Achi news desk-
Devout supporters of David McBride on the left may need to ponder his motives for releasing information to journalists about war crimes in Afghanistan following his appearance on the right-wing conspiracy theorist’s “radio” station TNT.
Like Cricket has previously reported, TNT, a broadcaster based on the Gold Coast that caters to conspirators, peddles climate denial, vaccine fear and pro-Russian propaganda. McBride has filled in as host for Dean Mackin, a candidate for Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party who was sacked by Newcastle station 2HD in 2019 for his unbalanced views. McBride interviewed NSW Greens Senator David Shoebridge about AUKUS while hosting TNT last year (a spokesperson for Shoebridge said Cricket “politics is too important to narrow, even Senator Shoebridge goes on Sky”).
On February 7, McBride appeared on TNT as Mackin’s guest to discuss Ben Roberts-Smith’s appeal against his defamation conviction. Before McBride appeared, Mackin dwelt at length on what he insisted was the problem of migrant crime in Australia and the UK, claimed that free speech had disappeared in Ireland, and played an advert with a voice-over that said: “If you’re still wearing a surgical cloth or mask around in public, you’re guilty of spreading COVID misinformation, it’s that simple. ” Mackin then interviewed Craig Kelly, at that stage in favor of Palmer, saying that Kelly is “literally saving this country in every way shape or form”. Less than three weeks later, Kelly had abandoned Palmer’s party for Pauline Hanson – his second default in three years.
Joining Mackin after Kelly, McBride, presumably aware of the content that preceded him, told his host that he felt some “ownership” of the program, before discussing the Roberts case- Smith. If Mackin had hoped that McBride would share his host’s enthusiasm for Roberts-Smith, he would have been disappointed. McBride noted that TNT listeners were likely to sympathize with the war criminal, and explained some aspects of the appeal case, but pointed out that the evidence against Roberts-Smith came from fellow soldiers, not Afghans or journalists, and that she was proven under cross-examination. Furthermore, McBride noted that the trial judge found that Roberts-Smith had been involved in several murders, not just one, and that an error in the conclusion about one did not negate the findings of the others.
But McBride then said, “He’s not going to jail. I don’t think it should either, in the sense that there is absolutely nothing to be gained by putting our veterans in prison.”
At the moment, there are no criminal charges in relation to Ben Roberts-Smith, so the appropriateness or lack thereof of his imprisonment is meaningless. But McBride’s statement that there is absolutely nothing to be gained from imprisoning veterans is extraordinary, suggesting that soldiers are exempt from war crimes and crimes against humanity legislation, removing any benefit from legislation of such.
Spoken by many on the left, and promoted as a hounded whistleblower by much of the media – including Cricketwhose readers voted him Person of the Year in 2023 – McBride received relatively little scrutiny of the circumstances in which he disclosed to the media confidential material relating to war crimes in Afghanistan.
McBride’s lawyer admitted last November to the ABC that “his initial complaint, his biggest anger, was what he thought was the inappropriate charging of soldiers with war crimes, which were trivial incidents. And suddenly it is very heavily ridden to sue people. And he says, ‘Well, they haven’t done anything.’ So… it was entirely to protect the Australian troops that he initiated his actions.”
In his interview with prosecutors who presented the Crown at his trial, McBride complained about the use of the material by ABC journalists to expose war crimes – the resulting report was, in his words, “the opposite of what I believed”.
McBride’s lawyers are participating now attacks on the ABC and journalist Dan Oakes, saying that “the ABC dropped the source of their biggest story that year because he was a bit rude to their journalist”, that Oakes and the ABC had breached confidence (a surprising claim for w do against any reputable journalist ), refused to help McBride, and that Oakes had behaved in an “unfair and inappropriate” manner.
McBride he responded i Crikey’s private questions about the statement on TNT with a long public attack against me, but he failed to address who stood by the comments, or our invitation to expand his reasoning.
Crikey’s question for McBride:
Hi David — FYI I have sent the following questions to your legal team. I’m doing a piece on your appearances on TNT: On 7 February you spoke to Dean Mackin about Ben Roberts-Smith’s appeal. As I note, you seemed to be at pains to distance yourself from the TNT audience’s enthusiasm for BRS and noted that the evidence against him came from other soldiers. However, you also said the following about the possibility that BRS would be jailed: ‘Yes, he will not go to jail. I don’t think he should either, in the sense that there is nothing to be gained from putting our veterans in prison.’ Putting the BRS case aside, which as you note is a purely civil matter at the moment, do you stand by the opinion that there is nothing to be gained from imprisoning soldiers who have committed war crimes? Can you elaborate on that view? What is the deterrent for crimes against humanity if no one is at risk of imprisonment for them? Thank you B
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