OT: Current Affairs and Politics

[hindy111]

Ben Roberts looks like a f**king unit. I wouldn't want to mess with him.

 

[hineyrulz]

It’s easy to criticise someone from the safety of your lounge rooms, I’ve had family and close friends do tours to Iraq, Afghanistan and Timor. Some of the stories are horrific, it’s no wonder a lot of them come back as damaged people.

 

[Twizzle]

It’s easy to criticise someone from the safety of your lounge rooms, I’ve had family and close friends do tours to Iraq, Afghanistan and Timor. Some of the stories are horrific, it’s no wonder a lot of them come back as damaged people.

not only that, this result will have consequences for our armed forces overseas

who would want to go overseas to these countries and go through all the mental damage that these people are subject to and defend themselves only to find out when you come home you get charged with murder or war crimes for defending yourself

huge incriminations here

I've read on social media that some of our armed forces want to quit now for fear of falling into the same situation when they return home. I'm not sure how journos can report on actions/incidents when they were not present and make a case based on hearsay

I'm not defending Roberts as I don't know much about the incident/s but this is a bad situation for our armed services

 

[hineyrulz]

not only that, this result will have consequences for our armed forces overseas

who would want to go overseas to these countries and go through all the mental damage that these people are subject to and defend themselves only to find out when you come home you get charged with murder or war crimes for defending yourself

huge incriminations here

I've read on social media that some of our armed forces want to quit now for fear of falling into the same situation when they return home. I'm not sure how journos can report on actions/incidents when they were not present and make a case based on hearsay

I'm not defending Roberts as I don't know much about the incident/s but this is a bad situation for our armed services

Agree 100%. My Cousin who has toured Iraq and Afghanistan said the same thing to me last night. He’s been out for a decade but he’s not the same person that went in. Not even close, easy for journos to take pot shots from the safety of their lounge rooms.

 

[strider]

Yeah i dont know what people think will happen when you train people up to be courageous and ruthless to go into hellish situations where the rest of us would literally shit ourselves and go to water .... but expect it to never go wrong and overflow to something it shouldnt.

I would say the one thing to learn is dont be on some misguided high horse that our armed services are perfect and never overstep and do any wrong. Dont believe all the propaganda that we are angels. Its a shit situation and ours do shit too.

 

[Incorrect]

I doubt there is one person posting around here that could say with 100% certainty they wouldn't do exactly the same thing BRS was alleged to have done if parachuted in to the same situation... It's a warzone, you're second guessing every merkin and their intentions you deal with every minute of every day. Mental fatigue and fear are just as likely to get you as an enemy is...

It doesn't excuse it but it does explain it.

 

[hineyrulz]

Yeah i dont know what people think will happen when you train people up to be courageous and ruthless to go into hellish situations where the rest of us would literally shit ourselves and go to water .... but expect it to never go wrong and overflow to something it shouldnt.

I would say the one thing to learn is dont be on some misguided high horse that our armed services are perfect and never overstep and do any wrong. Dont believe all the propaganda that we are angels. Its a shit situation and ours do shit too.

We should have safe spaces in war zones ffs!!

 

[T.S Quint]

It’s easy to criticise someone from the safety of your lounge rooms, I’ve had family and close friends do tours to Iraq, Afghanistan and Timor. Some of the stories are horrific, it’s no wonder a lot of them come back as damaged people.

Are any of these family and friends that have done tours war criminals who have beaten and killed unarmed prisoners? KIlled civilians?

Because this is what that piece of shit has been doing over there.

Of course I have no idea what it's like being a soldier going into a war zone, but there are a huge number of people who have. How many of them do you reckon think it's ok to shoot a prisoner in handcuffs?

 

[T.S Quint]

I doubt there is one person posting around here that could say with 100% certainty they wouldn't do exactly the same thing BRS was alleged to have done if parachuted in to the same situation... It's a warzone, you're second guessing every merkin and their intentions you deal with every minute of every day. Mental fatigue and fear are just as likely to get you as an enemy is...

It doesn't excuse it but it does explain it.

These are not the actions of a man who is afraid. They are the actions of a bully.

 

[hineyrulz]

Are any of these family and friends that have done tours war criminals who have beaten and killed unarmed prisoners? KIlled civilians?

Because this is what that piece of shit has been doing over there.

Of course I have no idea what it's like being a soldier going into a war zone, but there are a huge number of people who have. How many of them do you reckon think it's ok to shoot a prisoner in handcuffs?

Well one of them had to kill a child who had a bomb strapped to him, this bloke has come back a shell of the person he was. I couldn’t imagine what it does to a person.

Another was in the room when one of his mates couldn’t take it anymore and shot themselves after a long March. His family got absolutely zero because it was a suicide he apparently had 3 young kids. As I said I don’t think anyone is condoning what he’s been accused of but fancy journos taking pot shots at people who risk tiger lives on a daily basis. Same idiots we’re probably championing the defend the police BS from a few years ago.

 

[bazza]

I doubt there is one person posting around here that could say with 100% certainty they wouldn't do exactly the same thing BRS was alleged to have done if parachuted in to the same situation... It's a warzone, you're second guessing every merkin and their intentions you deal with every minute of every day. Mental fatigue and fear are just as likely to get you as an enemy is...

