War crimes in Afghanistan: “They were so thirsty for blood. Psychosis. Absolute psychoses »

Australian special forces reportedly committed war crimes in Afghanistan, killing at least 39 civilians and unarmed prisoners. That’s the result of an investigative report that was released Thursday after four years of investigation. Among other things, high-ranking commanders forced young soldiers to kill defenseless people, Australian General Angus John Campbell said. The results of the investigations were based on the most serious violations of the military codes of conduct.

The report says the victims include Afghan prisoners, farmers and other locals. They were captured before they were assassinated and therefore were under special protection under international law. “There is credible information that their commanders have ordered new soldiers to shoot a prisoner to achieve the first death as a soldier. That was ‹bloody› called, ”says the report that investigated incidents between 2005 and 2016. The killing must be justified by recreating battle scenes with foreign weapons or foreign equipment.

The crimes came to light from 2015 when the Military sociologist Samantha Crompvoets conducted interviews with Australian special forces. Crompvoets was genuinely interested in the culture and cohesion of the special units, but in the countless conversations the soldiers also told her about the atrocities in Afghanistan. They reportedly trusted the independent sociologist and took the opportunity to report their experiences to a neutral person.

The operations were therefore also internally it has been strongly questioned for a long timeMany soldiers saw their own honor and integrity being violated by the misconduct of their colleagues. In the special units, however, there is a culture of silence, the elite troops remain in close contact and actually only talk to each other about their experiences. However, the crimes in Afghanistan have apparently exceeded the limits to such an extent that many soldiers broke the silence. They no longer wanted to be complicit with war criminals and were probably hoping that their troops would find their way back to the right path.

14-year-old murdered

At first, Crompvoets could hardly believe the stories, but his research later revealed increasingly incredible facts. The soldiers told him that a special unit detained two 14-year-old boys and decided without further ado that the young men in plain clothes belonged to the Taliban. The two boys had their throats slit, other members of the troop dumped their bodies into a river. “These special forces were so hungry for blood. They were psychopaths. Absolute psychoses », said a soldier.

According to other reports, the soldiers shot dead unarmed suspects despite having surrendered. In one situation, the special forces used a man standing with his arms raised as a “target” and shot him twice in the chest. As he passed, a soldier again shot the Afghan in the head without stopping.

Crompvoets writes in his report that special forces have their own rules. This is known and accepted to some degree, which is why soldiers often have beards and hairstyles that would not be allowed in other units. In addition, command structures were not enforced, recruits ran too freely, abuse of power was the order of the day and, according to reports from former soldiers, many were sent to the front too often.

Television images give certainty

One Australian television station ABC report it also uncovered an “officer mafia”. The particularly unscrupulous noncommissioned officers, who also had the respect of the higher ranks, apparently set the tone. Those who opposed them were humiliated to the point of voluntary resignation, sometimes in the eyes of the generals, as ABC shows.

The ABC program “Killing Fields” gave a definitive certainty about the atrocities committed in Afghanistan in March. A reporter obtained video footage exchanged by a group of elite soldiers. He showed how a service dog captures an Afghan in a wheat field. The man is unarmed, he has red prayer towels in his hands. A soldier asks permission to “kill” the Afghans lying on the ground. Shortly after, three shots are heard, the civilian is dead and the soldiers remain unconcerned.

Crompvoets’ accusations and reports were suddenly no longer rumors, assumptions, or alleged acts of revenge by disappointed former soldiers, but real. The images shocked Australia and the military as well. But not the special units. Everyone there knew about it, as several soldiers told ABC reporters. The regiment is more important than the individual and the integrity of the regiment is paramount. The cases were covered up within the special unit.

The “ghosts of the jungle” in Vietnam

The Special Forces Air Service Regiment was founded in Australia in 1954 on the model of the British SAS. His first missions were in Indochina in 1965 and then in the Vietnam War. Today there are officially three such “squads”, the existence of a fourth squad has never been officially confirmed. Each of these three squads is divided into three units: air, water, and ground forces. The three “Squadrons” each rotate for twelve months and are compared to the US Navy Seals or the German Border Guard Force GSG 9;

The Australian SASR first achieved fame in the Vietnam War, they were called “ma rung”, “ghosts of the jungle”. Since then they have been traveling with US troops in many places, for example in Somalia, in the Gulf Wars or in Afghanistan. Valued by the allies, American generals praised the SASR’s readiness to fight at the highest tones. The special forces were the first Australians to support the United States in its “Operation Enduring Freedom”.

Elite troops are also the hardest hit by the war. In Afghanistan, they made up about 5 percent of all Australian soldiers, but half of the dead came from their ranks. They flew helicopters directly into the disputed areas, were on the front line in skirmishes, tracked down the Taliban and released the hostages. Most did it heroically, as the ABC report says. A minority lost their way in the bloody war.

The second season will dissolve

Soldiers are usually awarded multiple times, but now they will lose some of these medals. With the release of the investigative report, it was decided to cancel the second season of SASR entirely. This “Squad” was deployed to Afghanistan at the time from which most war crime reports originate. The approximately 90 soldiers in the squad must fear for their personal rewards and are also prosecuted for their crimes. The processes could drag on for years.

Military sociologist Crompvoets recommends relinking special units to the military so that there can be no subculture with its own rules. Currently, SASR forces are training in Perth while the command post is in Canberra, practically on the other side of the continent. Special units would have to be recovered and, as it were, tied up with a short leash. It is also under discussion that units should be withdrawn from the front line and used again as small task forces for reconnaissance or specifically behind enemy lines.

But Crompvoets is confident that change can be successful if fallible soldiers are solved. Most of the complainants would have been ashamed of their comrades. He felt a lot of pain in the conversations, pain for the war crimes, but also because the reputation of the unit was damaged. Many SASR soldiers were not the “hyper-masculine, bloodthirsty” type and would welcome a culture change.

REUTERS / Anf

Posted today at 2:58 pm