CBMK0048 My Comments on Ben Robert Smith SAS Soldier #doublestandards

My commentary throughout these clips. SAS Soldier Crimes in Afghanistan.

🪖 How many SAS soldiers spoke out?
•At least 20+ SAS soldiers were involved in giving evidence or coming forward
•Specifically:
◦21 current/former soldiers were set to testify in court 
◦Dozens overall gave evidence across inquiries and the defamation trial
◦32 soldiers were actually called as witnesses in the civil case 
👉 Many were anonymised as:
•“Person 1”
•“Person 4”
•“Person 7”
•etc.

💣 What they said (key allegations)
1) Prisoner kicked off a cliff (Darwan, 2012)
•A soldier (Person 4) said he saw Roberts-Smith kick a bound Afghan off a cliff
•The man was still alive → then allegedly ordered to be shot

2) Execution of detainees
•Witnesses said unarmed, detained Afghans were killed during raids
•Example:
◦A disabled man with a prosthetic leg allegedly machine-gunned while detained

3) “Blooding” – ordering junior soldiers to kill
•Multiple soldiers testified that:
◦Junior troops were allegedly told to execute prisoners as initiation (“blooding”)

4) Killing of a teenage prisoner
•One SAS witness said Roberts-Smith:
◦Shot an unarmed teenage detainee
◦Later bragged about it

5) Internal reporting & whistleblowing
•Some soldiers:
◦Raised concerns internally as early as 2013
◦Later went public or testified despite risks

6) Intimidation and threats
•Witnesses also said:
◦He threatened fellow soldiers
◦Created a culture of fear that stopped people speaking earlier 

⚖️ What courts have said so far
•In 2023 civil court:
◦A judge found (on balance of probabilities) he was involved in multiple murders
•In 2026:
◦He’s now criminally charged with 5 counts of war crime murder
👉 Important:
•He denies all allegations
•Criminal case still not decided yet

🎯 Bottom line
•This wasn’t one or two people➡️ It was a large group of SAS soldiers, many eyewitnesses
•The allegations include:
◦Killing detainees
◦Ordering executions
◦“Blooding” practices
•Some soldiers risked careers and legal trouble to speak out

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:01

Australian politics is so stupid. So are the people that vote for these people. Listen to them in the comment section. Read what they're saying. They have no fucking idea. There's one thing to go to war, and then there's another to kill unarmed people that are just working in the field. And then to make it even worse, to then turn around and say, you're going to support one person who's a VC hero, but you're going to ignore the twelve soldiers that came forward with the information. You cuts it dumb.

SPEAKER_05 0:35

For a while, he was the model modern Anzac, the six foot-7 SAS corporal awarded our highest military honour.

SPEAKER_04 0:44

The descent of a war hero. Ben Robert Smith, Australia's most decorated soldier, tonight, its most famous accused murderer. Arrested by federal police as he arrived at Sydney Airport from Brisbane at 11 this morning, dressed casually, appearing calm, compliant, as if this was a day he expected might come.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

So the thing is, why has it taken over 10 years to make this arrest? We already know what the outcome of the civil case was. He lost. Secondly, why did they arrest him in front of everyone? Why? Because they wanted a show. That's what it is. They wanted to humiliate him in front of people. That's power, that's control. His family were there. They're all going on a holiday. It's school holidays. And we're coming up to Anzac Day. All of this was pre-planned and well thought of. You're a bunch of criminals yourself for doing that to a man who served our country.

SPEAKER_04 1:47

After a five-year investigation, charged with five war crimes, two counts of murder, and three of aiding and abetting another to murder. A life he says he devoted to defending his country could now become a life behind bars.

SPEAKER_06 2:02

The offence of war crime murder carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

SPEAKER_04 2:07

The allegations during the war in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012 involving Afghan civilians and prisoners who police will allege were not taking part in hostilities. Investigating dozens of murders in a former war zone 9,000 kilometres from Australia in a country now again under Taliban rule, challenging.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

What he's actually telling you is that the criminal case isn't going to go far because what he's trying to tell you, there's no evidence collected. So if there's no evidence collected, they're then relying on the 12, 20 people that were there, which are the soldiers, as evidence. Now, depending on how good their evidence is, and if they've got body cams, it's a different story. But if it's word, it's gonna be his word against his word. Simple. But I reckon he'll probably get off on it. Why? Because they didn't collect the evidence. That's why it's taken ten years to close this case.

SPEAKER_04 4:26

Robert Smith sued nine newspapers for defamation in 2019, losing. Justice Anthony Pasanko finding on the lesser civil standard of evidence. Ben Robert Smith was a war criminal. He has always maintained his innocence.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

The initial investigations have started ten years ago. The report was handed down six years ago.

SPEAKER_05 4:48

Ben Robert Smith is only the second Australian soldier to be charged with a war crime. Former Special Forces trooper Oliver Schultz is currently awaiting trial, accused of murdering an Afghan villager in 2012. War crime charges rare too for other Allied forces. Seven American soldiers have been convicted of war crimes in Afghanistan, while a British Marine was jailed over the death of an unarmed Afghan fighter.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

Isn't it astonishing that we can go after the average person, even the people that we send overseas, to fight on behalf of Australia? Well, it's not really fighting on behalf of Australia. We're invading other people's country. Secondly, how about we arrest politicians in this country for stealing off the Australian public, stealing our taxes, sending them overseas, putting money into your own pockets while Australians are living on the streets? So how about we charge those judges, those politicians, for sexual offences against children and crime against Australian taxpayers? How about we start there and how about the news? Get onto that one pretty quickly.