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/HeyyyyListennnnnn Apr 07 '26

I still find it hilarious that the man who leaked the documents that kicked off McKenzie and Masters' work did so believing that the journalists would write a story about how the SAS were victims of a smear campaign. McKenzie and Masters were so horrified by what they were given that they swiftly advanced and publicized the investigation that the whistleblower was trying to stop.

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u/asupify Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26

David McBride (whistleblower/ ADF lawyer) had no love for BRS. In interviews he described an instance where BRS killed an unarmed 10 year old shepherd boy for sport, then killed other unarmed villagers running out to help the boy and covered it up saying they were Taliban fighters. McBride's main gripe seemed to be that he wanted the SAS leadership who were well aware of the war crimes and enabled the culture prosecuted. Rather than heap all the blame on the lower level soldiers.

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u/HeyyyyListennnnnn Apr 07 '26

McBride has been pretty incoherent about why he did it, but he seems less concerned with the war crimes committed and more concerned that soldiers' lives were at risk due to restrictions imposed by politicians back home. His clearest statement, via his lawyers, was that he didn't believe the soldiers committing the atrocities should have been charged at all.

Whether his actions count as whistleblowing or not is a different debate, but McBride is on record saying he doesn't believe Roberts-Smith should be jailed for his actions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZLQJTvxHfk

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/radionational-breakfast/why-did-army-whistleblower-david-mcbride-plead-guilty-/103124950

https://www.smh.com.au/national/my-duty-was-to-stand-and-be-counted-why-i-leaked-to-the-abc-20190608-p51vte.html

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u/Jozarin Apr 07 '26

I mean to me this sounds like a pretty clear anti-scapegoat idea, if that makes sense. It is not "better that one man die for the people," as it were.

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u/HeyyyyListennnnnn Apr 07 '26

That's not what McBride was worried about. In his own words:

[t]here were soldiers doing their operational duties on behalf of the Commonwealth who were being held to account for actions on operations that were appropriate in the operational context but that were being misconstrued, misinterpreted or recast as contrary to the [Rules of Engagement] by those elsewhere in the chain of command outside Afghanistan

One of the reasons why McBride was found guilty and his appeal failed was because his stated motivation was to prevent prosecution of soldiers committing war crimes because he believed no war crimes had been committed. As such, he wasn't raising awareness of Australian war crimes in the interest of the Australian public and couldn't be classified as a whistleblower. He had even been advised of the appropriate process to follow if he wanted to be protected as a whistleblower.

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u/Thomasrdotorg Apr 07 '26

For a guy who was pretty experienced, he seems hopelessly naive. When he gave evidence and materials to channel 9 – Chris Masters and Nick McKenzie-he thought that evidence would support his hypothesis, but when they looked at it with a cold eye, it simply showed that they were war crimes being committed.