The Intolerable Persecution of David McBride: Moral Courage Shines Again

Moral Courage Shines Again

[Image: a frame from Richard Medhurst’s interview with David McBride.]

Published: 2022-11-05

Updated 2023-11-07: minor edit (one correction and the addition of the mention of John Kiriaku with a source)

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A reading covering this article is available.

Introduction

David McBride is yet another military whistleblower being abused by the government they served. McBride is Australian and joins others like Daniel Hale from the US military being persecuted by their government for revealing war crimes. They join non-military individuals like Julian Assange who are being persecuted by governments for revealing other war crimes.

McBride was raised by a moderately wealthy family in Sydney, Australia. He attended private schools and completed a degree in law from Sydney University. Upon receiving a scholarship he repeated the degree at Oxford University in Britain. While there he enlisted in the British Army and trained at the UK's academy for officers, Sandhurst. He failed in his attempt to qualify for the UK's Special Air Services (SAS), their elite military group equivalent to the USA's "green berets" or "rangers".

Following a period in Africa and other endeavours, McBride joined the Australian Defence Forces (ADF) as a lawyer. He was posted to Afghanistan in 2011 and 2013 as a military lawyer. He advised the Australian SAS on the legality of operations. During these tours he learned that illegal killings, war crimes, were being committed by Australian SAS soldiers. He raised his concern within the command structure. Sadly, he saw no effective response to the outrage.

[Image: a frame from “Killing Field" by Four Corners, ABC.]

War Crimes

He, seeing no effective response internally by the ADF, contacted journalists at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). The ABC is a government funded public broadcaster which provides news, investigative journalism, social engagement and entertainment services to the public. It also provides the only effective emergency information service to the Australian continent via its radio and satellite networks.

The documentation of the war crimes provided to the ABC by McBride led to "The Afghan Files" publication by the ABC. Preceding this publication by some months the Inspector General of the ADF had commissioned an inquiry into the then alleged, now documented, war crimes. New South Wales Supreme Court Justice Brereton, who is also an officer of Australia's reserve armed forces, was chosen to lead the inquiry. It would take four years for Justice Brereton to deliver his report.

[Image: a frame from “Killing Field" by Four Corners, ABC.]

Meanwhile, McBride had let the cat out of the bag. The Australian nation was shocked by "The Afghan Files". Australia's founding myth is that of the ANZAC's who fought for mother England in the first World War at Gallipoli and in Europe. The Afghan Files documented serious crimes by Australia's elite forces, the SAS. This report, based on McBride's leaks, was a dagger in the heart of Australia's founding myth.

The Australian government's response was two-fold: they raided the main offices of the ABC and charged McBride with theft of government property, and then illegal release of classified information and three counts of breaching the Defense Act. The maximum imprisonment, were McBride to be found guilty on all charges, would be 50 100 years. The charges amount to a sentence of death in prison. This would severely impact not only McBride's liberty but also his relationship with his two daughters.

In 2019 McBride pleaded not guilty on all counts.

McBride, like Hale and other military whistleblowers, are severely limited in their ability to mount a public defence or build public support. They are limited by the classification of the events. How can one mount a public interest defence if one cannot speak of the documents which define the events because of their classification? McBride, like Hale, are fighting a government with one hand tied behind their back. In his passionate letter to the judge hearing his case, Hale apologized for stealing document instead of peoples lives.

[Image: a frame from “Killing Field" by Four Corners, ABC.]

Injustice

The recent event which has elevated McBride's case involves his legal representatives submitting an application to the court for protection. Australia has passed the Public Interest Disclosure Act (PID Act) which provides protection for citizens who report malfeasance by public officers, including illegality, abuse of public trust, corruption and other matters.

McBride's legal representative is an expert in the areas of law which pertain to his case. To anyone it would appear he qualifies for protection under the PID Act: he was a government employee who had alerted through "official channels" illegal behaviour (war crimes) by other government employees (SAS soldiers). The Brereton inquiry was ongoing but had not yet returned its findings and the illegal behaviour was not being addressed by the ADF's command when McBride contacted the ABC.

