A Catholic Deacon and former Australian military officer has warned of the fallout within the country’s veteran community trying to cope with “shame and guilt” after a landmark war crimes inquiry found scores of murders carried out by special forces.
“I have spent the last few days struggling with a diverse range of emotions, from shock to disgust, to anger and grief, “ Brisbane-based Deacon Gary Stone, co-founder the Veterans Care Association that works to combat a high incidence of suicide amongst veterans, said.
“Eight veterans have taken their lives in recent weeks. Sadly more will no doubt succumb to shame and guilt over the coming months.”
A war crimes inquiry led by Major General Paul Brereton spent four years probing into the operations of Australia’s elite military unit - the Special Air Service Regiment – recommending that 19 soldiers be investigated by police for the "murder" of 39 prisoners and civilians, and the cruel treatment of two others.
The inquiry uncovered a toxic culture of silence and misplaced loyalty.
It found junior soldiers were encouraged to shoot prisoners to get their first kill.
The inquiry also found evidence some Australian troops in Afghanistan carried "throwdowns" — such as weapons, radios and grenades not issued by the Australian Defence Force — which would be planted next to the bodies of Afghan civilians to suggest they were a "legitimate target" in any post-incident investigations.
The report detailed two 14-year-old boys, who were thought to be Taliban sympathisers by SAS soldiers, having their throats slit before their bodies were bagged and thrown into a river.
Even before these matters end up in court, the report recommends Australia should pay compensation to the families of victims in Afghanistan.
The devastating findings continue to reverberate across Australia, the defence force and veteran community.
Former Prime Minister, John Howard, who committed Australian forces to Afghanistan in 2001, said he remained "intensely proud of the bravery and professionalism of those forces in the years that followed".
"None of this diminishes the distress that I and so many others feel about the contents of the Brereton inquiry," Mr Howard said.
Defence Minister Linda Reynolds, who served for 29 years in the Australian Army as a Reserve officer, said the report made her "physically ill" when she read it.
Retired Australian Army major-general Gus McLachlan, who in 2013 conducted a 12-month tour of Afghanistan as senior campaign planner for US General Joe Dunford, described his "shame and anger about the behaviour of members of an institution I was proud to be part of for more than half my life".
"I will never get past the revelation that the majority of the alleged murders were of prisoners. This was not heat-of-battle stuff. Our Army will carry this shame as a stain on its history."
Mr McLachlan said the SAS whistleblowers were the heroes of the scandal.
"I salute the soldiers who had the courage to come forward and tell their stories,” he said.
Deacon Stone compared the pain being felt by Australia’s military and veteran communities to the pain felt by Catholics following the 2017 release of a royal commission report into clerical sexual abuse.
“I have reflected and imagined the emotions that so many of our good priests must have gone through, as they became aware of the criminal behaviour of some of their brothers in the clerical abuse scandal,” he said.
“This sad and sorry story has a long way to play out, yet but I would just hope that our wider community can understand that for us veterans this alleged behaviour is so utterly reprehensible, so inconsistent with our values and indeed incomprehensible.
“We have been formed, and served, as peacemakers, with great compassion and involving significant sacrifice suffering and loss.
“In faith we can only be consoled that like Jesus, we will rise again, but in the meantime there will be justice needed for perpetrators, and consolation and support needed for many innocent and not so innocent victims of what is truly an evil turn of events.”
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