Australian soldiers charged over deadly Afghan raid.

The Director of Military Prosecutions says a former member of Australia's Special Operations Task Group will be charged with manslaughter following an incident in which four children died last year in Afghanistan.

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The charges relate to an incident on February 12, 2009, when six Afghans were killed during an Australian Special Operations Task Group raid targeting an insurgent leader in Uruzgan province.

Four of the dead were small children. Two more children and two adults were also wounded.

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In view of the extensive and, in many cases, inaccurate reporting of this incident in the media over the last 18 months, we have been advised to take the unusual step of making a public statement. We have cleared this statement with Special Operations Headquarters.

We are deeply disappointed by the decision of the Director of Military Prosecutions to charge us with offences arising from the incident in Afghanistan on the night of 12 February 2009. We will strenuously defend the charges and we look forward to the opportunity of publicly clearing our reputations, as well as the reputation of the ADF.

Words will never adequately express our regret that women and children were killed and injured during the incident on 12 February 2009. These were people we were risking our lives to protect. However, it should not be forgotten that the casualties were ultimately caused by the callous and reckless act of an insurgent who chose to repeatedly fire upon us at extreme close range from within a room he knew contained women and children. This forced us to make split-second decisions, under fire, which almost certainly saved the lives of our fellow Australian and Afghan soldiers. We believe that when all the facts of this incident are made known to the public, it will be clear to everyone that we made the correct decision under truly awful circumstances.

We would like to express our gratitude for the strong support we have received throughout this process from the CDF, Chief of Army, Special Operations Commander Australia, our commanding officer and the members of the Special Operations Command, who along with many other members of the ADF, continue to serve under demanding and dangerous conditions in Afghanistan.

Soldier A and Soldier B

1st Commando Regiment

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spud_meister said:

Soldiers charged over deadly Afghan raid - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)






These are very serious charges, there is yet to be a case of an Australian soldier being charged for anything similar, the investigation has been ongoing for over a year, and allegations have claimed that the soldiers got the wrong house, the soldiers will "strenuously defend the charges" and have issued this statement.

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apdst said:

Sounds alot like collateral damage, to me.

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spud_meister said:

Well there seems to be a very fine line between collateral damage and manslaughter, and it seems that that's what this case may define.

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Councilman said:

I agree these soldiers are getting a raw deal.

Manslaughter is defined as: the unlawful killing of a human being without malice aforethought.

Collateral damage is defined as; 1.the killing of civilians in a military attack. 2.any damage incidental to an activity.

Knowing this why is it we don't hear of any charges being brought up on Pilots or the Controllers of Predators who kill people on a fairly regular basis all the damn time.

This is bogus and a bad precedent and seems to me to another attempt at Political Correctness.

There is no place for this kind of BS in a Battle Field situation where the enemy uses civilians as shields especially with the rules of engagement which are pure unadulterated bovine scatology in the first degree.

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