Former fighters described Ongwen as a model fighter and an effective commander – but testimony in his trial detailed the former child soldier’s alleged personal role in the rape of underage women.
When the honour of Australia’s revered soldiers is questioned, so, too, is the national self-image. But war is an ugly business, and we pay a price for tethering it so tightly to our identity.
Investigating senior officers, and where appropriate, taking action against them, is an important part of restoring the reputation of the Australian military abroad.
Brian Grodsky, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Each side in the bloody Nagorno-Karabakh conflict accuses the other of war crimes. Such allegations attract foreign attention and possibly intervention, but rarely lead to a peaceful solution.
The government is setting up a special investigator office to examine the findings of the inquiry into alleged misconduct by Australian special forces in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016.
This might appear a radical suggestion, but military units have been moved, shuffled, re-branded, disbanded and reactivated frequently throughout Australia’s history.
An Afghan soldier convicted of murdering three Australian soldiers is among six prisoners who could be released as part of a peace deal between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
The court prosecutes genocide, torture and grave wartime abuses worldwide. Trump’s executive order imposes on its lawyers and judges the kind of sanctions usually used on foreign terrorists.
When an atrocity is committed in war — and the army fails to respond — it is due to a moral failure of command. It’s time for the army to show the same courage as those veterans who have spoken out.
There are many hurdles to a successful prosecution of individuals accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. But trying to seek justice is not a futile exercise.