The importance of the Brereton report on our alleged war crimes in Afghanistan

On 20 November, the Chief of the Defence Force (CDF) General Angus Campbell finally presented the public with the redacted version of NSW Justice Major General Paul Brereton’s report into our alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.

As if there had been no political direction of the war, General Campbell’s lonely uniformed presence before the cameras conveyed with great contrition – and apologies both to his Afghan counterpart and the Australian people – his disciplined acceptance on behalf of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) of all responsibility for the alleged crimes.

The legal language of the report is suitably chilling.

It finds ‘credible information’ that 39 ‘non-combatants or persons hors de combat’ were…