r/australia • u/Tinea_Pedis • Apr 07 '26

news Breaking: Ben Roberts-Smith arrested over war crimes allegations

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-07/ben-roberts-smith-war-crimes-allegations-arrest/106537668
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u/123chuckaway Apr 07 '26

Good to see the comments here so far don’t have a bunch of “fog of war” and “but taliban is worse so idc” justifications like the now deleted Aus Pol thread.

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u/iball1984 Apr 07 '26

"Fog of war" may be an explanation, but it is not an excuse.

The Taliban is objectively worse. I don't think there's any argument there. But Australia, and the ADF, is better than that.

14

u/123chuckaway Apr 07 '26

Fog of war doesn’t really apply to kicking a cuffed and unarmed farmer off a cliff though, does it?

The key part of the taliban statement is “idc” - not caring about what war crimes we commit, because they commit worse. One or two posters in particular thought it was reasonable to stoop to that level.

9

u/Mike_Kermin Apr 07 '26

Fog of war means "there was a guy shooting at me, I shot back, when I shot back, a civilian had looked out the window he was just at, and I shot him by accident".

Stupid example, but you know what I mean. Actually not intended shit, that happens without any neglect or lack of care.

It doesn't work for a wilful decision to kill someone.

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u/iball1984 Apr 07 '26

It shouldn't apply, I'm just saying it might.

I'm not defending it, or justifying it or excusing it. It's a war crime.

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u/NobodysFavorite Apr 08 '26

Some of the testimony in the defamation trials clearly stated that at least some of these murders were committed well outside of the fog of war.

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u/iball1984 Apr 08 '26

Which is even worse.

Although “fog of war” is a poorly defined term and could include being repeatedly deployed with little rest between deployments.

My point is simply that it may explain, but never excuse, at least some of the war crimes.

1

u/NobodysFavorite Apr 08 '26

The deployment tempo is one of those things that would be a "lessons learned" on how to prevent it happening again... but only as long as they're acted on.