A NUMBER of Australian military commanders have been stripped of their medals for alleged involvement in war crimes during the Afghanistan war, Defence Minister Richard Marles said today.
Following an investigation into alleged misconduct in the war between 2005 and 2016, Major General Paul Brereton recommended that several serving and former commanders be held accountable for the unlawful killings of 39 Afghans.
He found that around 25 soldiers of the Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment and the Commando Regiment had been involved in the deaths and recommended that to be investigated for possible charges, including murder.
Outrage greeted Donald Trump’s suggestion earlier this year that Britain stayed off the front lines. But evidence suggests our forces were at times pulled from the most dangerous fighting — not by military failure, but by pressure at home, says IAN SINCLAIR
PATRICK CHURA reflects on the mass murder of civilians in wartime and his own visit, 10 years ago, to My Lai where US soldiers slaughtered over 500 men, women, children and infants
As the government quietly upgrades the role of Britain’s special forces, their growing global footprint and near-total exemption from democratic oversight should alarm us all, says ROGER McKENZIE


