By Aaron Patrick, The Nightly
On a spring morning in 2018, Ben Roberts-Smith walked into the foyer of Canberra’s East Resort, often known as the “Frat Home” due to its reputation with out-of-town male politicians.
Ready for him was an outdated colleague from the Particular Air Providers Regiment. The person, who Mr Roberts-Smith got here to suspect was carrying a listening machine, ordered a protracted macchiato.
Mr Roberts-Smith requested for an English Breakfast tea.
The Victoria Cross awardee was there to save lots of his fame. The opposite man, Sergeant A, would assist destroy it.
The 2 males represented a fissure within the elite regiment. With lots of Mr Roberts-Smith’s different detractors, Sergeant A had joined the SAS’ espionage wing, 4 Squadron. Together with then Captain Andrew Hastie, now a Liberal MP, he grew to become a part of a marketing campaign to show alleged abuses in the course of the lengthy struggle in Afghanistan, together with what they claimed had been the execution of prisoners.
Mr Roberts-Smith and his closest mates had been largely members of two Squadron, an assault unit that received the military’s bloodiest battle of the struggle, the 2010 Battle of Tizak.
The victory earned the SAS its first battle honours, inserting them within the pantheon of particular forces operators. Over time, the two Squadron troopers could be pushed out of the military, pressured to seek out civilian work or stay on navy pensions.
The boys from 4 Squadron could be protected and promoted, together with those that broke navy guidelines by briefing journalists about their colleagues.
The battle between the 2 squadrons — one designed for fight, the opposite for spying — grew to become a driving pressure behind the allegations, inquiries and media protection that just about ripped the storied regiment aside.
Joint Interagency Liaison Workplace
On that unusually heat morning in Canberra on the Frat Home, Mr Roberts-Smith reached out throughout the squadrons for assist. He had came upon 10 days earlier that Fairfax Media, his nemesis, supposed to attempt to show in court docket that he executed or ordered the execution of 5 unarmed prisoners and civilians in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.
Mr Roberts-Smith knew that Sergeant A may assist show or disprove the accusation he ordered an Afghan man shot in 2012 in a compound the place Taliban weapons had simply been discovered hidden in a wall cavity.
Mr Roberts-Smith’s homicide trial already appears like a safety nightmare for the Defence Power. Along with hundreds of categorized paperwork it is going to seemingly should share with Mr Roberts-Smith and his civilian attorneys, the case will convey undesirable consideration to members of 4 Squadron.
When Sergeant A met with Mr Roberts-Smith — after earlier holding a clandestine assembly with two of the journalists pursuing him — he was a member of an company so secret few folks exterior the intelligence companies have heard of it.
Primarily based in Canberra, the Joint Interagency Liaison Workplace is charged with planning among the most delicate work in the entire authorities. Troopers from 4 Squadron work alongside officers from the Australian Safety Intelligence Organisation, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, the AFP and the Division of Overseas Affairs and Commerce, in keeping with navy sources.
The company’s categorized work contains responding to terrorist assaults at dwelling, planning rescue operations of Australians taken abroad and getting diplomatic employees out of struggle zones, the sources mentioned.
Alpha-male tradition
Throughout the SAS, 4 Squadron was a state secret. The federal government has by no means disclosed its operate, however SAS veterans and some revealed experiences say it offers navy muscle for intelligence officers on international assignments. SAS troopers prepare at an ASIS facility in Swan Island, on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula, which might solely be accessed by a single highway or sea.
Because it adopted the 4 Squadron title round 2006, the unit has solely sporadically appeared within the press. One embarrassing instance was a 2013 incident in Kabul, when SAS troopers and ASIS officers had been consuming at a barbecue. A drunken soldier waved a pistol at an ASIS officer he would later describe as a flirt, in keeping with a report by the ABC.
They had been each despatched dwelling nearly instantly.
