Australia’s defence chief has predicted the military will emerge stronger as it acts on the “very confronting” findings of a landmark inquiry into alleged war crimes.
Gen Angus Campbell, who has become a lightning rod for criticism among some members of the special forces community, said the inquiry would, in time, have a “very positive effect on the institution and its people”.
Maj Gen Paul Brereton’s four-year inquiry found “credible” information to implicate 25 current or former Australian special forces personnel in the alleged unlawful killing of 39 individuals and the cruel treatment of two others in Afghanistan.
Campbell’s previously unreported comments were read out, in part, during a New South Wales supreme court farewell ceremony for Brereton last week as the judge prepared to take up his new position as head of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nacc).
Guardian Australia has obtained the full version of the testimonial that was provided for use in the ceremony. In it, Campbell said he was “extraordinarily appreciative of Justice Brereton’s efforts during his appointment as an assistant inspector-general of the Australian defence force from 2016-2020”.
“As the inquiry leader and principal author of the Afghanistan inquiry report, he laid bare very confronting aspects of our military experience in Afghanistan,” Campbell wrote.
“His work will continue to significantly influence the current and future development of the Australian defence force and will have a profound, broad-based and ultimately very positive effect on the institution and its people.”
Campbell also wrote that he valued Brereton’s “service to our nation in law and justice as well as defence”.
Campbell was “delighted” that Brereton would become the inaugural commissioner of the Nacc: “This is an extremely important position and I cannot think of anyone more eminently qualified to undertake this role.”
In response, Brereton praised Campbell’s “great moral leadership – first in seeking and supporting an inquiry which was never going to be popular and then in courageously presenting and addressing its outcomes and recommendations because it is the right thing to do”.
Brereton said during the farewell ceremony: “As our report concluded, despite discovering things which we did not hope to discover, every one of us remains proud to be a member of the Australian defence force and of the men of women who serve in it – overwhelmingly with proficiency, dedication and honour.”
Campbell has attracted criticism from some members of the special forces community, as he has been considering whether to strip any honours, awards or decorations from “a small number of persons who held command appointments”.
The Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie last week asked Campbell, who has a Distinguished Service Cross, “where is your command accountability” for the leadership of Joint Task Force 633, based in the United Arab Emirates, from January 2011 to January 2012. He visited Afghanistan regularly during this time.
Campbell said his approach was to review all rank levels and all time periods of service and then offer recommendations to the Australian defence minister, Richard Marles.
“As a member of all of the commanders who were in Afghanistan at different times and in different circumstances, I was included in that review,” Campbell said.
The conduct of Australian special forces is back in the spotlight after the federal court dismissed a defamation case launched by Australia’s most decorated living solider, Ben Roberts-Smith.
In the full judgment, released on Monday, Justice Anthony Besanko found Roberts-Smith lied about murdering civilians in Afghanistan, deliberately hid potentially damaging evidence from a court, colluded with witnesses who supported him and threatened those who might give evidence against him.
Two of the most high-profile allegations of murder against Roberts-Smith were both found proven by the judge in the defamation case to the civil standard of the “balance of probabilities”.
The government has recommitted itself to implementing the Brereton reforms – but some of the impacts of the November 2020 report are only starting to become public.
At a Senate committee hearing last week, Campbell revealed he had received a letter from the US defence attaché in Canberra in March 2021 about cooperation with Australian special forces.
The letter indicated the Brereton report “may trigger Leahy law consideration”. These rules ban the US government from using funds for assistance to units of foreign security forces “where there is credible information implicating that unit in the commission of gross violations of human rights”.
Campbell confirmed one army member’s employment arrangements were “adjusted” to help allay the US concerns.
The US embassy has yet to respond to the Guardian’s questions about the issue but US-based experts played down any long-term impact on cooperation with Australia.
Ben Friedman, policy director of Defense Priorities, a thinktank in Washington, wrote in an email: “Certainly I think the uncovering of war crimes, especially when they are rather widespread, will harm Australia’s reputation everywhere, including in Washington. That said, I doubt it will threaten future cooperation.”
Washington had “no real appetite for cutting off military cooperation with Australia”, Friedman said.
“That is partly because the US, given its own war crimes issues, isn’t well-positioned to lecture Australia and because Australia is a longstanding ally that is well liked and a democracy,” he continued.
“Basically Australia would have to blacken its reputation a helluva lot more for the US to want to cut off cooperation. Think Saudi Arabia. I think the private message must be ‘clean this up’ so the lawyers are happy and let’s get on with business.”
Matthew Hoh, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy thinktank, who served as a US Marine Corps captain in Iraq, said the relationship between the armed forces “goes well beyond any type of tarnishment by individuals or units”.
“I remember when I was in Afghanistan in 2009, the Australian embassy was located on the US embassy grounds. You have that type of relationship between the US and Australians,” Hoh said.
“There’s industrial ties: the Australians have a burgeoning military industrial complex. The relationship between the Australian and American intelligence agencies is quite intertwined. All those relationships are quite secure, even as the ugly truths of war are revealed.”
The Pentagon was also contacted for comment.
