Prime Minister Gillard’s and Opposition leader Abbott’s words on Lance Corporal Andrew Jones and Lieutenant Marcus Case showed the strange twilight nature of the war.
ADF
How shit happened for Tony Abbott
Seven had given Abbott’s office two-and-a-half hours notice of the story’s angle, including the “shit happens” remark in relation to the death of Australian soldier Jared MacKinney, and Abbott’s office had agreed to the interview.
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Crikey readers have their say.
Rethinking Afghanistan: no place for politics in military prosecution
Australia has an independent process for military justice and a need to comply with international obligations. To suggest that the government should step in, as Tony Abbott did yesterday, is foolish, writes Angela Priestley, editor of Lawyers Weekly.
Crikey Says: Crikey says: one independent who could put Afghanistan back on the map
“…of course full debate should be encouraged, there should be frankness and transparency about our progress in Afghanistan.”
Australian forces in Wikileaks’ Afghan War Diary
Whistleblower website Wikileaks recently released its explosive Afghan War Diary. Australian forces appear throughout it, mostly under the code AUS RTF, writes Luke Miller.
Crikey Says: Our grief is not diminished, so let’s keep asking questions of this war
Most people want out. Of Afghanistan, that is. But why do we only discuss the war in depth when Australians die?
Weekend warriors fear Defence razor gang
Continued cuts to the Defence budget will impact on the ability of the Army Reserve to train and retain soldiers, reservists have told Crikey. Tom Cowie goes behind the lines.
Karzai and McCrystal visit Uruzgan: nobody cares
Afghan President Hamid Karzai and ISAF Commander General Stanley McChrystal met with Australian troops in Afghanistan over the weekend — not that Australian media noticed writes James Brown.
Tips and rumours: Tips and rumours
EMI Music Australia recently sent a letter to all suppliers they have credit accounts with. It contained the following blunt statement — “We would also like to confirm that we are changing our standard payment terms to 60 days end of month.” Since when did arrogantly granting extended credit term to yourself become acceptable business practice? I […]
Guy Rundle: Are allied troops dying for an Afghan man’s right to rape his wife?
We have come to the end-point of the Afghan adventure. After eight years it is over, writes Guy Rundle.
PTSD is not the only issue for the ADF
Society has embraced the reality of war, but continues to avoid confronting that of the sexual abuse of children or the brutalisation of women, writes Michael Robertson.
The imbroglio over SAS overpayments limps on
Yesterday, Joel Fitzgibbon belatedly got his act together while his performance still had the air of a rabbit caught in headlights, writes Bernard Keane.
Army life was never so sweet for Gallipoli diggers
Australia’s tank commanders are having trouble telling which large objects on the parade ground are tanks and which are the men who are supposed to be driving them, writes David Gillespie.
Five-hour delay for wounded Australians
The wounding of two ADF personnel has again raised the question of the support Australian forces are providing for personnel conducting operations around Tarin Kowt, writes Bernard Keane.
The Army’s role in the intervention: little understood
The use of defence force elements in the federal government’s intervention in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities has embroiled the ADF in controversy for reasons both justified and unjustified, writes Neil James.