Throughout the struggle, the squadron grew to become an experiment in equal alternative. About three or 4 feminine troopers had been transferred into the squadron from elsewhere within the military, in keeping with two SAS sources. Particular Operations Command, which oversees the SAS and different particular forces items, believed female and male {couples} could be much less conspicuous on undercover operations than pairs of muscular males, the sources mentioned.
The ladies didn’t endure the gruelling SAS entrance trials often known as “choice”, which meant they couldn’t be assigned to the regiment completely. After about 5 years, the experiment was deserted for causes which have by no means been made public, in keeping with the sources.
Due to its non-combat function, 4 Squadron was by no means despatched to Afghanistan as a gaggle on fight operations, in keeping with an SAS supply. However members of the squadron working with ASIS within the nation would typically be part of different squadrons on missions, he mentioned.
That included 2 Squadron, which had an aggressive fame even by SAS requirements. Two Squadron’s success searching down Taliban leaders bolstered the facility of its sergeants and corporals, who led 5 or six-man groups often known as patrols. These battle-hardened non-commissioned officers pushed again towards interference from their officers, who typically had much less warfare expertise.
“Two Squadron had been identified within the regiment for patrol commanders working their very own strike plans and kicking everybody out of these orders,” Mr Hastie mentioned in 2022.
Two Squadron’s alpha-male tradition was epitomised by the corporate’s casual mascot: the prosthetic leg of a suspect rebel man killed (allegedly in an execution) in 2009. The leg grew to become a well-liked consuming vessel on the SAS bar in Tarin Kowt, the Fats Girl’s Arms, and was shipped dwelling to the SAS headquarters in Perth the place it was mounted, framed and dubbed “Das Boot”.
Rumours and factions
Because the struggle entered its second decade, some members of the regiment felt 2 Squadron’s struggle towards the insurgency had develop into too bloody. Rumours unfold that after the taking pictures stopped, workforce leaders had ordered prisoners executed, each by newly arrived Australians and Afghan authorities troopers underneath their command.
The regiment started to separate into warring factions. A number of of Mr Roberts-Smith’s detractors transferred to 4 Squadron, the place they might keep away from the a number of deployments to Afghanistan that had been financially profitable however powerful on their our bodies, their household lives and, in some instances, their spirits.
Australian fight operations in Afghanistan stopped in October, 2013, when then prime minister Tony Abbott declared on the military’s base in Southern Afghanistan: “Australia’s longest struggle is ending.”
The combating with the Taliban was over. The struggle contained in the SAS was intensifying.
Inside 4 Squadron, the nucleus of what is likely to be known as the BRS opposition had established itself. Among the many most senior was Mr Hastie, who had spent 5 days in Afghanistan in 2012 studying concerning the struggle on the similar time Mr Roberts-Smith was main a workforce on missions to trace down Taliban leaders.
Mr Hastie grew to become near a sergeant identified by the pseudonym Kenneth Barber, a navy health teacher who joined the SAS in 2001. A historical past buff who fought within the Battle of Tizak, Sgt Barber was satisfied Mr Roberts-Smith’s Victoria Cross quotation contained fabrications and the corporal didn’t deserve the medal. He would carry the resentment at what he noticed as a deep injustice for greater than a decade.
In 4 Squadron’s workplaces, Mr Hastie and Sgt Barber held lengthy emotional conversations concerning the struggle, Mr Roberts-Smith and whether or not 2 Squadron had crossed the road on the battlefield. Mr Hastie, a dedicated Christian, described the talks as a type of counselling.
“Evil,” Mr Hastie mentioned in 2022 they mentioned. “All of us should cope with it.
“I consider on the time I used to be attempting to let (him) know that you may’t — you may’t change the world your self. You possibly can’t be the — the only individual right here.”
Going public
The headstrong sergeant didn’t take the recommendation. In December, 2015, he met impartial journalist Chris Masters at a restaurant in Canberra.