It doesn't excuse it but it does explain it.

My assumption is that the other SAS members who spoke out about him didn't do those things

 

[T.S Quint]

Well one of them had to kill a child who had a bomb strapped to him, this bloke has come back a shell of the person he was. I couldn’t imagine what it does to a person.

Another was in the room when one of his mates couldn’t take it anymore and shot themselves after a long March. His family got absolutely zero because it was a suicide he apparently had 3 young kids. As I said I don’t think anyone is condoning what he’s been accused of but fancy journos taking pot shots at people who risk tiger lives on a daily basis. Same idiots we’re probably championing the defend the police BS from a few years ago.

I'm not saying that there is not a problem with the mental health of our armed forces both during their time on tours and when they come back home.
It would be horrible havingt to kill a child and would affect most people in horrible ways. This person you are talking about had to do their job even though it was a horrific one. He did it to save lives and should not be criticised or looked down upon for doing that.

What Ben Roberts-Smith has reportedly done was not this. He was not saving lives. He was torturing, bullying and killing unarmed prisoners and civliians. He ordered his men to kill a man with a prosthetic leg, and then celebrate by drinking beer out of the leg. That's not the work of a soldier. That's a psychopath.

 

[bazza]

Well one of them had to kill a child who had a bomb strapped to him, this bloke has come back a shell of the person he was. I couldn’t imagine what it does to a person.

Another was in the room when one of his mates couldn’t take it anymore and shot themselves after a long March. His family got absolutely zero because it was a suicide he apparently had 3 young kids. As I said I don’t think anyone is condoning what he’s been accused of but fancy journos taking pot shots at people who risk tiger lives on a daily basis. Same idiots we’re probably championing the defend the police BS from a few years ago.

no one complaining about the journalists writing mountains of puff pieces on him before all this came out

 

[hineyrulz]

no one complaining about the journalists writing mountains of puff pieces on him before all this came out

Writing about a VC winner are puff pieces now?? There is a reason why the main stream media are dying.

 

[bazza]

Writing about a VC winner are puff pieces now?? There is a reason why the main stream media are dying.

a puff piece would be writing glowing reports on someone who appears to now be guilty of war crimes

 

[hineyrulz]

a puff piece would be writing glowing reports on someone who appears to now be guilty of war crimes

How many VC winners are there?? Not that many i would think. Of course they are going to write good things about him.


But the glee and fervour they have gone after this bloke and torn him down seems more than just outing one bloke. It’s like they wanted the whole defence force on trial that’s what my cousin feels and a few of his mates he served with. I’ll say it again the things he have been accused of are horrible but I don’t think it’s easy to judge anyone in a Warzone. Especially some arsehat journo.

 

[bazza]

How many VC winners are there?? Not that many i would think. Of course they are going to write good things about him.


But the glee and fervour they have gone after this bloke and torn him down seems more than just outing one bloke. It’s like they wanted the whole defence force on trial that’s what my cousin feels and a few of his mates he served with. I’ll say it again the things he have been accused of are horrible but I don’t think it’s easy to judge anyone in a Warzone. Especially some arsehat journo.

most of the witnesses speaking out against him were also members of the defence force who were bullied and discredited despite appearing to do the right thing
How does your cousin feel about them?

It seems people are getting upset about people doing the wrong thing being reported rather than that people did the wrong thing in the first place
This also wouldn't have blown up if the person accepted that they had done the wrong thing rather than get a billionaire to pay for this defamation case that brought it all out in the open

 

[Gronk]

It's not easy being a cop or serving in the ADF. They walk in high risk situations and often put their lives on the line.

However they are well trained and you would think that tasering a 95 year old woman armed with a knife or killing unarmed Afghan citizens might not be the first choice from the manual.

That's not a high horse situation, it's about respecting professional boundaries. I get that the special forces merkins are the ultimate risk takers, but surely mad merkins are weeded out.

Redirect Notice

 

[hineyrulz]

most of the witnesses speaking out against him were also members of the defence force who were bullied and discredited despite appearing to do the right thing
How does your cousin feel about them?

It seems people are getting upset about people doing the wrong thing being reported rather than that people did the wrong thing in the first place
This also wouldn't have blown up if the person accepted that they had done the wrong thing rather than get a billionaire to pay for this defamation case that brought it all out in the open

If he’s done the wrong thing he should be punished, that’s up to the army to decide not some trial by media. As Twiz had said quite a few people may rethink twice joining the armed forces. Weakening our armed forces can’t be a good thing there was more to this than one bloke.

 

[bazza]

If he’s done the wrong thing he should be punished, that’s up to the army to decide not some trial by media. As Twiz had said quite a few people may rethink twice joining the armed forces. Weakening our armed forces can’t be a good thing there was more to this than one bloke.

I think it is fair for the media to report on wrong doing. The result yesterday says that they were telling the truth and it probably shows that the defence force at some level were covering up for him. In those circumstances having the media reporting the truth via whistleblowers is the only way that these sort of institutions will do anything differently.

If the guy didn't want to keep lying he didn't have to bring up the defamation case and bring make his wrong doing even more public

Personally, I would be happy that people who want to commit war crimes decide not to join the armed forces and they would be stronger with members who are there to do the right thing