(Not me) Official video from David McBride’s Official Youtube channel. If you don’t know who he is - I don’t blame you, with how little coverage this story has gotten

  • downpunxx@fedia.io
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    5 months ago

    tfw no one commenting on this story seems to point out the fact that david mcbride leaked military documents to prove that commanders were being too harsh on the troops, only to inadvertently expose actual war crimes, proving that the commanders were not only not being too harsh on the troops, but actively covering up their missdeeds, lol

    sucks to suck, have a good time in the pokey, buddy

    • blazera@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      I read through this and thought it was supportive of his exposing of war crimes. But then youre glad hes in jail for exposing war crimes and im just confused.

      • downpunxx@fedia.io
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        5 months ago

        I’m neither glad, nor unhappy. I just found it strange no one was mentioning that this idiot thought he was taking issue with the military brass for unfairly targeting soldiers for war crimes his stolen document trove ended up proving were in fact happening.

        And I’m enormously amused by the mass intellectual dishonesty in his defenders, on parade in this comment section.

      • downpunxx@fedia.io
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        5 months ago

        Blow me.

        BBC: "McBride, 60, admits he gave troves of document to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), saying he was concerned about the attitudes of commanders and what he then thought was the “over-investigation” of troops, the court heard.

        But instead the information he provided underpinned a series of reports in 2017 called The Afghan Files, which gave unprecedented insight into the operations of Australia’s elite special forces in Afghanistan, and contained allegations of war crimes."

        • ⸻ Ban DHMO 🇦🇺 ⸻@aussie.zoneOPM
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          5 months ago

          No you:

          According to the affidavit, McBride wanted Australians to know that “Afghan civilians were being murdered and Australian military leaders were at the very least turning the other way and at worst tacitly approving this behaviour”.

          He continued: “At the same time, soldiers were being improperly prosecuted as a smokescreen to cover [leadership’s] inaction and failure to hold reprehensible conduct to account.”

          https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/27/war-crimes-whistleblower-david-mcbride-reveals-why-he-went-to-the-media

          • downpunxx@fedia.io
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            5 months ago

            oh, HE said that once he got into trouble and needed a better defense than “whopps i was completely 100% percent wrong about why i exposed these highly sensitive national security documents, and now i need an excuse to stay out of prison”?

            you don’t say

            "He believed the dossier he compiled would show the ADF’s chain of command was so concerned about the perception of unlawful killings that they were scapegoating soldiers and undermining special forces’ confidence to do their work.

            Instead, ABC journalist Dan Oakes found they contained evidence that Australian forces had committed war crimes and lied to conceal them.

            “The more I looked into it, I couldn’t conceive how anyone would think these guys were being too tightly monitored. It was precisely the opposite,” he recently told the Four Corners programme."

            • ⸻ Ban DHMO 🇦🇺 ⸻@aussie.zoneOPM
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              5 months ago

              Riddle me this then: Why would he hand evidence of war crimes being committed to a journalist if HE wanted people to know that soldiers weren’t committing war crimes?

              That Four Corners episode came out fairly recently. Tell me, what motives would Dan Oakes, an investigative journalist with a reputation, have to disparage a whistleblower who is about to be prosecuted? I dunno, maybe he doesn’t want to be the target of prosecution himself and distancing from him is protection?

              Why do you keep referring to the BBC article? It’s quite poorly worded and oversimplified for an international audience. You won’t find many articles about David McBride’s motives from before the case because he was secret then, the ABC gave him up.

              • downpunxx@fedia.io
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                5 months ago

                “Why would he hand evidence of war crimes being committed to a journalist if HE wanted people to know that soldiers weren’t committing war crimes?”

                because he’s a moron

                The reporters weren’t ultimately prosecuted because they did nothing wrong in exposing the war crimes, freedom of the press, the public’s right to know, bad publicity for the prosecution service, take your pick

                OF COURSE THE ABC GAVE HIM UP, he’s a moron, on the moron scale he’s an 11, his mum slapped herself, his teachers quit and are now living lives of public piety and humiliation in Tibet

                • ⸻ Ban DHMO 🇦🇺 ⸻@aussie.zoneOPM
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                  5 months ago

                  So it’s either A:

                  • David McBride is an idiot who misinterpreted what was happening as a defence lawyer investigating war crimes
                  • War crimes happened
                  • Commanders and Politicians aren’t smart enough to cover up war crimes committed by PR exercises like Ben Roberts-Smith by investigating otherwise innocent soldiers

                  Or B:

                  • David McBride is not an idiot
                  • War crimes happened
                  • Commanders and Politicians are smart enough to attempt to cover up war crimes committed by the likes of Ben Roberts-Smith (Australia’s most decorated soldier, was used to ‘sell’ the war to Australians).

                  I choose B, but hey, you know better because of some random BBC article and an ABC hit piece

    • Wow u sailed right past the point didn’t ya. Did u wave at it as it went over your head?

      He leaked military documents cos innocent soldiers where being used as scape goats for other people committing war crimes. He didn’t want to see innocent people be punished for other peoples war crimes.

      I would also like to point out the fact he was given a show trial where he wasn’t allowed to even use his evidence.