donkey’s years.

  38. Boambee John says:
    8 June, 2023 at 8:20 am

    Lee

    Yes it was. Don’t tell Grandpa Cletus.

  39. Lee says:
    8 June, 2023 at 1:46 pm

    John, I thought it might be.

    Yes it was. Don’t tell Grandpa Cletus

    .

    LOL.

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