A witness to the Defence Force inquiry into alleged war crimes says he feels "complete vindication" by the report released on Thursday detailing alleged murders of Afghan civilians and prisoners involving Australian special forces soldiers.
Key points:
- The war crimes inquiry has found 39 Afghans were likely to have been unlawfully killed by Australian soldiers
- Medic Dusty Miller says he witnessed a wounded civilian being dragged away to be killed
- Mr Miller describes a "dog-eat-dog" culture in the SAS
Dusty Miller was a medic in the SAS and gave testimony to the inquiry about what he saw in Afghanistan.
"It's all true. It happened. It's factual … it's what happened over there, it's something that I witnessed on a number of occasions," he said.
The long running Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force (IGADF) Inquiry found "credible information" that 39 Afghans were unlawfully killed in incidents involving special forces soldiers, and the cruel treatment of two others.
It recommended that 19 soldiers be investigated by police, out of 25 potentially involved in the incidents.
Afghan man taken away while being treated by medic
Mr Miller is one of a small group of soldiers who has spoken publicly about the alleged unlawful killings they witnessed in Afghanistan.
"It's been approximately eight years of knowing what … certain individuals got up to over there and to hear the Chief of Defence Force publicly confirm … those allegations, it's complete vindication," he said.
The special forces medic has previously spoken publicly about a traumatic incident involving Afghan civilian Haji Sardar.
During a raid in the village of Sarkhume in March 2012, Mr Miller was tending to Haji Sardar's wound after he'd been shot in the leg.
Mr Miller says he saw the wounded Haji Sardar being taken away by a senior SAS soldier.
Haji Sardar was later found dead after being allegedly beaten to death by that soldier.
An early Defence investigation found Haji Sardar was armed with a grenade when he was shot, but this has been refuted by his family and an Afghanistan human rights investigation.
The ABC interviewed Haji Sardar's son Hazratullah, who said he found his father's body.
"There were big, fat boot marks over his heart. You could see these boot marks all over his body, over his neck, also," he previously told the ABC.
The Inspector-General's report also found that some special forces operators carried "throwdowns," including weapons such as grenades and pistols to be planted on bodies to "conceal deliberate unlawful killings"
Mr Miller said it would be inappropriate to detail the incidents he witnessed in Afghanistan in his interview with the ABC yesterday, but confirmed the planting of weapons occurred during raids.
"It was an AK assault rifle that was used regularly and certainly a hand grenade, an older hand grenade that I saw planted on numerous occasions on bodies."
He said those soldiers responsible for the alleged murders of civilians and prisoners must go to jail.
"They did the wrong thing," he said.
"And I really believe that they did it thinking they would never, ever have to answer for those crimes.
"I think that they all thought they were way, way, way beyond the law and above the law."
'It was a case of drinking the Kool-Aid'
The Inquiry report delved into the deep cultural problems within the SAS, including a "warrior culture" among some officers.
It also said the responsibility should also be shared by those who, "in misconceived loyalty to their Regiment, or their mates, have not been prepared to 'call out' criminal conduct or, even to this day, decline to accept that it occurred in the face of incontrovertible evidence, or seek to offer obscure and unconvincing justifications and mitigations for it."
Mr Miller said the majority of those he worked with were "honourable men", but agreed there was a cultural problem, a "dog-eat-dog" environment and it had to change.
"It was a case of drinking the Kool-Aid. Everybody knew what was going on. It was a day-to-day occurrence … you had to normalise it in a way," he said.
"You certainly had to go along with what was happening because the alternative would have been … professional suicide and you'd have been ostracised."
The report also said the Commanders at the Troop, Squadron and Special Operations Task Group level must bear some responsibility, but it was the patrol commanders that condoned the behaviour.
But Mr Miller said the Commanders at the Squadron level must have known what was going on.
"I really find it very hard to believe that the Squadron Commanders level … didn't know what was going on considering that they had a debrief with the [patrol commanders] after every mission," he said.
"I find it's almost impossible to believe that they didn't know what was going on the ground — impossible."
He said the trauma for witnesses to alleged war crimes committed in Afghanistan has been "devastating."
"It's completely ended my military career, which was a significant military career," he said.
"Some very close friends that I worked with the regiment, it's affected them profoundly.
"It's ruined lives, you know, the second, third order effects of these unlawful killings and what we witnessed has been so far reaching and so devastating to … so many serving members, you know, it's very selfish.
"We crossed a very bad line, and we crossed it for a number of years … and we need to pay that price now."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiZmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTExLTIwL2R1c3R5LW1pbGxlci1zYXlzLWhlLWZlZWxzLXZpbmRpY2F0ZWQtYnktaWdhZGYtaW5xdWlyeS8xMjkwMDQ4MtIBJ2h0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvYXJ0aWNsZS8xMjkwMDQ4Mg?oc=5
2020-11-19 18:00:00Z
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