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David McBride: former army lawyer sentenced to five years for stealing and leaking Afghanistan war documents (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

40 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Complete bullshit. Regimes that punish whistleblowers harder than war criminals reveal themselves as dreaming of tyranny.

The entire trial was cooked, and I'm furious :(

That non parole period is nuts too, pure revenge. What danger does this man represent? If he's out on the streets some war criminals better watch their backs?

edit: I should add, it's also quite frustrating that at the end of all this top brass has had no light shone on them, which was his initial goal on leaking. He thought the SAS was being investigated overmuch as a distraction from leadership failures. I guess we'll never know. A slap on the wrist for the executioners, no systematic investigation, and an inconvenient man in gaol.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I don't have great thought out answers, everything you say is a good point. I still believe war secrets are necessary and releasing them should be punishable.

Put 10 years on the incident and a review process provided the conflict is over and then have at it. However if it is proven necessary then scott free for those involved.

The problem is then everyone person with boots on the ground will live in fear of what they may have done after ten years rolls around. Especially as socially society shifts

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Whatever changes in society, I don't think people will look down on those who risked their lives to ensure we had a tomorrow, those who engaged in wars in DEFENCE of Australia will never be looked down upon. It's those who participate in wars that were started for political reasons, where peace was definitely an option but not the default. Even then, I don't think poorly of those who fought in those wars, even though that war was pointless and politically motivated, they though they were doing what they thought was the right thing to do. Soldiers committing war crimes though. Nah, fuck them, there will be a warm place in hell for them.