In Afghanistan, February 12th of 2009, three Australian soldiers were ordered to go to the home of a suspected Taliban leader and capture him. When they arrived, he opened fire on them. They responded with returned fire and lobbed a grenade into the room. The firing ceased. As they cautiously crept into the room, they saw a horrific scene, impossible to forget.
The suspected Taliban leader lay dead amongst a human shield comprising women and children. Six people in total were killed, five of them were children. Two other children and two adults were wounded. The soldiers allegedly attacked the wrong house.
These three men faced charges of manslaughter and two counts of dangerous conduct, with negligence as to consequence.
They were in a unique situation: the prosecution had been unable to find previous cases where manslaughter charges were brought in an active combat situation and that showed the difficulty in proving a duty of care.
Two of the three soldiers were to defend themselves against the accusation.The men say their actions saved the lives of other Australian and Afghan troops.
The charges against these men came from the Australian Government. The soldiers were ordered by their superiors to carry out this task. They have been double-crossed by our political leaders who have exposed them to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in the Hague. Ask yourselves, is this fair? If it were your son or brother, would you want them to be accused of manslaughter when they were ordered to fulfill this mission?
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