Former Australian intelligence director Owen (David Irvine) is investigating allegations of other serious misconduct following war crimes committed by elite Australian Defense Forces soldiers in Afghanistan.
Fairfax Media (Fairfax Media) confirmed that earlier this year, the head of the military commissioned Owen to conduct an investigation. A leak report about a culture of impunity in the (Special Operations Task Group), the F-FDTL task force, has raised concerns among the military.
This is the third survey of special forces launched in two years.
One of the core questions of Owen`s investigation is why, from 2001 to 2016, only a few soldiers or officials were suspected of dangerously driving drones, drinking or taking drugs, senior defense sources said. Bullying and so-called war crimes are punished.
War crimes were said to have occurred in Afghanistan between 2006 and 2013, but for a long time there were relatively less serious suspected misconduct, in Australia or elsewhere overseas.
While many warnings point to deep-seated problems, the military did not try to make significant efforts to strengthen the accountability and culture of the special forces until the end of 2015, and even encountered resistance, senior defense sources said.
Australian Army Chief Campbell (Angus Campbell) has appointed Owen for a six-month investigation. It was revealed that a small number of members of the Australian Special Aviation Service (Australian Special Air Service Regiment) patrol had been involved in the execution of unarmed Afghan detainees.
Fairfax media also found that defense reports leaked since 2016 described a culture of impunity and the concealment of culpability by special forces. The main operational units of the Australian Special Forces are the Special Aviation Corps (Special Air Service Regiment) and the commando (Commandos).
Fairfax Media released the contents of the report on Friday. It spoke of the "unauthorized and illegal use of violence" and "total lack of accountability" of the elite Australian special forces.
A spokesman for the Defense Department confirmed in a statement that Owen, the former director-general of the intelligence agency ASIO, had been appointed.
According to Fairfax media on Sunday, a SASR soldier first deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 was forced to execute an unarmed elderly detainee under pressure from other senior soldiers as part of a "bloody" ceremony.
In the same mission, another man with a prosthetic leg was shot by a machine gun. His plastic prostheses were taken back to Perth`s SAS headquarters as a booty, as a fancy beer-drinking utensils.
Three years later, in September 2012, SASR killed another detainee while on mission in the village of Darwan. The soldiers allegedly kicked Ali Jan, a handcuffed detainee, to the edge of a small cliff, seriously injuring his face. When the detainee was bruised and his hands were still being helped, the Australian soldier decided to "free him".
Sources said the investigation found at least five incidents of indiscriminate killing of innocent Australian soldiers.
