It's high time to question Australia's culture of military hero-worship | Paul Daley

Australia has prostrated itself for too long at the altar of Anzac mythology at the expense of other national foundation truths

As the wheels of justice begin a glacial grind along the dusty tracks of Australia’s alleged Special Air Service war criminals, it is time to stop, to look inwards as a nation, and to contemplate just how the hell it has come to this.

How did the so-called “best of the best” Australian troops, the “elite” revered the world over, come to be (allegedly) torturing defenceless prisoners, cutting the throats of children (alleged), and shooting handcuffed men and adolescents for battlefield initiation or “blooding” (also alleged)?

Related: Australia's war memorial provides worthless 'hot takes' of our Afghan war – a true history must now be written | Paul Daley

What has just happened is a potential watershed. A crossroads. A chance to alter direction

Related: We must act as quickly as possible to set the moral compass of our defence force right | Chris Barrie

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