Australian Defence Force elite linked to neo-Nazis

GREG ANSLEY reports on a catalogue of claims against the military.

CANBERRA - Blood Oath is a repugnant band.

Its songs are anthems to hate, racism and Hitler.

Website pictures show the four tattooed band members giving the Nazi salute, part of a growing global cyber network populated by other bands with names like Grenadier Commando, Aryan and Nordic Thunder.

On the neo-Nazi Blood and Honour site, Blood Oath member "Gideon" names among his 10 favourite tracks Hail New Dawn, Strike Force and Stormtrooper.

Fellow member "Shane" includes in his list of heroes Hitler's SS stormtroopers, responsible for some of the worst atrocities of the Second World War.

It gets worse.

Three of the four Blood Oath were, until recently, members of the Third Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, Australia's elite paratroop force.

The battalion is at present the subject of two inquiries and a blistering media inquisition over allegations of a culture of violence against its own members that has seen soldiers viciously beaten with the approval of senior NCOs and officers.

Neo-Nazi sympathies, by themselves, are tolerated by an Army which prides itself on its political neutrality and its democratic aversion to punishing or persecuting any of its members for their personal views - as long as they remain personal.

"Australia is a country that's recognised throughout the world for its freedom of belief and the freedoms we give our ordinary people," Defence Force (ADF) chief Admiral Chris Barrie said.

But the Blood Oath revelations could hardly have come at a worse time for the Defence Force.

The ADF has been sorely embarrassed by a rush of home videos depicting brutal equator-crossing ceremonies on board Royal Australian Navy submarines, Army discipline tours and gay parodies by peacekeepers in Bougainville.

Claims of brutality and sexual harassment at Duntroon Royal Military College and the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra have circulated for years.

And SAS troopers are facing accusations of beating and torturing militia prisoners in East Timor, although the claims are strongly denied and similar charges had earlier been disproved.

The military has also endured a lengthy inquiry into its justice system by Parliament's joint standing committee on foreign affairs, defence and trade that raised fundamental issues now at the heart of the allegations of brutality against 3RAR.

The committee, enraged that the 3RAR allegations were known and under investigation at the time of this inquiry, but not disclosed to it by the ADF, has opened a separate investigation into the reported brutality.

It has already held several in-camera sessions with Army chiefs and former and serving soldiers, who have been promised anonymity to protect them from revenge following death threats against one witness.

Admiral Barrie has also appointed a Federal Court judge, Justice James Burchett, to lead an ADF inquiry into the 3RAR allegations, with a report expected in March.

Military justice will now be overseen by a new inspector-general, and earlier this month Army chief Lieutenant-General Peter Cosgrove issued a new "plan for a fair go."

This sets out a list of rules for the Army to live by, urging soldiers, for example, to treat others as they wanted to be treated, to respect differences in others, and to have the courage to stand up for what is right and stop unacceptable behaviour.

All these measures, Cosgrove said, were designed to root out any symptoms of a culture of violence.

None of this had dispelled the dark cloud hovering over 3RAR, an illustrious battalion who, with New Zealand troops, won a United States presidential citation after stopping the Chinese advance at Kapyong during the Korean War.

The battalion also served with distinction in Vietnam and Timor.

But its reputation has now been scarred by allegations which first surfaced in Time magazine, including the damning conclusion that a well-intentioned bid by Cosgrove to push through investigations had been improper and led to the failure of cases against two men.

With investigations still under way, 11 officers and men now face charges in connection with assaults detailed in the Time report, which was based on Military Police documents.

The report listed not only incidents of brutality, but also alleged support for a culture of violence among officers and NCOs entrenched by strict codes of loyalty and zero tolerance for dishonesty or disrespect.

Time quoted an alleged parade-ground instruction by a company sergeant major: "If you catch anyone thieving you should beat them to within an inch of their lives.

"Drag them bleeding in front of my desk and nothing will be said about your actions."

According to the Military Police papers obtained by Time, 3RAR took this to heart:

Privates Jeremy Harris and C. Tanin were beaten because of accusations of theft.

A drunken cook was bashed unconscious because he laughed at soldiers and refused to stand for the unit colours.

A physical training session ordered as punishment for one soldier was so severe MPs labelled it an assault.

The 16-hour "torture" of a lieutenant at the hands of a major in an unapproved resistance to interrogation session.

Beyond the 3RAR allegations, the parliamentary committee noted a military justice system that denied soldiers internationally recognised standards of civil rights and heard submissions arguing that tough discipline was needed to make tough soldiers.

Cosgrove disagrees.

"Rough justice has no place in today's Army," he said.

His job now is to make sure the rest of the Army agrees with him.