OPINION
Why we can’t wrap our heads around Ben Roberts-Smith case
It’s strange to watch a country try to make sense of a war, long after the war itself has faded from daily life.
The arrest of decorated soldier Ben Roberts-Smith has done exactly that, revisiting allegations that are more than a decade old in an attempt to find an answer to something that was never clear to begin with.
Mr Roberts-Smith has been charged with multiple counts of war crime murder relating to incidents in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012, allegations that go to the heart of his conduct as an SAS soldier during the war.
He denies the allegations, and the case will now be decided in criminal court, where the burden of proof must be beyond reasonable doubt. But like many people I speak to, I just can’t get my head around a lot of things about this case.