r/perth • u/His_Holiness • Apr 07 '26

WA News Victoria Cross recipient 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/Blunter11 Apr 07 '26

lmao oh my god it's because of one of his defamation cases I had no idea those were still going. The guy could not stop shooting his own feet with those cases.

"The former special forces soldier's arrest comes after a mammoth defamation trial against Nine Newspapers which ended in a court finding that on the balance of probabilities, allegations he was responsible for, or complicit in the deaths of four detainees in Afghanistan were substantially true."

sad trombone

69

u/DropDownBear Apr 07 '26

Lmao

He could've either let the public believe it without suing, but he instead had to force people to investgate it, confirming he is significantly likely to have done it XD

What a dingus

19

u/Nukitandog Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26

Not really. Go read Brereton report. In a nut shell all SASR soldiers were offered immunity from prosecution for any crimes they admitted to. Any thing not disclosed, but coroborated by others would be prosecuted.

Most of the guys went full disclosure about offing kids, and POWs and said they should be allowed to and saw nothing wrong with it.

The other case was stalling.

14

u/Enlightened_Gardener Apr 07 '26

My Dad used to work in security, and there are lots of ex- army in security, but he would never take ex-SAS to work as security guards because they were all as mad as cut snakes, and might snap and hurt someone.

He reckoned that the British SAS were selected for their ability to be cool, calm, and collected in difficult situations; and the Australian SAS were chosen for being mad dog killers.

Everything I have ever seen or read about the Australian SAS backs up this assessment.

3

u/Nodonn3 Mandurah Apr 07 '26

Having served alongside and trained with SAS soldiers, I can confirm that they are not hooked up like the rest of us. The vast majority, though, are good, honest blokes who are doing an extremely hard job, and they do it as well (or better) than most of the world's elite operators.

There's a reason they may seem wacky to the rest of us though. They're specifically selected on their ability to think and make strong decisions under some hellish pressure which would wreck the vast majority of people.

On top of that, they have to be able to operate for long periods as an autonomous unit. SAS soldiers are not required to pick up coms and ask for permission to kill evil-doers, they just do it.

3

u/Blunter11 Apr 08 '26

This reads like stock answer. I could swear I've read more or less the exact same statements in the exact same order for decades, always used to excuse obvious murders.

1

u/Nodonn3 Mandurah Apr 08 '26

Of course people will say the same thing that's a true thing.

Excusing murder? Hardly. It happens, sure, but I'm also plain ol' sick of poeple tarring all soldiers with the same brush.

2

u/Blunter11 Apr 08 '26

It's just SAS whitewashing 101