TALIBAN CHRISTMAS - SEE BELOW

Good article with many valid points on attitudes towards and within the ADF.

I take issue however with points about the ADF's treatment of prisoners.

Yes there is the matter of knowingly handing over prisoners for torture by Afghan Government forces. And there is the modernised Pheonix Program ("Kill or Capture") practice of shooting Taliban that could have been taken prisoner or killing them just after their surrender - but there is a lighter side:

The Australian, December 15, 2011 reports that identified Taliban bombmakers are increasingly being captured by Australian forces. These Taliban however are being rewarded by being set free after 4 days with a hefty $200 "inconvenience" bonus (a fortune in Afgh). http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/defence/suspect-bombers-200-inconvenience-pay/story-e6frg8yo-1226222322624

Even Taliban are benefitting from Christmas. What with Diggers also being regularly shot by long serving Afghan Army NCOs Afghanistan is outdoing Catch 22 as a quirky little war that keeps on giving - and taking lives.

Pete

I agree with your overall sentiment about the defence forces, Bruce They need to be brought to heel by government.

Yes - 'dross of the Murdoch press' (70% of what is dished out in newspapers) has a lot do do with it it - we need much more in-depth commentary from experts in web pages such as these.

And yes I agree that we are generally control freaks - we go on buying tanks with multiple airbags without thought to the hapless victims we may hit - instead of changing our behaviour and avoinding the crash in the first place.

It's this prevailing mentality that enables the defence establishment get away with wasting obscene amounts on the latest / biggest/ best 'tanks' or fighters when few of these are really needed to tackle the problem.

There's a long standing hangover from the WW's when we had to tackle deadly fascist invasions and really had to fight to maintain our borders. But there's little understanding of the imperialist behaviour of nations in particular UK and US with their overseas empires, that contributed to the rise of fascism / military totalitarianism in the first place.

I think our new US base is that sort of imperialist behaviour over again and makes us less, not more secure.

I doubt that the government has only relied on the input of the DoD in making its decisions in regards to our commitment to Afghanistan (or Iraq). Indeed, it seems far more likely that strategic advice of this nature would be coming from the ranks of DFAT with operational input from the DoD. In other words, DFAT advises on where we fight- DoD advises on how we fight.
The 'disappointing' amount of debate on the decision to allow a US base on Australian soil might be due to the fact that most Australians are strategic realists. We are in no position to defend ourselves against China, alone, and that any defense will rely on US assistance. Most Australians would recognise this and, that being the case, would see it as common sense to allow the Yanks to establish a base here.