In describing where 'responsibility resides' Justice Brereton does not mince his verbs. The 'criminal behaviour' (read as war crimes) was "conceived, committed, continued and concealed". To re-express: they were planned, done, repeated and covered up. Brereton is a Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. He understands the importance of language. He is not asserting that war crimes were committed he is declaring it. His report provides the evidence which supports and documents his declaration. There is no question whatsoever that war crimes were committed.

To this date the only person charged with a criminal offense related to the war crimes committed in Afghanistan by Australian SAS soldiers is McBride. For US citizens this may echo the case of John Kiriaku, the ex-CIA officer who blew the whistle on the CIA torture program and is still the only person to be convicted of a crime related to this heinous behaviour because he exposed it.

The inquiry report, known as the Brereton Report, documents just under 40 incidents in which war crimes were committed. It recommends investigation and thus prosecution by the Australia Federal Police for 20 odd individuals. None of this has happened in the period now approaching a year since the delivery of the report to the ADF by Brereton. The lack of charges against persons who committed the acts remain. The only person charged is the whistleblower.

The section, chapter 2, of the public release of the Brereton report which describes the war crimes is not redacted, it is excised. They didn't have enough black markers. So, they took out the scissors.

One is reminded of the "Collateral Murder" video released by WikiLeaks. To this day the only person charged in relation to that sequence of war crimes is the publisher, Julian Assange.

[Image: a frame, just before the US open fire with high calibre machine guns, from Collateral Murder.]

During an interview between David McBride and Richard Medhurst (see the top of Video Sources below), McBride describes the event which inspired Medhurst to conduct the interview. To summarise and paraphrase McBride, members of Australia's intelligence services, prompted by an external power, visited the Judge who would hear the case of the application for protection under the PID Act. The intelligence operatives informed the judge that the evidence to be provided by two witnesses to support the application would risk "national security". McBride's lawyer informed him that given this development, the banning of the two witnesses, it would be impossible to win the case. Based upon this assessment the application was withdrawn.

A translation of the above would be: the USA, through its intelligence network, goaded Australia's intelligence service to pressure a judge to not allow two witnesses to be heard in court. This is intolerable. The only “national security” at risk is the honor of the Australian SAS, and that would be far better served by having the war criminals excised from their ranks rather than their crimes from the report. The real risk is that were these war crimes to be investigated they may lead to more worrying questions about the behaviour of other NATO elite forces in Afghanistan.

A foreign power is influencing Australia's judicial processes for their advantage. In the process, McBride is being denied the legal protection he deserves under Australian law. The USA does not care one whit about law or sovereignty, even for a long term purported ally.

That which is being displayed is the velvet glove being removed and the mailed fist within being used.

Moral Courage

McBride is exhibiting exactly the military training he received; believing in and personifying the moral courage which is taught in both Australian and British officer training. While a member of the ADF he held the rank of Major. He is an officer of which the Australian public can be proud. He could not stand the debasement of Australia's SAS by patrol commanders identified by Brereton as the persons who bear the responsibility for the crimes committed. McBride is trying to rectify, to fix, to heal, to improve the SAS, to defend their honor.

For this he is being prosecuted by the Australian government. Its intelligence service is wielded against his defence by Australia's overlord, the USA. Australia has subjugated itself further in its subservience to US power and in doing so is undermining the legal rights of one of its most important citizens, a whistleblower who wants to restore honor to Australia’s most elite military force.

This is despicable. Australia's government is on trial for its complicity in this debasement of its own law.

[Image: another frame from Four Corner’s “Killing Field” in which another Australian whistleblower shows what an Afghan was doing before they were shot thrice by Australian SAS soldiers.]

I am sad to admit that I agree with David McBride. He declares that his best defence is to go to jail with his head held high. In doing so he shames the subservient sycophants who are attempting to imprison him. We see this bravery, this moral defiance in each of the whistleblowers mentioned in this article: Daniel Hale, the drone war whistleblower, John Kiriaku the CIA torture whisteblower, Julian Assange, the abuse of power whistleblower, and David McBride the defence of the honor of the ADF whistleblower.

David is correct. His defiance scares the shit out of these sycophants.

Take Caitlin Johnstone's advice: "don't you dare" stop speaking. David, Daniel, John and Julian and others need our voices.

Shout from the rafters! Bang your pots and pans! Throw your shoes in disgust!

