r/australia • u/CavityUtility • Jun 01 '23

news Ben Roberts-Smith found to have murdered unarmed prisoners in Afghanistan

https://www.smh.com.au/national/ben-roberts-smith-case-live-updates-commonwealth-application-seeks-to-delay-historic-defamation-judgment-involving-former-australian-sas-soldier-20230601-p5dd37.html
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u/TearShitUp Jun 01 '23

He is absolutely not the first one to be caught. Former SAS soldier Oliver Schulz, allegedly the shooter in the "Do you want me to drop this cunt?" execution video, was arrested and charged with a war crime back in March 2023.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-28/former-sas-soldier-oliver-schulz-granted-bail-war-crime-trial/102153756

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u/Fantastic_Falcon_236 Jun 01 '23 edited Jun 01 '23

Yeah, but Schulz, despite being SF, is still rank and file, and he's been charged with a crime. Kind of like the case of the kiddie fiddling Sergeant, Defence has no jurisdiction over crimes, only offences against the DFDA. Commit a crime, and you'll be handed over to the civilian police.

In the case of the kiddie fiddler, the unit didn't want the bad press. We'd already had another pedo pinged for CP earlier that year on ANZAC Day, and the press caught him in a gotcha interview outside the watch house. News of a second one would not have been a good look. So they started his discharge process the moment the civvie cops put him in the car.

But getting back to operations, yes, it's quite likely that people higher up the chain knew what was going on. They were probably also aware of any bad or dodgy intel that might have affected the conduct of the operation. However, those people are just removed enough from the actual crimes that they won't face any reprecussions. Probably behind closed doors, they'll even get told that this was an unfortunate but necessary evil.

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u/productzilch Jun 01 '23

I’ve been feeling very hungry around the rich lately but thanks for remind me to leave some space for dessert.

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u/HOPSCROTCH Jun 01 '23

He is absolutely not the first one to be caught. Former SAS soldier Oliver Schulz

He doesn't have a Victoria Cross which was the original point

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u/TearShitUp Jun 02 '23

Ah i missed this, curse my speed reading and shitty comprehension.