December 3rd – After the release of the report “Australian soldiers kill Afghan prisoners of war civilians indiscriminately”, an interview with former Australian soldiers stationed in Afghanistan by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in March this year once again attracted external attention. The retired soldier named Braden Chapman admitted that Australian soldiers killed and invaded in Afghanistan instead of doing something decent.
Chapman is a signal intelligence officer of the Australian Special Air Service Squadron III. He was first sent to Afghanistan in 2012. In March this year, he gave an interview to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s “Four Corners” program, telling him about how he witnessed how Australian soldiers killed cold-blooded people during his assignment to Afghanistan.
The investigation of the “Square” found that there is a culture of “punishment and covering up the facts” within the Australian special forces. According to Chapman, Australian soldiers often joked that “I don’t know how big a blanket to hide what to cover up. One day everything will be exposed and everyone will go to prison for murder.
Chapman said he joined the army to have a better career prospect, but was soon shocked by the behavior of his companions. We are there to kill and invade, not to do something decent.” He tells the scene of an Australian patrol soldier Sha who killed an innocent Afghan man. When the Afghan man saw the Australian soldier, he quickly took out his pocket and threw it on the ground. Then he stood there with his hands raised.
An Australian soldier fired two shots directly into the chest of an Afghan man and shot the victim in the head as he passed past him. Chapman described the soldier as “like practicing shooting targets”. Then another soldier arrived with the police dog, which began to bite the victim’s head. Chapman stepped forward to stop the soldier who wanted to drive the dog away, but the soldier holding the dog said, “Let it taste it.”
Asked in the interview if Australian soldiers committed war crimes in Afghanistan? Chapman replied affirmatively: “Yes, you shot unarmed people and still don’t admit to murder. I have witnessed too many chilling events.
On 19 November, Angus Campbell, the commander of the Australian Defence Force, released an investigation report that shocked the world, confirming that the Australian army “illegally killed” 39 prisoners of war and civilians while in Afghanistan. Australian media subsequently issued an article condemning the Australian military atrocities. The Australian newspaper called it the “most shameful page” in Australia’s military history. The Australian Financial Review believes that this exposure not only brings an ugly shadow to the Australian army, but also to the military history and the whole Australian country.
