@FOXFOOTY any danger the commentators could acknowledge there are 2 teams on the ground in Adelaide. Anyone would think Port Adelaide are playing themselves.
This is the part to the Ben Roberts-Smith story that makes my blood boil.
On the night of August 29th, 2012 a Taliban sleeper agent in the Afghan National Army massacred three Australian soldiers in cold blood as they prepared to sleep on their own base.
Their names were Private Robert Poate, Sapper James Martin and Lance Corporal Rick Milosevic.
The rogue Afghan soldier was named Hekmatullah. It was the fourth insider, or ''green-on-blue'' attack by Taliban sleeper agents in the Afghan National Army against Australian soldiers in 15 months.
Out of the 41 Australians who died in Afghanistan, 7 died by way of these insider attacks - attacks which technically constitute the war crime of perfidy.
Hekmatullah's attack was a war crime under Article 37 of Additional Protocol I (1977) to the Geneva Conventions which prohibits perfidy as an act of war.
By enlisting in the Afghan National Army and wearing its uniform, Hekmatullah presented himself as a co-belligerent fighting alongside Australian forces - not against them. He invited the confidence of Australian soldiers so as to lead them to believe that they were entitled to protection under international law, and then betrayed that confidence to massacre them as they prepared to sleep.
Ben Roberts-Smith was one of the first on base after the attack. He was ordered to find and apprehend Hekmatullah in order to bring him to justice.
Acting on intelligence, Roberts-Smith and his men were led to the village of Darwan, where Roberts-Smith is then alleged to have committed a war crime, supposedly kicking a farmer named Ali Jan off a cliff and ordering his execution.
Roberts-Smith has always maintained that Ali Jan was a Taliban spotter in a village that was a Taliban stronghold. It is a matter of historical fact that there was confirmed armed Taliban presence in the village of Darwan the day of the raid.
Robert Poate's father Hugh defended Ben Roberts-Smith and his actions: ''These citizens in the village could well have been a civilian one day and pulling the trigger the next, thatโs the way the Taliban operated. This perspective should have been included to provide some balance and context.''
The Taliban fought by blending into the civilian population. They pushed sleeper agents into the Afghan National Army and murdered our soldiers in moments of vulnerability.
Where is Hekmatullah today? He lives in Afghanistan as a free man, feted as a hero by the Taliban. They don't give a fuck about international law or human rights or war crimes. They openly boast about the way they slaughtered our soldiers through acts of betrayal and perfidy.
So my proposal is this: Australia can put Ben Roberts-Smith on trial when the Taliban hand over Hekmatullah, preferably dead, his head on a silver platter.
Until that time, FREE BEN ROBERTS-SMITH.
@JacintaAllanMP If only regional towns had a decent public transport system for kids to use. You canโt even go from one suburb of the Bellarine peninsula to the other without having to go to Geelong to get another bus. 5 minutes by car over 1 hour by bus
@zdaniel Blah blah blah, I need to feed my family and be able to keep my lights on and afford to put fuel in my car to get to my full time job. You should be more concerned about families who have nothing left at the end of the week.
@kisslandslutt I went to both shows, he was great on night 1 but the crowd were ๐ฉ too many empty seats. Night 2 crowd were louder and more into it. He was more interactive with the crowd and the show was incredible. What a performer โค๏ธ
@MementoMoriXO Night 1 to night 2 were chalk and cheese. So glad I bought tickets at the last minute to go again. The vibe was incredible on night 2. MOTH TO A FLAME ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