Free Republic

Australia’s most decorated soldier Ben Roberts-Smith faces five war crimes murder charges, but a retired army Colonel and ADF legal expert claims prosecutors will struggle to secure a conviction.Prosecutors squaring up against the nation’s most decorated soldier will struggle to get a successful war crimes conviction regardless of the quality of the evidence, according to a retired colonel of the Australian Army Legal Corps.Bruce Levet, who served the Australian Army Legal Corps until 2022, told The Daily Telegraph he did not believe Victoria Cross recipient and former Special Air Service corporal Ben Roberts-Smith would be convicted of five counts of...

Former SAS soldiers warn the prolonged war crimes investigation into Ben Roberts-Smith threatens to create life or death hesitation for troops in combat situations.The father of an Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan has questioned why a dedicated team of investigators has spent six years building a case against Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith while his son’s killer remains free.It comes as former SAS soldiers warn the Office of the Special Investigator’s (OSI) prolonged investigation into alleged war crimes is causing mental health issues to military families and creating life or death issues for soldiers in combat.Hugh Poate’s son Robert was...

A secretive contingent of elite soldiers have been quietly deployed to the Middle East amid fears the conflict in the region could escalate.Exclusive: Australia has sent SAS troops to the Middle East to be on standby in case the Iran war escalates.A small contingent of around 90 Special Air Services members were sent to the region two weeks ago, sources have revealed.The elite soldiers were likely to have travelled to the Al Minhad Air Base in the United Arab Emirates, 15km south of Dubai.Defence Minister Richard Marles declined to comment on the Australian deployment when his office was sent questions...

Starlab — being built by Voyager Space and Airbus through a joint venture, alongside partners including Northrop Grumman and Hilton — is planned to launch on a single mission of SpaceX’s mammoth rocket. Starlab represents one of the earliest commercial customers to order a Starship launch from SpaceX. The companies did not disclose the launch contract’s value. The station is one of several currently in development by U.S. companies, as NASA prepares to retire the International Space Station in 2030. Voyager and Airbus are targeting as early as 2028 for Starlab’s launch. The space station’s four-year development and construction timeline...

FBI Director Kash Patel called out sports commentator Stephen A. Smith on Thursday after the pundit suggested the arrests in connection with the NBA sports betting scandal were revenge for perceived anti-President Trump activism. Speaking with Fox News’s Laura Ingraham, Patel called Smith’s claim “the single dumbest thing that I have ever heard out of anyone in modern history, and I lived most of my time in Washington D.C.” “It’s right up there with Adam Schiff,” Patel said, referring to the Democratic senator from California. “We arrest people for crimes.” After the news of the arrests broke, Smith in an...

This is a link to a 16 minute Sirius broadcast of SAS's show. I used to loath this guy and ignore him at every turn. The past few years I came to realize he's just like the rest - playing a role on the idiot box, like an actor. I think this is the real guy here, and I no longer have a problem with him.

Russia - Masque Of The Red Death Vladimir Putin has been hailed perhaps as the pivotal post cold war Russian leader. He has executed a skillful dog and pony show, convincing both the Bush and Blair administrations that the former Soviet Union was not only no longer a military threat to the West but was indeed now becoming a close ally. Obviously Russia's cooperation with the French and German UN delegation's intransigence in dealing with Iraq has done much to throw cold water on this heretofore-budding union. It's important to note that such a relationship offered hope, though ultimately unfounded,...

Donald Trump has once again made headlines, this time for hiring Christian Craighead, a former SAS soldier celebrated for his heroism during the 2019 Nairobi DusitD2 terror attack. Known as “Obi Wan Nairobi,” Craighead earned global recognition for his decisive actions that saved lives during the al-Shabaab assault. Trump, reportedly disillusioned with the Secret Service after the Butler attack, has opted to pay out-of-pocket for a private security team, with Craighead taking a central role. The Nairobi attack, which unfolded on January 15, 2019, was a coordinated assault by al-Shabaab militants on the DusitD2 hotel complex. The siege lasted over...

