The New Dark Age

The arrest and charges of war crimes on Ben Roberts Smith is a moment of great shame for Australia. He was a member of Australia’s elite Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) and committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

Introduction

Modern Australia still faces a lack of population growth, which is why it has opened its doors to people from all over the world, especially East Asian and South Asian people. This immigrant country is comprised of multiple nations; however, its politics and military policy are still dominated by the minority White people. We should not forget the performance of the traditional Haka dance by the indigenous Member Parliaments in June 2025 in the Australian Parliament, as they were ignored and legislation was done against the interests of the indigenous people. This is a clear example of the ruling White minority.

This article simply intends to highlight the war crimes committed by the Australian soldiers in the war zones, especially the extrajudicial and illegal killings of non-combatants during World War I, in Indochina and Vietnam, and most recently in Afghanistan.

The famous Brereton Report, published in November 2020, was a shocking report that unveiled the war crimes committed by its soldiers in Afghanistan. The Brereton Report was so horrific that the Australian government and the Ministry of Defence had to publish a redacted version for the public as well as international consumption.

Australia’s War Crimes in Afghanistan

On April 7, 2026, Ben Roberts-Smith was arrested at the Sydney airport. He was a member of Australia’s elite Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) and was awarded the gallantry medal of the Victoria Cross. He was arrested on the charges of war crimes committed during his posting in Afghanistan for killing five innocent people. A report found in 2023 that Corporal Ben Roberts Smith killed several innocent and unarmed people in Afghanistan. He was posted in Afghanistan during 2009-2012 and was stationed at different places. During that time, there was a surge in the insurgency in Afghanistan, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were in a complete state of panic.

Ben Roberts-Smith is among the hundreds who committed extrajudicial killings and shot innocent people dead in the war and conflict zones. However, the question arises, would there be any other arrest and conviction? Is it true that he could not have committed such heinous crimes all alone by himself? His superior officers and commanders would also have been involved and would have some level of acceptability.

Australia’s War Crimes in World War I and Vietnam

The Australia New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was deployed in West Asia and in Turkey during World War I. In December 1918, ANZAC soldiers illegally killed more than 200 Arab men, women, and children and set ablaze the entire village of Surafend. The Australian Light Horse regiment proudly killed the innocent and unarmed people.

In Vietnam, the Australian soldiers massacred five civilians, including some minor girls, in October 1967. The unfortunate event is known as the Bamboo Pickers Incident. No Australian soldier was tried and convicted of war crimes.

Australia’s War Crimes against the Indigenous and Indian peoples

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation published the Yoorrook Justice Commission report. The report highlighted the genocide committed by the British immigrants against the indigenous Australian and Indian peoples. The exact number of killed and exterminated people is unknown; however, we can well understand that it would be at least in the thousands or maybe even more.

Conclusion

It is clear as day that Australia has a history of committing war crimes in the war zones, as its soldiers are thoroughly racist and deeply religious. They especially target non-combatants and use the killings as instruments of war. Today’s Australia is ruled by the immigrant White minority that has systematically established domination.

There is a very famous saying that ‘justice delayed is justice denied.’ It is quite shocking that Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith left the Australian Defence Forces in 2013, and for more than 13 years, he roamed as a free man without any hurdle and remained unpunished. It is not just the ineffectiveness and hypocrisy of the Australian judicial system, but in fact it is the culture of Australia to encourage war criminals and mass murderers to kill innocent and unarmed people. How the so-called liberal democracy and its freedom and liberty remained asleep in Australia over the illegal killings of innocent people committed by its own soldiers.

The world must put political and diplomatic pressure on the Australian government to probe the illegal killings of innocent people by its soldiers in the war zones. Those soldiers must be brought to justice to uncover the true face of Australian soldiers and their war crimes against the innocent people.

Simon Westwood is a master’s student at the Dublin City University (DCU), Ireland. He is also a Research Assistant at the DCU’s Department of History

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