Daily Telegraph
September 27, 2010 1:24PM
THREE former Australian soldiers will be charged with manslaughter following an incident in Afghanistan last year, the Director of Military Prosecutions says.
"The accused persons will be charged with various service offences, including manslaughter, dangerous conduct, failing to comply with a lawful general order and prejudicial conduct," the director said in a statement.
The director, Brigadier Lyn McDade, had been considering whether to lay charges against the former commandos who conducted a night-time raid on a residential compound believed to harbour Taliban insurgents in February 2009.
Defense previously has said the deaths occurred as the soldiers conducted clearance operations using gunfire and hand grenades.
One suspected insurgent and five children were killed, while another two children and two adults were wounded.
Three former members of the Special Operations Task Group will be charged with service offences, Brigadier McDade said.
The soldiers facing charges were not named in the statement.
Brigadier McDade said her investigations had been completed only recently and only after "careful, deliberate and informed consideration".
In a statement released the day after the attack, defense said the deaths occurred as SOTG soldiers conducted clearance operations through a number of compounds.
"During the conduct of this operation the soldiers were fired upon by Taliban insurgents," it said.
"The SOTG engaged the insurgents, returning fire in accordance with their rules of engagement."
Two of the commandos say they will strenuously defend themselves.
Soldiers A and B, who remain anonymous, have issued a lengthy statement in response, promising to fight the charges.
"We will strenuously defend the charges and we look forward to the opportunity of publicly clearing our reputations, as well as the reputation of the Australian Defense Force," the pair said through the law firm Kennedys.
Defense Minister Stephen Smith said Brigadier's McDade decision was a matter for the "independent military legal process".
"It is not appropriate for me to comment on the decision of the military prosecutor, the incident itself, or to prejudge in any way the outcome which will be heard before a service tribunal or tribunals," he said in a statement.
Two ex-commandos to plead not guilty to manslaughter
By Peter Veness
Daily Telegraph
September 27, 2010 2:19PM
TWO former Australian commandos facing charges over an incident in Afghanistan that left five children dead say they will strenuously defend themselves.
The Director of Military Prosecutions earlier today announced three commandos would be charged with a range of offences including manslaughter.
Soldiers A and B, who remain anonymous, have issued a lengthy statement in response, promising to fight the charges.
"We will strenuously defend the charges and we look forward to the opportunity of publicly clearing our reputations, as well as the reputation of the Australian Defence Force," the pair said through the law firm Kennedys.
Australian forces have now been in Afghanistan for nine years.
Soldiers A and B attacked the media for "many cases" of inaccurate reporting of the clearance operations.
"Words will never adequately express our regret that women and children were killed and injured during the incident on 12 February 2009," they said.
"These were people we were risking our lives to protect."
The soldiers blamed the deaths on the enemy.
"It should not be forgotten that the casualties were ultimately caused by the callous and reckless act of an insurgent who chose to repeatedly fire upon us at extreme close range from within a room he knew contained women and children," the pair said.
Their story was backed by a defence statement issued at the time which told of close fire from Taliban insurgents as the commandos cleared buildings.
Director Lyn McDade said her investigations - only recently completed - had been "careful, deliberate and informed".
"The accused persons will be charged with various service offences, including manslaughter, dangerous conduct, failing to comply with a lawful general order and prejudicial conduct," Brigadier McDade said in a statement.
Soldiers A and B said when the full facts of the battle became public, their decision would be vindicated.
"It will be clear to everyone that we made the correct decision under truly awful circumstances."
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I knew this would be Labor’s way of getting back at our soldiers,too obvious are the old ways of their Union financiers boycotting supplies and sabotaging equipment, simply charge OUR Soldiers with criminal offenses for fighting Islamic terrorism.Australians MUST stand with OUR Soldiers, the Australian Labor Party / ACTU / Greens / Independents Pro Islam Marxist Coalition sure as hell wont.
The latest group of deceased Soldiers have returned home and have been buried, the nations highest ranking Atheist Madame Gillard has performed her contractual obligations by going through the motions of the various Church Funeral services and mouthed the obligatory insincere platitudes.
Now it’s time for Labor and their Marxist Loon coalition minority government, to get the Soldiers who don’t come home in a coffin, time for these loons to exercise their twisted perverted ideology
Tell Madame Gillard to leave OUR troops alone HERE
One of Australia’s Finest who survived
Just what does Labor think of Australia’s Military? former Labor Leader tells us .
So just who is this Brigadier Lyn McDade?
She is a former civilian lawyer who has no previous military experience (and certainly no Australian infantry combat action badge), but who was brought into the new military justice system to aid in efficiency and effectiveness. Has she accomplished this? “There has been widespread discontent with the take-no-prisoners approach of the Director of Military Prosecutions, Brigadier Lyn McDade. Military lawyers have told The Australian they believed minor offences that were previously subject to prejudicial conduct hearings had been endlessly moved into the court.”
It doesn’t bode well when the very chief of the military justice system is taking what would previously have been between a Non Commissioned Officer and his enlisted men – what in the U.S. is called non-judicial punishment – and placing it in formal military courts. It would quite literally bring military justice to a halt in the U.S., cause undermanned units, and bring with it an atmosphere of dishonesty and suspicion.
http://www.captainsjournal.com/category/australian-army/
