Blood-thirsty nature of Western imperialism exposed for all to see: Scholar  

The true blood-thirsty nature of Western colonialism and imperialism has been exposed for all to see in Afghanistan, says Dennis Etler, an American political analyst who has a decades-long interest in international affairs.

Australia has admitted that its military forces unlawfully killed dozens of civilians and prisoners in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016.

Australia's top general made the admission as he released the findings of a years-long investigation by Major General Justice Paul Brereton into military misconduct in Afghanistan, saying there was credible evidence Australian Special Forces had "unlawfully" killed at least 39 Afghan civilians and inmates in more than a decade.

Angus Campbell, Australia's chief of the Defense Force, said during a press conference in Canberra on Thursday that a "destructive" culture of impunity among the elite troops had led to a string of murders and cover-ups by 25 Special Forces personnel in 23 separate incidents.

"Some patrols took the law into their own hands, rules were broken, stories concocted, lies told, and prisoners killed," Campbell said.

"This shameful record includes alleged instances in which new patrol members were coerced to shoot a prisoner in order to achieve that soldier's first kill, in an appalling practice known as 'blooding,'" the top Australian military official said.

Australia admits troops involved in murder of unarmed Afghan civilians

Australia admits that its military forces unlawfully killed dozens of civilians and prisoners in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016.

In an interview with Press TV on Thursday, Etler, a former professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California, said, “The horrific war crimes committed by Australian “Special Forces” in Afghanistan should come as no surprise.”

“Atrocities of the sort disclosed are a recurrent phenomenon of US and allied troops wherever and whenever they invade and occupy foreign soil. Massacres and targeted killings of innocent civilians by the US and its allies occurred in Korea, Vietnam, Central America, Iraq and Afghanistan. The US and its allies, such as Israel, have also launched assassination campaigns against their adversaries using drone warfare, resulting in the deaths of countless civilians who are summarily dismissed as "collateral damage," he added.

“Australia, the US and other members of the ‘coalition of the willing’ always try to cover-up and shield the perpetrators of these reprehensible war crimes, until their cover is blow by a whistle-blower, who like Chelsea Manning than faces the consequences of prosecution and imprisonment. But, what has been exposed is certainly just the tip of the iceberg. The blood of thousands of innocent victims has been spilled by the illegal wars waged by the US and its allies. Given their ongoing, unrepentant behavior it is the height of absurdity to portray them as paragons of virtue, whose only wish is to bestow the blessings of freedom and democracy on their victims,” he explained.

“It was said in Vietnam that, ‘we had to destroy the village in order to save it.’ For the US, Australia and their ilk, they have to ‘kill their victims in order to save them,’ and they have to ‘destroy a nation in order to save it.’ The true blood-thirsty nature of Western colonialism and imperialism is exposed for all to see,” he concluded.

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