Support war crimes whistleblower David McBride

Australia publicly condemns war crimes but is prosecuting the man who exposed Australian war crimes in Afghanistan. Demand the government drop the charges against David McBride for telling the truth.

Australians are being forced to confront the issue of our soldiers committing war crimes in our name in Afghanistan. As we should.

So why is the government prosecuting and trying to jail for 50 years the courageous Australian who forced the nation to confront this issue by telling the truth?

David McBride is a former Australian Army lawyer who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan in 2011 and 2013. On his second tour David saw evidence of Australian war crimes, which he tried to have addressed through internal processes, to no avail.

He was angered that the military command, led by then-ADF Chief, now Governor General, David Hurley, and their political masters in Canberra, used the military for public relations while covering up the truth.

Unable to get the ADF to act on the allegations, in 2017 David resorted to leaking what became known as the “Afghan Files” to the ABC, which broke the story.

David has said that as much as he was outraged by the crimes, his real motivation was exposing the cover-up, which is from a culture that is destroying the fabric of the Australian Defence Force.

His leak led to closer scrutiny of the issue, which has included the attention on Ben Roberts-Smith, but it also led to the AFP-ASIO raid on the ABC in 2019 for airing the Afghan Files; in 2020, the Brereton Report confirmed dozens of unlawful killings by Australians in Afghanistan.

After leaking the files, David initially left the country until, motivated by the extraordinary support of his family, he decided to return and take on the legal fight head-on.

David has rejected cutting any deal to face lesser charges and avoid jail time, as he knows he did the right thing and is determined to use his case to put the entire system on trial, even if he risks 50 years’ incarceration.

If he does face trial, David hopes it will expose and hold to account the ADF cover-up apparatus, all the way up to the current Governor-General.

Drop the charges!

David McBride’s trial is currently scheduled for 13 November in Canberra, but it shouldn’t come to that.

All Australians should demand the government honour this courageous whistleblower, not jail him.

Most Australians hear about the revelations from whistleblowers and agree their information is important, but then stand by while the government crushes those same whistleblowers to make an example of them so nobody else is game to tell the truth about official wrongdoing.

It’s up to the Australian people to not stand by, to not tolerate our government destroying good people to maintain bad secrets.

To speak up in support of David, please email or call your local MP and the office of Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to demand the government drop the charges against him.

Encourage as many people as you can to do the same thing.

Flood them with calls and emails to apply maximum political pressure on them to act.

Attorney General Mark Dreyfus
Email: attorney@ag.gov.au
Phone: 02 6277 7300
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