Ben Roberts-Smith v David McBride: Compare the pair

Editor-in-chief Michelle Pini discusses the absurdity of David McBride’s continued detention even though his leaked documents triggered the arrest of Ben Roberts-Smith for alleged war crimes.

As each new day brings more sad news, it’s hard not to think about Hitler’s Nazi Germany and the lessons the world failed to heed.

in 1938 Time Magazine named Hitler was later named “Man of the Year” with his picture adorning the cover of January 1939, when he invaded Poland. Many prominent figures, including members of the British aristocracy and even Australian Robert Menzies, publicly expressed their respect for Hitler’s Nazi state.

Looking back, Hitler is now seen as a terrible disaster of history, except for some crazy terrorists who still worship him; Members of the Third Reich are rightfully tried for genocidal crimes.

Today, he is a convicted criminal, sexual predator, and possibly deranged person – who also helped provoke the Capital Attack – Sitting in the White House, unleashing the might of the world’s greatest military machine, threatening entire civilizations and spewing ugly words of hate, fingers perched precariously close to the enemy. nuclear codes. But the world mostly just watches.

Of course, all is fair in love and war, as can be seen in the current indifference to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza.

The Australian Government not only remains silent on this madness, but even goes so far as to support Trump’s America in bullying.

In 2024, the Albanian Government brought whistleblower Julian Assange home after 14 years of exile and imprisonment on foreign shores. This was a worthy and compassionate act that signaled that Australia under the new Labor Government would no longer sit idly by while innocent people were persecuted. It certainly did not look like a government that would openly support human rights abuses.

At that time mostly Independent A.Australia was the only Australian media outlet that continued to publicize his case and defend Assange. Shamefully, the majority of publications both here and abroad, even those considered more progressive, have profited from the information he shared with the world and for which he was persecuted. These publications only finally came to Assange’s defense when his release appeared to be a threat. it’s done – something from which they can make more profit.

And today, like the treatment of Assange, the silence of media outlets and commentators on the imprisonment of the whistleblower and former military lawyer is deafening. David McBride. It’s no surprise that even a decade after McBride denounced war crimes committed by Australia’s elite forces in Afghanistan – crimes such as the killing of unarmed civilians, including children, that were later confirmed by the US – few publicly supported him. Brereton Inquiry.

Having brought Assange home, the Albanian Government now supports the actions of dangerous tyrants, such as the ethnic cleansing of Israel under Netanyahu and the general insanity of Trump’s America. It does this through the AUKUS agreement, ignoring the US-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza and Israeli/US aggression in Iran, even sending Australian troops to aid in this latest evil..

And he prosecuted and imprisoned whistleblower David McBride for exposing war crimes in Afghanistan.

This week Australia’s highest-ranking military man was also arrested. Ben Roberts-Smith He faces five war crimes charges, including an alleged murder in Afghanistan. Roberts-Smith’s arrest would not have been possible without the evidentiary documents provided by David McBride.Afghan Files“and that McBride continues to languish in prison for his trouble.

Roberts-Smith is the second member of the Australian Defense Force to face war crimes charges under Australian law.

But even as one of the highest-profile investigations into these atrocities unfolds, McBride continues to serve a prison sentence of five years and eight months, branded guilty for making the evidence public. Attorney General Mark Dreyfus did not intervene in McBride’s 2024 trial.

But comments about Roberts-Smith from mainstream media and high-profile commentators have been both swift and full of praise.

Although the crimes for which Roberts-Smith was allegedly prosecuted were particularly heinous, it apparently didn’t matter because he was the recipient of so many glittering medals.

Notable commentators who have jumped to his defense include: Tony Abbott, Michael McCormack And Bridget McKenzie, among others. Seven Network owner and billionaire Kerry Stokes He funded Roberts-Smith’s previous defense (around $30 million). Billionaire and Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart He also acted quickly to ask He said “compassion” should be extended to Roberts-Smith and “Time and taxpayers’ money wasted on his prosecution.”

High-ranking officers are symbols of military superiority. They evoke courage and integrity, make governments seem powerful, and fill impressionable minds with nationalist pride and a desire for the kind of victory that can only be achieved by soldiers doing the orders of governments, traveling the world, and killing people.

But who is McBride, who risks his life to reveal the truth? This makes everyone look bad. Just like Assange. Just like Bernard Collaery and Witness K. Just like Troy Stolz. And like Richard Boyle, the Internal Revenue Service whistleblower who will stand trial in September.

Although David McBride’s disclosure of information about horrific war crimes committed by elite military personnel might well be considered “in the public interest” to the rest of us, his defense of the public interest defective To influence the ACT Supreme Court.

There is no effective protection for whistleblowers (although Public Interest Disclosure To behave) Because they reveal glaring and often ugly problems in the entire system. Unless, of course, they come from foreign systems, like the soldiers of the Third Reich whose defense was denied “according to their orders” at the Nuremberg trials.

Meanwhile, US-Israeli military strikes against Iran violate international law, specifically the UN Charter on the use of force, but that doesn’t matter. The United States is actually sanctions The International Criminal Court for trying to investigate American war crimes. Additionally, the Bush administration’s “Hague Invasion Act” (Protection of American Soldiers To behave), The use of military force will be used to save U.S. or U.S.-allied military personnel from attempts to prosecute them for war crimes.

So, you know, try it; They dare you.

This editorial was first published as part of the Independent Australia weekly newsletter. Subscribe to IA to access all of our work for as little as $1.15 a week and help power our journalism in 2026.

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