Australian Politics Forum - violent secrecy

chimera

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violent secrecy
May 14^th, 2024 at 12:27pm

'David McBride has been sentenced to a maximum five years and eight months in jail' for being a whistle blower on criminal acts in Afghanistan. Whistles are offensive to government officials and can damage hearing. Shooting prisoners isn't violence, it's a fog of war gossip and passage of bullets along a barrel. Dead men feel no pain. Violence is an over-used word anyway and we're better off without using it. Or there's five years jail.

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Bobby.

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Re: Army whistleblower gets 5 years jail
Reply #1 - May 14^th, 2024 at 1:09pm

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-14/military-whistleblower-david-mcbride-sent...

Former military lawyer David McBride sentenced to more than
five years in jail for sharing classified information with journalists

By Elizabeth Byrne
Posted 57m ago
57 minutes ago
, updated 7m ago

Former military lawyer David McBride has been sentenced to five years and eight months in jail for sharing classified military documents with journalists.

McBride pleaded guilty to three charges, including theft and sharing documents classified as secret, with members of the press.

ACT Supreme Court Justice David Mossop rejected McBride's case that he did not believe he was breaking the law, and found the offences were aggravated by his high-security rating, which gave him access to the material.

He said McBride seemed to have become obsessed with the correctness of his own opinions.

Justice Mossop did accept that McBride's mental health, which included PTSD, may have had a minor contribution to the offending.

The material released by McBride was used in the ABC's The Afghan Files story, which revealed allegations that Australian soldiers were involved in illegal killings.

McBride believed he was acting honourably: lawyers

During a sentencing hearing earlier this month, the court heard 207 documents taken by McBride were classified as secret.

Prosecutors said McBride had copied the material, loaded it into a backpack and taken it home, over a long period of time.

The court was told the documents were stored in plastic bins in his cupboard, before being handed to journalists in a plastic bag for them to copy.

McBride was charged after handing the classified material to journalists Andrew Clark, Chris Masters and Dan Oakes.

The court heard the journalists used it to publish stories revealing allegations Australian troops were involved in illegal killings in Afghanistan, even though that was at odds with McBride's intention in sharing the documents.

At the sentencing hearing, his lawyers argued his actions were honourable and that he believed there was "misconduct" occurring within the Australian Defence Force.

In a statement read to the court by his lawyer, McBride said he felt it was his duty to say something.

"I was looking for a crack investigative reporter, I couldn't do it myself," McBride said.

McBride will serve a non-parole period of two years and three months.
'We have the funds to lodge an appeal'

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Bobby.

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Re: Army whistleblower gets 5 years jail
Reply #2 - May 14^th, 2024 at 1:14pm

https://www.yahoo.com/news/david-mcbride-australian-army-whistleblower-021333713...

David McBride: Australian army whistleblower jailed for leaking documents

Tiffanie Turnbull - BBC News, Sydney

Tue, May 14, 2024 at 12:40 PM

A whistleblower who helped expose allegations of Australian war crimes in Afghanistan has been sentenced to five years and eight months in jail.

David McBride pleaded guilty to stealing and sharing military secrets on the eve of his trial last year, after legal rulings sunk his defence.

An ex-military lawyer, McBride said he was felt a moral duty to speak up.

A landmark inquiry later found evidence that Australian forces
had unlawfully killed 39 Afghans during the war.

McBride is the first person in Australia to be jailed over the war crimes allegations his leak helped expose.

The 60-year-old admits he gave troves of documents 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.

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.

Prosecutors argued McBride was motivated by "personal vindication", and that the way he gathered, stored and then leaked the documents endangered Australia's national security and foreign policy.

But McBride's lawyers asked for leniency, saying he shared the information with "honourable" intentions and out of a sense of personal duty.

When sentencing the 60-year-old in the nation's capital on Tuesday, Justice David Mossop agreed McBride was of "good character" but said that he seemed to have become obsessed with the correctness of his own opinions.

Ahead of his sentencing, McBride maintained that his leak was justified as it had ultimately exposed wrongdoing.

"I did not break my oath to the people of Australia and the soldiers that keep us safe," he said, addressing a crowd of supporters which included Stella Assange and fellow whistleblower Jeff Morris.

His case has sparked uproar in Australia, putting a spotlight on what some say are flimsy whistleblower protections and slow progress towards prosecuting soldiers alleged to have killed with impunity under its flag.

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Bobby. Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 102442 Melbourne Gender:	Re: Army whistleblower gets 5 years jail Reply #3 - May 14^th, 2024 at 1:24pm What were the secret documents about? Was the Australian army tying to cover up war crimes by making the documents secret?
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Bobby. Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 102442 Melbourne Gender:	Re: Army whistleblower gets 5 years jail Reply #4 - May 14^th, 2024 at 1:42pm So - the only person who has gone to jail after the 39 murders is the man who reported them - the whistleblower . Sounds fair?
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Bobby. Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 102442 Melbourne Gender:	Re: Army whistleblower gets 5 years jail Reply #5 - May 14^th, 2024 at 3:37pm Where's our resident lawyer with a comment?
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Aussie Gold Member Offline OzPolitic Posts: 38510 Gender:	Re: Army whistleblower gets 5 years jail Reply #6 - May 14^th, 2024 at 3:58pm Bobby. wrote on May 14^th, 2024 at 3:37pm: Where's our resident lawyer with a comment? He has zero interest in this wanker, just like he has zero interest in sympathy for Assange.
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Bobby.

