Not long after the release of the report confirming that Australian special forces had murdered civilians in Afghanistan came some much appreciated good news: Mark Willacy and the ABC Four Corners Team had won Australian journalism's highest honour, the Gold Walkley, for their six-month long investigation titled 'Killing Field'.
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This took me straight to having a fresh look at the report.
In doing so, I am not in any way intending to dishonour the many servicemen and women who have honourably served their country in Afghanistan.
It was reported that commanders were told about possible war crimes being committed by Australian soldiers but dismissed the warnings as 'Taliban propaganda'.
This was reported by Karen Middleton in The Saturday Paper in a story headlined ''How 'prestige, status and power' led to Australia's war crimes".
As the Guardian Australia also reported, "Australian special forces soldiers incensed at war crimes inquiry clearing commanders of blame", the cover-up is worth examining.
As part of the inquiry, Professor David Whetham of King's College London found that complaints of substance were lodged by the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, and local Afghan elders, but were brushed off as "Taliban propaganda or motivated by a desire for compensation".
The Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force (IGADF) has recommended compensation be paid to the families of Afghan victims without waiting for criminal prosecutions.
"It is simply the right thing to do," it says.
To date, PM Scott Morrison has resisted this.
The IGADF inquiry's main report, written by Justice Paul Brereton, details an appalling litany of offences committed by some in Australia's name.
Brereton found credible evidence that 39 Afghan civilians and prisoners were murdered and two more were subject to cruel treatment.
His report recommended that 36 alleged war crimes be referred to the Australian Federal Police for investigation.
The chief of the Australian Defence Force, General Angus Campbell, has apologised to the people of Afghanistan.
The report describes a self-centred "warrior" culture in the special forces.
Professor Whetham's review examined why some military personnel committed "clear and unambiguous acts of murder", which were "apparently reported by no-one" and whether senior commanders could, and should, have known.
"It got to the point where the end justified the means."
Whetham cites two particular killings as having clearly been designed to take a kill tally from 18 to 20.
He quotes a witness to similar incidents as saying: "Guys just had this bloodlust. Psychos. Absolute psychos. And we bred them."
Retired Admiral Chris Barrie, a former ADF chief, says there may still be a case for a more formal, open inquiry.
"To go to some of the systemic issues that might have allowed this screwed-up culture, we might need a royal commission," Barrie says.
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has called for the special forces soldiers responsible for these war crimes, and anyone who tried to conceal them, to be "brought to justice".
Other former prime ministers during the period of the Afghanistan conflict, John Howard, Julia Gillard and Malcolm Turnbull, declined to comment.
It was of course John Howard who took us into Afghanistan and Iraq, at the request of US President George W Bush, who accurately but undiplomatically referred to him as "The patsy from Down Under".
Tony Abbott did not respond.
Labor's defence spokesman, Richard Marles, said his thoughts were with the victims and with the majority of ADF members who had provided distinguished service.
Australian Greens Peace and Disarmament spokesperson Senator Jordon Steele-John hit the nail on the head when he said, "For their role in these crimes, the perpetrators and their direct chain of command - the officers who sanctioned, and often ordered these unlawful killings - must be held to account.
"So too must the higher levels of command within the armed forces who served during the Afghanistan War who either failed to act when they should have, or turned a blind eye and allowed the sanitisation of reporting," he said.
Of course, all war is an atrocity. It is high time we moved away from violence, lethal and otherwise, as a means of solving problems.
We need to adopt a multilateral version of the Greens 'safe meeting practice'.
Radically trimming defence budgets would be a good start.
