This is a local affair to be sure, but a rather extraordinary one. As the contents of the article summarise, Mr. Ben Roberts-Smith became the most decorated Australian soldier to emerge from our national commitment to the conflict in Afghanistan, and he was subsequently personally lionised as a symbol of Australian courage and heroism under fire. There is a "Ben Roberts-Smith" display at the Australian War Memorial: portrait, uniform, medals, the lot. He has powerful benefactors, including our nation's
, and has benefitted from deferential institutional cultures that have been disinclined to look too deeply into matters that might be perceived to impugn the reputation of those who served in Afghanistan and, by extension, the institutions and causes they represented. And yet, despite all this, he was today charged with war crimes and is currently in a cell. Even as a committed cynic, it's almost enough to restore a glimmer of faith in the integrity of our institutions.
A couple of comments:
1. It's clear that matters would never have got this far were it not for the efforts of, in part, journalists Chris Masters and Nick McKenzie. The Australian War Memorial, for one, has
for tarnishing the subject of their hagiography. Per Chris Masters: "When this institution was inaugurated, it was meant to act in part as a reminder for future generations of the brutality and the utter futility of modern war. And when Ben Roberts-Smith VC became a centrepiece attraction I tried to warn staff that this might be a mistake. The failure to heed those warnings became a subject of embarrassment for the memorial’s administration, and my reporting on war crimes allegations a source of resentment."
2. It's also clear, from the earlier defamation case, that a significant and likely critical portion of the evidence against Mr. Roberts-Smith is coming
, which rather undercuts what I will charitably describe as the dissenting argument for national and particularly civil-military solidarity.
