New allegations about the brutal behaviour of Australian special forces officers in the war on Afghanistan have added impetus to the calls for justice and an end to Australia’s involvement in the war, writes Pip Hinman.
Australian Special Air Service Regiment (SAS, SASR)
PM Scott Morrison is using a nationalism-charged diversion to take the focus off the Brereton report's findings into Australian special forces war crimes in Afghanistan, argues Pip Hinman.
Alex Bainbridge writes that the release of the report into Australian war crimes in Afghanistan should be shocking — but it isn't.
Serious criminal charges against ABC journalist Dan Oakes for reporting leaked material on Australian elite troops committing atrocities in Afghanistan have been dropped, on public interest grounds. Pip Hinman argues this is an important win.
A special ABC investigation has painstakingly uncovered war crimes by Australian SAS troops in Afghanistan. It must lead to the criminal prosecutions of those responsible, along with those who ordered the invasion, writes Peter Boyle.
A hallmark of former Prime Minister Tony Abbott was responding to falling opinion polls by holding press conferences full of totalitarian imagery, announcing moves to weaken civil liberties or intensify persecution of refugees in the name of keeping Australians safe from the apparent existential threat of terrorism. His successor, Malcolm Turnbull, is trying to out-do him.
The campaign to end Australia’s involvement in the unjust war in Afghanistan has picked up momentum in the last few months in Melbourne.
In December, a number of peace activists decided to organise regular anti-war activities, to tell people the truth about the foreign occupation force and call for Australian troops to be withdrawn.
Since then, three vigils have been held across Melbourne. Activists handed out hundreds of leaflets called “Eight reasons to get out of Afghanistan”.