Famous US SEAL endorses Ben Roberts-Smith’s campaign against war crimes charges

Ben Roberts-Smith’s clothing-driven campaign against his war crimes charges has secured the support of a famous American veteran with a remarkably similar story: Eddie Gallagher, a former Navy SEAL charged and acquitted of killing a prisoner in the global war against terror.

Wearing a branded hoodie sold by Mr Roberts-Smith’s website, Gallagher endorsed his Australian counterpart in a video posted on Instagram this week. The message is a sign that the case against the Victoria Cross awardee is being followed by Western special forces veterans across the world.

“His new venture Epic One Two represents the resilience, perseverance and grit that it takes to fight back against the government and get what he is owed; the justice he deserves,” Mr Gallagher says. “Let’s put the pressure on the Australian government to do the right thing.”

Mr Gallagher is the most prominent of a small number of elite American soldiers to be charged with war crimes from the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was found not guilty of stabbing a captured, injured ISIS fighter to death in Mosul, Iraq, in 2017, but convicted of posing for inappropriate photos with the corpse.

US President Donald Trump intervened to protect Mr Gallagher against attempts by the Navy to demote him, calling him “one of the ultimate fighters” and a “tough guy”. After his court-martial, the senior non-commissioned officer retired and founded a foundation to fund the legal costs of military personnel and police officers accused of committing criminal actions in the course of their work.

Legal differences

While charged with similar crimes, the two men’s legal experiences are very different. Because the US did not agree to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, Gallagher was tried by the Navy in 2019, two years after the alleged killing.

The Australian case is being pursued through civilian courts in line with the requirements of the ICC agreed to by the Howard Coalition Government.

Mr Roberts-Smith said in an interview last week it could take seven years for him to face a civilian jury, which would be 24 years after the death of the first of the five prisoners he is accused of murdering or ordering others to murder.

Gallagher did not immediately respond to an email asking how he become involved in Mr Roberts-Smith’s campaign, which promotes the Special Air Service veteran’s military service through clothing branded with one of his call signs, Epic One Two.

In Afghanistan, the SAS mainly co-operated on missions with the US Army’s Delta Force. But a member of US SEAL Team Five was seconded to Mr Roberts-Smith’s squadron in 2010 when it fought the Battle of Tizak, which was recognised with the regiment’s first battle honours in addition to the Victoria Cross and several other bravery decorations.

Some participants in the battle credit the SEAL with helping save their lives by directing more than a dozen attacks by Western aircraft, while under fire himself, against a Taliban force at least three times as large.

Extended interview

Mr Roberts-Smith describes the battle in his third extended interview to coincide with the launch of his merchandise line.

Scheduled for Thursday, the five-and-a-half-hour discussion with Zero Limits podcast founder Matthew Morris will be the longest explanation Mr Roberts-Smith has given about his war-time experiences since the 11 days he spent as a witness in his unsuccessful defamation lawsuit against the Nine media group in 2021.

In a short clip of the podcast posted online, the former corporal recounts a pivotal moment in the Battle of Tizak when he feared a fellow member of his team, Epic One, was about to be shot dead.

Mr Roberts-Smith becomes too emotional to speak as he describes his teammate lying on the ground to avoid being shot by three enemy machine guns.

“He was pushing his face into the dirt because he couldn’t move,” he says. “I say it all the time: there is nothing special forces about a gun fight.”

Mr Roberts-Smith says he threw a grenade at the machine gunners. “It lands right where it is supposed to land,” he says. “Nothing happened.”

The failure of the grenade to explode became part of a campaign by a small group of SAS soldiers to have Mr Roberts-Smith’s Victoria Cross revoked.

Among them was a sergeant at the Battle of Tizak, who has been identified by the pseudonym Kenneth Barber. He told a journalist in 2015 that Mr Roberts-Smith failed to arm the grenade and “gave it to the enemy” before he stormed the position and killed two of the three machine gunners.

One explanation offered by other soldiers was that the SAS used a US-made grenade activated by a pin and safety clip, which Mr Roberts-Smith may have forgotten to remove in the heat of battle.

Mr Roberts-Smith has never conceded he did not activate the grenade properly, a position he maintains in the podcast. “Pull the pin, flick the bail, throw the grenade,” is how he describes what happened.