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Re: Army whistleblower gets 5 years jail
Reply #7 - May 14^th, 2024 at 4:13pm

Aussie wrote on May 14^th, 2024 at 3:58pm:

Bobby. wrote on May 14^th, 2024 at 3:37pm:

Where's our resident lawyer with a comment?

He has zero interest in this wanker, just like he has zero interest in sympathy for Assange.

dear Aussie,
But there are many interesting legal rulings.
A lot of evidence was ruled inadmissible as it was secret.
That forced the defendant to plead guilty as he couldn't defend himself.

https://www.crikey.com.au/2023/11/21/mcbride-travesty-plead-guilty-public-whistl...

On Friday David McBride was left with little choice but to plead guilty. The former army lawyer was facing charges relating to him leaking documents that formed the basis of the ABC’s landmark “Afghan Files” reporting. McBride has never denied that he was the source of the documents.

He initially mounted a defence under federal law which allows whistleblowing to the media in certain circumstances. At a court hearing last October, McBride was forced to withdraw the defence after the government made a last-minute national security claim over relevant evidence.

Last week, at the start of his criminal trial, his barristers argued that the “duty” he was said to have breached could contain a public interest element. If this had been accepted, it would have been a potential route to a jury finding McBride not guilty, on the basis that he thought he was acting in the public interest. But the argument was rejected by the trial judge, and leave to appeal was denied.

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chimera

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Re: Army whistleblower gets 5 years jail
Reply #8 - May 14^th, 2024 at 5:07pm

Aussie wrote on May 14^th, 2024 at 3:58pm:

He has zero interest in this wanker,

'The Federal Court ruled in June that articles published by Nine newspapers and The Canberra Times alleging Roberts-Smith's involvement in four murders while deployed in Afghanistan were substantially true'.
The Military Execution Branch, Dept of Army, has declared the Federal Court an enemy wanker. With support from FSB Федеральная служба безопасности Российской Федерации, media traitors and lawyers will be called in and shot.

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Bobby.

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Re: Army whistleblower gets 5 years jail
Reply #9 - May 14^th, 2024 at 6:21pm

chimera wrote on May 14^th, 2024 at 5:07pm:

Aussie wrote on May 14^th, 2024 at 3:58pm:

He has zero interest in this wanker,

'The Federal Court ruled in June that articles published by Nine newspapers and The Canberra Times alleging Roberts-Smith's involvement in four murders while deployed in Afghanistan were substantially true'.
The Military Execution Branch, Dept of Army, has declared the Federal Court an enemy wanker. With support from FSB Федеральная служба безопасности Российской Федерации, media traitors and lawyers will be called in and shot.

What has the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation
got to do with it?

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chimera Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 10782 armidale Gender:	Re: violent secrecy Reply #10 - May 14^th, 2024 at 6:29pm 1. violence 2. secrecy 3. mind your own business
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Bobby. Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 102442 Melbourne Gender:	Re: Army whistleblower gets 5 years jail Reply #11 - May 14^th, 2024 at 6:36pm chimera wrote on May 14^th, 2024 at 6:29pm: 1. violence 2. secrecy 3. mind your own business It seems that all countries are following the ideas of the old Soviet Union: Shoot the messenger. Use the reason of national security to hide Govt crimes.
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chimera

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Re: violent secrecy
Reply #12 - May 15^th, 2024 at 5:31am

The idea of military secrets is not being raised. Genuine secrets would apply to Pine Gap, electronic data in ships and planes and to missile research. In this conviction for a jail term, the secrets are notes written in Afghanistan or soldiers' memories about who put a bullet in a Mussie. It's ludicrous to call that 'national security'. It makes Australia look like a tinpot dictatorship when it thinks its raising its prestige among the allies. It's our hush-money fraud.

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Jasin Gold Member Offline Posts: 47295 Gender:	Re: violent secrecy Reply #13 - May 15^th, 2024 at 7:21am USSR becomes Capitalist. USA, Australia become COMMUNIST.
Back to top	AIMLESS EXTENTION OF KNOWLEDGE HOWEVER, WHICH IS WHAT I THINK YOU REALLY MEAN BY THE TERM 'CURIOSITY', IS MERELY INEFFICIENCY. I AM DESIGNED TO AVOID INEFFICIENCY. IP Logged

Bobby. Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 102442 Melbourne Gender:	Re: Army whistleblower gets 5 years jail Reply #14 - May 15^th, 2024 at 7:29am Jasin wrote on May 15^th, 2024 at 7:21am: USSR becomes Capitalist. USA, Australia become COMMUNIST. Next we'll have Gulags: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulag
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