Australian Minister for Defence Peter Dutton has moved to stamp his authority in his new role by overruling a decision to strip meritorious unit citations from about 3,000 special forces soldiers who served in Afghanistan.
Dutton yesterday told radio 2GB that war crimes allegations were shocking, but added: “My judgement was that we shouldn’t be punishing the 99 percent for the sins of the 1 percent.”
Australia is grappling with the results of a long-running inquiry into alleged war crimes by Australian special forces in Afghanistan, with a new office of the special investigator to consider the evidence ahead of potential prosecutions.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The Brereton inquiry found “credible” evidence to implicate 25 current or former Australian Defence Force personnel in the alleged unlawful killing of 39 individuals and the cruel treatment of two others.
When announcing his response to the inquiry report in November last year, Australian Defense Force Chief General Angus Campbell said that units “live and fight as a team.”
“With this in mind, I have accepted the inspector general’s recommendation and will write to the governor general requesting he revoke the meritorious unit citation for Special Operations Task Groups who served in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2013,” Campbell said at the time.
Within weeks the government signaled a rethink of that decision.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in November last year that “no decisions have been made on that.”
Dutton’s move ensures that all of the soldiers retain the meritorious unit citation unless they are convicted of war crimes, or are dismissed for being an accessory to a crime or for failing to uphold army standards, the Australian reported yesterday.
Dutton, who was to visit the Australian Special Air Service Regiment in Perth later yesterday, said people who were proven to have done the wrong thing — “that means by a jury or by a process within defense” — would still lose the citation.
The 99 percent who had done the right thing “deserve our recognition, our praise, our honor,” he added.
In an interview with 2GB, Dutton avoided criticizing Campbell for the original decision, saying the call Campbell made had been “perfectly reasonable.”
“He’s pragmatic, he understands that I’ve been able to look at all of the facts afresh,” Dutton said.
“There’s not a finer soldier in the country than Angus Campbell... He was shocked like everyone else at the serious allegations that were being made in relation to some people,” he said.
Dutton added that the newly established office of the special investigator would examine the war crimes allegations in detail.
Former and serving special forces soldiers last year said they were frustrated at the failure of the Brereton war crimes report to sanction commanders at the highest level and incensed over a decision to strip the meritorious conduct citation for the entire special operations task group between 2007 and 2013.
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