The murder charge laid against former SAS operator Oliver Schulz (pictured) has been a long time coming, but hopefully will bring some sense of relief and vindication to the family of Dad Mohammad, the man that Schulz killed. Of the killing itself, which took place in Afghanistan in 2012, the fact that Schulz did it is beyond doubt. The defence will doubtless rest on the contention that Schulz believed the man to be in possession of a two-way radio, which has been the position of the Australian Defence Force throughout. Rules of engagement do indeed allow Australian troops to engage with deadly force, if they believe that someone is using a radio to reveal their position to the enemy. I’ll leave it to you to decide whether or not you think the Afghan farmer killed by Schulz was in possession of a radio at the time he was shot dead, a few seconds after Schulz had asked a nearby colleague if he should ‘drop the cunt’. The video is below in the form of the Four Corners documentary, Killing Field, which clearly shows the alleged war crime occur. Be aware that the whole documentary contains confronting material from the outset.
The significance of the charge against Schulz should not be underestimated. He is the first Australian soldier ever to be charged with a war crime, a move which comes in the wake of the four-year inquiry by NSW Supreme Court judge Paul Brereton. The Brereton Report found ‘credible evidence’ that Australian special forces unlawfully killed or murdered 39 people during the conflict in Afghanistan, with police now investigating another 19 former special forces soldiers. We can reasonably expect more arrests in the coming weeks and months, even years. For a lot of this we have to thank ABC journalist Mark Willacy, who made the Four Corners documentary, and also wrote a complete account of the breakdown of discipline by the SAS in Afghanistan, in his book Rogue Forces, a superb piece of investigative journalism.
The Australian SAS are one of the most highly-trained and fearsome special forces units in the world, on a par with their British SAS counterparts and the US Navy SEALS. In my view, they deserve our respect and gratitude. But something went horribly wrong in Afghanistan, where this distinguished regiment immersed itself in a culture of ‘anything goes’, when it came to combat. The rules of engagement, however frustrating they must sometimes be for forces in battlefield situations, are there for a reason. One of those reasons is to allow innocent people to go about their daily business, without being mercilessly slaughtered by amped-up goons and murderers hiding behind a uniform.
Nick Jordan