Over dinner and drinks, he repeated a second-hand story that Mr Roberts-Smith kicked an Afghan man, Ali Jan, off a cliff in 2012 within the village of Darwan and had him shot.
Mr Roberts-Smith, who was in Darwan searching an Afghan authorities soldier who had killed three Australians, denied kicking anybody off a cliff or ordering any executions. Images of the location would present the “cliff” was a river embankment.
Sgt Barber would later say he believed he had tacit permission from the Defence Power to share details about Mr Roberts-Smith with Mr Masters.
“After I rang the Defence Media up, they didn’t say to me, ‘Watch out what you discuss. Don’t discuss categorized data and don’t discuss doable struggle crimes’,” he mentioned in court docket in 2022.
Though he was a member of 4 Squadron, and would even be assigned to the the Joint Interagency Liaison Workplace, in keeping with one other SAS supply, Sgt Barber agreed to seem on 9’s 60 Minutes program in 2019 and discuss Mr Roberts-Smith. His id cloaked, he repeated the Darwan allegation to Mr Masters’ collaborator, Nick McKenzie.
On the time of the 60 Minutes interview, the allegations had been being investigated by a NSW choose, Paul Brereton, on behalf of the Inspector-Common of the Australian Defence Power, which oversees navy justice. Justice Brereton had began work in 2016. His report wouldn’t be revealed till 2020.
Sgt Barber didn’t search permission from the military to seem on the present, however was allowed to stay within the SAS regardless of breaching navy guidelines that strictly restrict contact with journalists. “I’m not happy with it, nevertheless . . . I can’t say I remorse it,” Sgt Barber mentioned in court docket in 2022. “I wouldn’t do it once more.”
Sgt Barber wasn’t at Darwan. He was advised the cliff story by a personal in Mr Roberts-Smith’s workforce at Tizak, who had additionally swapped from 2 Squadron to 4 Squadron. The personal disliked Mr Roberts-Smith and resented that he needed to wait three years to obtain a medal for his bravery within the battle, in keeping with proof he gave in court docket.
One other member of the Tizak assault workforce had additionally moved throughout to 4 Squadron. A scout, he resented {that a} Star of Gallantry, the second-ranked bravery ornament, had been awarded to the workforce’s sergeant, a detailed pal of Mr Roberts-Smith’s.
The scout, who was additionally a personal, confronted the sergeant concerning the official document of the Battle of Tizak. It credited the sergeant with saving the workforce’s six males, together with Mr Roberts-Smith, by throwing a grenade at a Taliban machine-gun nest. The explosion both killed or shocked one of many machine-gunners, permitting Mr Roberts-Smith to cost in and kill everybody left alive, the act recognised with the Victoria Cross for Australia.
“I mentioned to him,” the scout mentioned in court docket he advised the sergeant, “I don’t consider it actually was, mate. You didn’t know the place the grenade was going. You had no thought the place you had been throwing that. Present some humility.”
Sharing data at Tulip’s
Though Sergeant A was a 2 Squadron member in 2010, he missed the Battle of Tizak. The military refused to ship him to Afghanistan as a result of he had saved pictures from navy operations on a private onerous drive, which his estranged spouse found and used to blackmail him, he mentioned.
Transferred to 4 Squadron, Sergeant A discovered a supporter in Mr Hastie, who known as him a “excellent man”. In early 2018, Sergeant A met Masters, the journalist, twice in Canberra.
Sergeant A later mentioned he selected to fulfill at a spot known as “tulips” at 7.30am. Google lists one such venue in Canberra, Tulip’s Cafe within the suburb of Pialligo, positioned on a semi-rural again avenue close to Canberra Airport. In contrast to the Frat Home, it was a discreet place to share data.
On the cafe, Sergeant A talked a couple of mission in October, 2012, to the Chenartu District about 100km north-east of the SAS’ base in southern Afghanistan. As troopers in a workforce commanded by the then Corporal Roberts-Smith had been looking out a mud-brick compound, they found an AK-47 assault rifle, bullets and rocket-propelled grenades hidden in a wall cavity.
