After more than a decade of secrecy and silence surrounding the conduct of Australian forces in Afghanistan, in November 2020 the Brereton report shone a damning spotlight on allegations of horrific war crimes. Credible evidence pointed to Australian forces unlawfully killing 39 Afghan non-combatants, including innocent civilians. In exhaustive and sometimes redacted detail, the inquiry chronicled incident after incident of unthinkable wrongdoing – including one described as “possibly the most disgraceful episode in Australia’s military history”.
It took more than a decade for these alleged war crimes to come to light due to a pervasive culture of silence and cover-ups, including falsified reports and the planting of weapons on dead bodies. Operational reporting was “routinely embellished, and sometimes outright fabricated”, Brereton found.
In this context of secrecy and lies, whistleblowers played a critical role in uncovering the truth about what transpired in Afghanistan. Brereton thanked them in his report. Too often, he warned, “the careers of whistleblowers have been adversely effected”. Instead, the task of cultural change within the defence force required that “their careers be seen to prosper”.
Yet today, David McBride goes on trial in Canberra. No one involved in these serious allegations of war crimes identified by Brereton is yet to face prosecution. Instead, the person who is on trial – McBride – is among those who blew the whistle, highlighting deep cultural...
It’s starting to look like somebody’s got a serious vendetta against Future and will stop at nothing to try and destroy his brand and career because the math isn’t mathing and facts just aren’t li...