Australia's Abu Ghraib -- or worse

The Age's Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters report here on an investigation into grave misconduct by Australia military personnel in Afghanistan.

Australian special forces soldiers were fuelled by "blood lust" when they tortured and executed prisoners in Afghanistan and then covered up their actions, according to a briefing handed to military chiefs which likened the conduct of some troops to that of American soldiers in Abu Ghraib. The confidential report was commissioned in 2016 by then chief of army Angus Campbell and is the most detailed and significant internal military dossier to be aired about the special forces' war crimes scandal that took place during the war in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2015. It was the catalyst for the soon-to-be-completed four-year Inspector-General inquiry into war crimes by senior judge Paul Brereton [left].

Watch for high seas when Justice Brereton's report is finally made public.