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REDFLAG.ORG.AU PUBLICATION OF SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE 14 JUNE 2021 | REDFLAG

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Ben Roberts-Smith’s case

puts imperialism on trial

Colleen Bolger In this case, the
rumours of atrocities
committed by a group
of SAS soldiers in
en Roberts-Smith, Australia’s most Afghanistan were
decorated veteran of the war in so compelling, they
Afghanistan, isn’t just embroiled in prompted an internal
a defamation case. He’s on trial for Defence investigation
B war crimes. At the heart of the case is led by Major General
whether he murdered six Afghan prisoners of war Paul Brereton, a for-
in 2009 and 2012—and revelled in their killing. If mer judge of the NSW
that were true, it would be the act of “an ostenta- Court of Appeal. Brere-
tious psychopath”, his barrister, Bruce McClintock ton’s report found that
SC, declared in his opening address in court this 25 soldiers committed
week. Indeed. war crimes, resulting
This man should be in the dock of the Interna- in the deaths of 39
tional Criminal Court in the Hague. Instead, for Afghans. (It’s during
a cost that must be $20,000 per day or more, he’s A still from body camera this investigation
taking his enemies to court, bringing defamation footage showing an that Roberts-Smith
Australian soldier
proceedings against the outlets that published in- killing an unarmed man allegedly obtained
vestigative articles by Nick McKenzie, David Wroe in a field in Afghanistan disposable “burner
and Chris Masters that revealed the accusations. PHOTO: ABC phones” to communi-
If Ben Roberts-Smith loses, he won’t go to jail. If cate with witnesses,
he wins, he’ll seek the largest payout of aggravat- and sent threatening
ed damages ever in an Australian case, potentially letters to others.)
pocketing millions of dollars. An outcome like The testimony of the 21 The crimes seemed so widespread that the
that would send a message: report on war crimes military hierarchy intervened to strip the unit of
at your peril. soldiers who are willing its honours. Yet Peter Dutton as defence minister
Defamation proceedings are a weapon in the intervened to reverse the Army’s decision. The
arsenal of the rich and powerful. Lawsuits and to subject themselves message is clear: Dutton will make sure that the
threats of lawsuits are wielded to intimidate government throws its weight behind the perpe-
journalists and their publishers. But in this case, to cross-examination trators of systematic, sadistic murder in war.
the publishers’ decision to run a “truth defence”— The defence of Roberts-Smith and the
which means that they’ll argue that the articles and tell their stories murderous SAS goes hand in hand with white-
weren’t defamatory because they were true—will washing and rehabilitating the very concept of
make this trial more like the public truth commis- imperialist war. Take another strong supporter
sions of past wars. Of course, it will be run by elite is an important event. of Roberts-Smith: Brendan Nelson, John Howard’s
barristers instead of dissident veterans and an- old defence minister, who is now tasked with
ti-war activists. Nonetheless, the testimony from It can lay bare the redeveloping the War Memorial in Canberra. War
21 former or serving soldiers about what happened memorials are contradictory places. The long list
in these six incidents has the potential to further horrors of Australia’s of names brings home the horror of the slaughter
expose the myth that the war in Afghanistan was of so many working-class people for the imperial
to liberate women and bring democracy. crimes in Afghanistan. ambitions of the rich. That horror is manipulated
McClintock has drawn the battle lines in the into a “national spirit” that papers over the class
courtroom over class. The allegations, he says, are division at the heart of war. A name on a wall is
motivated by jealousy. It’s a trope that Liberal and reporting on disciplinary action against service a consolation that the sacrifice will be remem-
Labour politicians sometimes employ: “the pol- personnel. Nowadays, Roberts-Smith junior is bered—and was worth it after all.
itics of class envy”, they call it. But revealing the the protege of Seven Media chief Kerry Stokes, War museums can be places where people
despicable behaviour of our so-called superiors, who hired him to a management position and is learn the history of savagery that our rulers are
who are usually protected by networks of power- bankrolling the trial. prepared to carry out to assert dominance in a
ful people with ways of making people fall into The testimony of the 21 soldiers who are will- region that matters for their position in the global
line, isn’t a sin: it’s laudable behaviour. ing to subject themselves to cross-examination market. The war museum in Ho Chi Minh City is
Most ex-soldiers don’t lead the lifestyle of and tell their stories is an important event. It full of photographs of US atrocities committed in
Roberts-Smith. Upon retiring from full-time ser- can lay bare the horrors of Australia’s crimes in the Vietnam War. It’s impossible to leave without
vice in 2013, he was offered a scholarship to study Afghanistan. But even here, access is restricted: if thinking that the US military should never be
business at the University of Queensland. Rarer you can’t stay in the courtroom all day, transcripts allowed to deploy its troops ever again.
still for any undergraduate, he was offered a job cost $2,000 for a day’s worth of material. So much But Brendan Nelson has a different vision for
as a general manager of Seven Media Queensland for open court. our war memorial: he plans to install a museum
outfit twenty months before he graduated. McClintock’s opening notably quoted a line at- of all our biggest, coolest military hardware.
Roberts-Smith is no rank-and-file grunt: he’s tributed to Winston Churchill: “We sleep soundly Where war is presented as a set of technical
the son of Major General Len Roberts-Smith, also in our beds because rough men stand ready in the considerations of battle tactics and technology,
a former justice of the Supreme Court of Western night to visit violence on those would do us harm”. it means we don’t see it for what it is: an atrocity
Australia. Like so many scions of the ruling class It’s the classic defence of killing as the moral perpetrated by our ruling class and their political
in Western Australia, he attended Hale, recently price brave soldiers pay so that we yellow-bellied, servants. Just as key figures in the ruling class
famous for its debating team champions who civil rights-loving civilians have the luxury of recognise that the outcome of the Roberts-Smith
later entered politics. Coincidentally, his father asking questions like “Were unarmed Afghans trial is another iteration in the battle to legitimise
was appointed judge advocate general for the murdered?” The message is that soldiers—and, by war, it should be of interest to all those who work
defence force in 2002, making him responsible for extension, war—should be above question. to expose its true imperialist nature.