Fairfax is at it again - trying to generate readership clicks by smearing our special forces soldiers.   The basis for today's publications?   "A range of unsubstantiated, third-person, hearsay stories'.

Some of the  'unsubstantiated, third-person, hearsay stories' include special forces soldiers buying drinks from topless barmaids and commandos filmed in Afghanistan bashing golf balls into the fields surrounding their bases.  Fairfax also reports that our special forces are implicated in the deaths of people too - immediate cause for suspicion in the Leftist Fairfax world.

Fearless David Wroe looks unlikely to have encountered an angry man, however he has no hesitation in judging those who do battle with angry men for a living.   Let him explain for himself why this rubbish should take pride of place in a journal of record - his video editorial is here.

'Badge, face and attitude': why we shouldn't shy away from a closer look at our special forces

April 17, 2016 - 12:15AM

David Wroe

National security correspondent

Read more - I'm not going to demean these pages with Fairfax's trumped up tripe: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/badge-face-and-attitude-why-we-shouldnt-shy-away-from-a-closer-look-at-our-special-forces-20160416-go7xgy.html#ixzz4635P4U2L

ENDS

Fairfax understands Australia's woeful media cycle.   The timing of today's recycled cant is no accident.  Publish a story in a Sunday Newspaper and you're guaranteed the young journalists turning up for work at Australia's radio and TV stations will re-run it as gospel.

Here's that point illustrated by Sky News. 

A slew of disturbing stories about the conduct of Australia's elite special forces in Afghanistan and elsewhere will be examined by an independent investigator, the Chief of Army says.

Lieutenant-General Angus Campbell has told Fairfax Media that a 'range of unsubstantiated, third-person, hearsay stories' warranted 'deeper consideration, but independently'.

He said he had asked the Inspector General of the ADF, former naval officer Geoff Earley, to investigate.

General Campbell declined to say whether the claims included unlawful killings and breaches of rules of engagement in combat, but military sources say some involved fatalities.

Fairfax reports that episodes that have angered the hierarchy include having topless barmaids at the Special Air Service Campbell Barracks in Perth and commandos filmed in Afghanistan bashing golf balls into the fields surrounding their bases.

Defence has denied Australian involvement in an incident in Oruzgan province in 2006 in which a taxi was mistakenly fired upon, killing an Afghan civilian man, blinding a woman and seriously injuring a girl.

But Fairfax reported in 2009 that Defence possessed material showing Australian special forces involvement.

- See more at: http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2016/04/17/elite-special-forces-conduct-to-be-investigated.html#sthash.05Oi5qGI.dpuf

ENDS

Fairfax's priors - Captain Andrew Hastie SASR

This is the same company - Fairfax Media - that teamed up with its Labor informants to smear a fine young family man,  Captain Andrew Hastie of the Special Air Service Regiment just before the Canning by-election with front page stories and headlines like this 

“Revealed: War past of PM’s key recruit’’

There is nothing questionable about Mr Hastie’s conduct at all. The spread included a tearout of a 2013 story: “Soldiers alleged to have cut off dead insurgent’s hand’’. To rub in Mr Abbott’s supposed guilt-by-association, Mr Hastie’s photo appeared with a quote from the Prime Minister, stating Mr Hastie is “more than capable of fighting for the people of Canning’’. The Sydney Morning Herald’s front page pointed to the same rubbish: “Revealed: War past of PM’s key recruit’’.

ENDS

I wrote about the Fairfax's treatment of Captain Hastie SASR here:

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2015/08/a-laborfairfax-smear-for-the-canning-by-election-no-substance-no-relevance-just-a-dirty-smear.html

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2015/08/fairfax-and-the-labor-party-dirt-units-attempt-to-smear-andrew-hastie-has-backfired-spectacularly.html

Fairfax's priors - ADF role in "genocide"

This recent campaign by Fairfax comes after its unbelievable decision to print activist garbage generated by known partisan campaigners accusing Australia's defence force of participating in genocide.

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/10/media-outlets-smearing-the-australian-defence-force-with-false-claims-of-involvement-in-genocide.html

Here's part of our report from 27 October 2013:

Last week the Sydney Morning Herald, the ABC and SBS ran stories with the hysterical headlines "Australia link to '70s atrocities", “Claim Aussie choppers used in Papuan 'genocide'”  “Australian defence department rejects claims its helicopters were used in Papuan 'genocide'” and “Indonesia accused of using Australian helicopters in West Papua 'genocide'”

The reports are based on a report by the Asian Human Rights Commission The Neglected Genocide - Human rights abuses against Papuans in the Central Highlands, 1977 - 1978

ENDS