After months of slow leaks by the press it has emerged that members of the elite forces of the Australian Army, (the SAS and the Commandos) have murdered at least 39 unarmed civilians and captives. Ninteen members of the SAS are being investigated. Yet it has taken over seven years for the army’s investigation and official enquiry to be completed. Unsurprisingly the army major who blew the whistle on these atrocities was arrested in 2017 and goes to trial in 2021 while the ABC was raided by Australian Federal Police because journalists had obtained this information.
The war in Afghanistan has seen the deaths of over 100,000 Afghans since 2009 when the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan began documenting casualties.
The ABC on Background Briefing estimates that Australian forces are responsible for the death of between 8,000-12,000 Afghans. This includes combatants and civilians.
Australia has a bloody history of going to foreign wars dating back to 1838 when 2,500 volunteers from the Australian colonies went to the Maori Wars in New Zealand. Since then we have been dragged by colonial and post-colonial masters to conflicts across the world
Sudan 1885
Boer War 1899-1902
World War I
Korean War 1950-53
Malaysian Conflict 1948-60
Vietnam 1962-72
Iraq 1991
Iraq 2003-20
Afghanistan 2001-20
In these conflicts there was never a threat to the Australian people or nation. We were there at the behest of British imperialism and latterly U.S. governments to give the appearance of broad support for their continued coercive domination of these nations. As David Killcullen former Australian counter-insurgency advisor to U.S. governments, said on ABC radio 22/11/20 about our presence in Afghanistan ” Just being there is all that required” but even he had his doubts “Supporting the alliance is not a sufficient war aim”.
Afghanistan has strategic importance for U.S. imperialism as it borders China as well as being close to Russia. But the best prize is an estimated $US 3 trillion in oil, gas and precious mineral resources.
The war in Afghanistan has been very bitter. The Afghan people have a proud history of resistance to foreign invaders from Alexander the Great , to the British Raj in the 19th century and the Soviet Union in 1979.
The present war was been a guerrilla war against the invader formed by western allies of the U.S.A. all under the grotesque title of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Afghan fighters do not wear a uniform and they blend in like fish in the sea. This leads to paranoia and hatred of the local population supposedly being defended.
Australia’s military history post- World War II is a a very grubby series of wars on nations fighting for independence and freedom.
1n 1962 Australian forces were sent to Vietnam to please the U.S. government. Menzies, the PM at the time, did not even seek the permission of the toady government in south Vietnam. During the war it emerged that Australian troops were accused of atrocities alongside the massive war crimes committed by U.S. forces and other allied forces .
The American war caused over 2 million Vietnamese to lose their lives and the aggressors were sent packing with their tail between their legs. Vietnam is now a thriving independent nation proud of its victorious war of independence,
At the beginning of the 21st century , a cabal of neo-liberal ideologues gathered around President G.W. Bush drew up a series of targets called “the Axis of Evil” – Iran, Iraq, DPR Korea, Cuba and Syria. The gloves were off and the U.S. was on the rampage. The few remaining nations outside the American Empire were being confronted with diplomatic and military threats. These countries were accused of terrorism by Bush (without a hint of irony). First, Iraq was targeted with claims that they had Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). The U.S. attempted to force United Nations into the campaign against Iraq but despite inpections by UN inspector Hans Blix, no WMD were found in Iraq. In the end despite a massive campaign, the U.S. could only manage to get the U.K. and Australia to join a coalition to invade Iraq in 2003. The war in Iraq continues to this day. The country is in ruins , with millions killed or maimed and sectarian and ethnic rivalries unleashed on what had been a united country.
The Australian governments since the Howard era have spent vast sums on the myth making on ANZAC and for the military, all about “our heroes “ and “warriors”. This is to fill in their huge void in their version of Australian history.
“Brendan Nelson of the Australian War Memorial writes :
“In these First World War Galleries, our nation reveals itself in the men and women whose story it tells. It is who we were and who we are. Facing new and uncertain horizons, it is also a reminder of the truths by which we live, how we relate to one another as Australians and see our place in the world … Every nation has its story. This is ours.“
Nelson, a former minster in the criminal Howard government shows his imperial bellicosity here. “a reminder of the truths by which we live ” …. “and see our place in the world” – The running dogs of U.S. imperialism.
Meanwhile the vast contradiction caused by the death, destruction and squalor of unjust war has an enormous effect on the 40,000 defence force personnel who were sent to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Suicides, murders, drug addiction, domestic violence and endemic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are their rewards. As they face up to the facts of why were they there? What did they do? Murder and destruction. And the financial cost to the tax payer- $8 billion.
Who is the enemy? Men, women or children- anyone who runs away. The enquiry reported that SAS members cut the throats of bound captives. How is this different from the despicable murders commmitted by ISIS ?
When we are the lap dogs of reactionary hegemons, people will suffer- the citizens of those countries where our military go to kill and afterwards our military personnel suffer as they reflect on their pointless deadly actions.
The only just war is one in defence of the Australian people when they face aggression. We must cut the U.S leash and not meddle in the affairs of other nations. 182 years of fighting unjust wars must stop.
POST SCRIPT
After lapdog Howard we have Scumo another ‘man of steel’ to the U.S. ruling class, a recipient of the neo-knighthood honour system for services to the Empire- the U.S. Legion of Merit.