Within the aftermath of the invention, Mr Roberts-Smith advised an Afghan authorities soldier to shoot an Afghan man current within the compound, Sergeant A alleged in court docket. By his personal account, Sergeant A didn’t attempt to cease what he described as an execution, didn’t file a grievance or inform anybody in authority.
“I used to be perplexed however didn’t say something,” Sergeant A mentioned in court docket. “We . . . had been like near extraction.”
Sergeant A mentioned he then jogged to an open space the place helicopters had been going to land and return them to their base. He mentioned he noticed a visibly sad senior sergeant from 2 Squadron who was liable for prisoners.
Headquarters had been notified that three or 4 doable insurgents had been captured, in keeping with Sergeant A. In navy terminology they had been often known as PUCs, for individual underneath confinement or management.
“The PUC depend has already gone in and the helos are coming in,” the senior sergeant mentioned, in keeping with Sergeant A.
Solely two prisoners had been obtainable for the helicopter journey. It’s unclear if any numerical PUC disparity was questioned by 2 Squadron’s commanders.
Precisely what Sergeant A advised journalists concerning the Chenartu mission is unclear, however the soldier believed he was authorised to talk to them regardless of working in an espionage unit.
“Defence was, had been conscious of what was occurring,” he mentioned in court docket when requested if he sought permission to transient the media about navy operations.
The Defence Division didn’t reply to a request to remark about 4 Squadron’s function or tensions throughout the SAS throughout and after the struggle.
Mr Roberts-Smith has denied killing prisoners or ordering anybody to. “I categorically deny all of those allegations,” he mentioned on April 19. ”I’m happy with my service in Afghanistan. Whereas I used to be there, I at all times acted inside my values, my coaching and throughout the guidelines of engagement.”
The winner
Six years after the Chenartu mission, Sergeant A and Mr Roberts-Smith discovered themselves exchanging pleasantries on the East Resort in Canberra. Mr Roberts-Smith had been given the proof that will be used towards him in his unsuccessful defamation lawsuit towards 9. It included an announcement by Sergeant A about Chenartu that accused Mr Roberts-Smith of ordering an execution.
On the lodge, Mr Roberts-Smith handed the sergeant a replica of the doc and requested if he had accused him of getting a person executed. “I confirmed him, successfully, a redacted web page with … what was attributed to him,” Mr Roberts-Smith mentioned in court docket. “Shockingly, to me, on the time, he mentioned that that’s how he noticed the occasions of the day unfold.”
Sergeant A mentioned he advised Mr Roberts-Smith: “2012 was fairly free” and “come on mate, you machine gunned that man”.
After the dialog petered out, Sergeant A stood up and mentioned, “Thanks for the espresso” and walked away. Mr Roberts-Smith paid for the macchiato.
Sergeant A is just not one of many 4 veterans granted immunity from homicide prices in return for testifying towards Mr Roberts-Smith. The previous soldier has not been charged over the alleged incident at Chenartu, which is without doubt one of the 5 counts of the struggle crime of homicide towards Mr Roberts-Smith. Legal professionals concerned say the case will take years to achieve a trial.
As for the battle of the squadrons, it was resoundingly received by 4 Squadron. In 2020 the Chief of the Defence Power, former SAS officer Angus Campbell, determined to abolish 2 Squadron after the official inquiry concluded Australian troopers had been liable for the deaths of 39 Afghans.
Some 2 Squadron veterans consider they’re nonetheless being pursued by the Workplace of the Particular Investigator, which has been allotted $300 million from Defence funding to analyze veterans. Some officers who had been members of two Squadron or oversaw the unit had decorations revoked.
Mr Hastie, the Opposition trade spokesman, didn’t reply to questions on his involvement within the case. Mr Roberts-Smith is a former govt on the Seven tv community, which is a part of the identical firm as The Nightly.