Sources

Recent

David McBride will face prosecution after blowing whistle on alleged war crimes in Afghanistan, Australian Associated Press and Christopher Knaus, The Guardian, 2022-10-27

Whistleblower David McBride Remains the Only One Charged Years After Brereton Report, Paul Gregoire, Sydney Crimina Lawyers, 2022-10-28

David McBride should be protected, not prosecuted, Amir Haidari, Independent Austalia, 2022-10-26

Biography

David McBride (whistleblower), Wikipiedia

Afghan Files

The Afghan Files, Dan Oakes and Sam Clark, ABC, 2017-07-10

Afghan Files (Australia), Wikipedia

Afghan Files whistleblower David McBride's trial delayed to protect state secrets, Paul Karp, The Guardian, 2019-06-13

Brereton Report

INSPECTOR‐GENERAL OF THE AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE AFGHANISTAN INQUIRY REPORT, Austalian Defence Forces, 2020-11-06

The Anzac legend has blinded Australia to its war atrocities. It’s time for a reckoning, Martin Crotty and Carolyn Holbrook, The Convesation, 2020-12-06

Why Australian commanders need to be held responsible for alleged war crimes in Afghanistan, Paul Taucher and Dean Aszkielowicz, The Conversation, 2020-12-01

Brereton Report, Wikipedia

Australian War Crimes — What is the Brereton Report?, Cassius, The 11:30 Report, 2021-07-07

Afghanistan war crimes report released by Defence Chief Angus Campbell includes evidence of 39 murders by special forces, Matthew Doran, ABC, 2020-11-19

War crimes in Afghanistan: the Brereton Report and the Office of the Special Investigator, Dr Shannon Torrens, Australian Federal Parliament, (no date provided) in or after 2020-11

Gallipoli Evacuation

Brudenell White, Wikipedia

From the Archives, 1915: The Anzacs withdraw from Gallipoli, Staff Writers, The Age, 202012-14

The Evacuation of Gallipoli and General Sir Cyril Brudenell Bingham White, ANZAC Centenary, State Government of Victoria, Australia, no date

The Gallipoli evacuation was the only success of the Dardanelles campaign, J.R. Nethercote, Sydney Morning Herald, 2015-12-18

General

Afghan Files leak accused David McBride faces ACT Supreme Court for first time, Elizabeth Byrne, ABC, 2019-06-13

AFP raid on ABC reveals investigative journalism being put in same category as criminality, John Lyons (ABC's head of investigative journalism), ABC, 2019-07-15

Last week, the AFP raided the ABC. They could “add, copy, delete or alter” documents, Jessica Kingston, MamaMia, 2019-0613

Gallipoli (the film), IMDb

You're Doing Great And Your Voice Makes A Difference, Caitlin Johnstone, her newsletter, 2022-11-03

Daniel Hale Pens Letter For Judge Describing How He 'Came To Violate The Espionage Act', Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter, 2021-07-23

Video

David McBride: Prosecuted for Exposing Australia's War Crimes - Full Interview, Richard Medhurst interviews David McBride, Richard Medhurst, 2022-11-03

My Story, David McBride, his youtube channel, uploaded 2022-10-23

Aussie war crimes in Afghanistan | The Communiqué with Richard Medhurst, Richard Medhurst interviews David McBride, The Communique, 2021-02-24

Killing Field: Explosive new allegations of Australian special forces war crimes | Four Corners, Four Corners, ABC, uploaded 2020-03-16

• usual story, download with yt-dlp.

Military Whistleblower Exposes Australian War Crimes in Afghanistan, acTVism Munich, 2020-11-21

Drone Whistleblower Hale is a Hero – Ellsberg and Chomsky, Paul Jay interviews Ellsberg and Chomsky on the persecution of Daniel Hale, theAnalysis.news, 2022-11-03

Meeting Whistleblower John Kiriakou, Thomas Deshays interviews John Kiriaku, Art and documentary, uploaded 2023-03-29 (though recorded 2019-10-31)

Culture

The Beatles - A Day In The Life, The Beatles from the Sgt. Peppers album released in 1967, video by Vevo, uploaded to youtube 2015-10-28

Do NOT watch. Just listen.

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