Ben Roberts-Smith should not be removed from the Australian War Memorial until he has been criminally proven guilty, politicians and defence experts argue.
Australia’s most decorated living soldier was found in a civil defamation trial against two journalists to have committed war crimes, including murder while deployed in Afghanistan.
In the wake of the findings, many have called for Mr Roberts-Smith to be stripped of his medals, including the Victoria Cross, and to have mention of him removed from the Australian War Memorial.
Liberal MP and former soldier Keith Wolahan argued that Mr Roberts-Smith should still be featured in the memorial’s commemorations of the war in Afghanistan.
“It’s a part of our history, but I think it should acknowledge the Brereton report and perhaps this defamation trial,” he said on ABC TV’s Q+A program.
The Brereton report is the official inquiry by the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force that found a culture of unlawful killings, horrifying initiation rituals as well as cover-ups within the Australian military while in Afghanistan.
Mr Wolahan said it may not be necessary to include references to the defamation trial until criminal investigations are done, saying that politicians should “stay out of criminal proceedings”.
“Ben Roberts-Smith still has a right to appeal and there’s a question about whether there’s a criminal charge,” Mr Wolahan said..
“He’s entitled to the presumption of innocence and due process, but I think the Brereton report belongs in the War Memorial.”
Mr Wolahan is a three-tour veteran of Afghanistan and served as an operations officer, platoon commander and deputy chief of operations.
The former captain also said the Australian Army “have to hold ourselves to a higher standard”.
“When you look at the Brereton report, you cannot ignore it. Yes, it’s not at the criminal standard and that defamation trial was not at the criminal standard, but you cannot ignore the findings,” he said.
The panel discussed the culture within the armed forces of the West, with war correspondent Michael Ware saying that soldiers must go to a “very dark place” to participate in war.
“It says we’ve all participated in small war crimes, I know I’ve certainly seen my share of them,” he said.
“And according to the laws of war, and I have to tell you, this is a harsh reality – we in the West – we kill children.
“If an eight-year-old is placing a roadside bomb, a sniper can legally shoot that child.”
He went on to argue that despite that, there is an even worse cultural problem in the Australian Army.
“All that said, there is a line you don’t cross, you’got to have moral compass … it does appear to me that there was a culture that developed over a period of years within the regiment where this just became a part of the way they operated and Ben Roberts-Smith is not alone.”