SAS soldiers are threatening to go ‘on strike’ if they are deployed to Ukraine unless they receive assurances they will not face future prosecution for using lethal force. The rebellion follows a coroner’s court ruling that the Special Forces were not justified in using lethal force against four IRA members in a 1992 ambush, and on the back of an ongoing public inquiry into allied extrajudicial killings in Afghanistan. Four Provisional IRA members were shot dead by British soldiers minutes after they had carried out a gun attack on Coalisland RUC station in February 1992, and on Thursday at Belfast...

Stephen A. Smith launched a furious and foul-mouthed attack on Jason Whitlock on Wednesday's edition of the Stephen A. Smith Show, branding his rival 'a devil' and even claiming he is worse than a 'white supremacist'. The X-rated tirade came after Whitlock penned a column claiming details in Smith's recently-released memoir did not 'add up'. On Wednesday afternoon, Smith teased a savage response, vowing: 'Today is the day I finally speak my mind about that no good fat b******.' The host of ESPN's 'First Take' then unloaded on his rival over 59 brutal minutes. 'I hate this b*****. Far more...

He was the last surviving founding member of the SAS and the last survivor of the Long Range Desert Group (LDRG), a reconnaissance unit based in the North African desert. Major Sadler joined the SAS in 1941 and became a navigator who used the skies to find his way across the Libyan desert. In December of that year, he was part of the first successful SAS raid on Wadi Tamet where his team destroyed 24 aircraft and a fuel dump. He fought with the SAS in Italy and France after his time in the desert. He was later parachuted into...

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Shares in Scandinavian Airlines dropped more than 90% on Wednesday after the ailing carrier announced new shareholders in a restructuring scheme that will see the company delisted and existing ownership stakes erased. The rescue deal involving airline alliance Air France-KLM and private equity firms Castlelake and Lind Invest, which became investors alongside the Danish state, was presented late Tuesday. The deal means that SAS will receive $475 million in new equity and $700 million in convertible debt. Scandinavian Airlines will be taken off the stock exchange in the second quarter of 2024 and no payment will...

SAS troops have trained local forces in Kyiv for the first time since the war with Russia began, Ukrainian commanders have told The Times. Officers from two battalions stationed in and around the capital said they had undergone military training from serving British special forces, one last week and the other the week before. Captain Yuriy Myronenko, whose battalion is stationed in Obolon on the northern outskirts of Kyiv, said that military trainers had come to instruct new and returning military recruits to use NLAWs, British-supplied anti-tank missiles that were delivered in February as the invasion was beginning.

It’s payback time. And like the famous “Devil’s Brigade” of Second World War fame, they know full well they may not survive the coming battles. According to British media reports, 40 of the bravest men in the world — elite Special Air Service elite troop — have asked to stay in the wartorn country to avenge the deaths of their fallen comrades. The 13 US Marines killed in a suicide bomb at Kabul airport in Afghanistan. One source told the Sunday Mirror: “The Marines who died were from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Force. “That unit has given assistance to the...

A diehard team of SAS fighters have volunteered to stay behind in Afghanistan to avenge the deaths of 13 US troops ­murdered at Kabul airport. Sources say up to 40 members of the Who Dares Wins regiment have asked to remain in the war-torn nation so they can take the fight to IS-K – the terrorist group behind Thursday’s suicide bombing and gun attack. The dramatic move came as the last UK civilian evacuation flight left the airport on Saturday – with 150 British passport holders still stranded in the city.... The SAS party is likely to establish a base...

A team of Special Air Service soldiers who were surrounded by Taliban hordes in Kandahar have been rescued in a dramatic desert operation.Around 20 elite SAS troops were left stranded in the province hundreds of miles from friendly forces when the militants took over.As enemy fighters closed in they sent an SOS request to Special Forces bosses back in Britain calling for immediate extraction.But they could not use Kandahar airfield – once home to 26,000 international troops at the height of the military campaign – because it had already been overrun by Taliban. So the SAS soldiers fought their way...

A team of Special Air Service soldiers who were surrounded by Taliban hordes in Kandahar have been rescued in a dramatic desert operation. Around 20 elite SAS troops were left stranded in the province hundreds of miles from friendly forces when the militants took over. As enemy fighters closed in they sent an SOS request to Special Forces bosses back in Britain calling for immediate extraction....

A team of Special Air Service soldiers who were surrounded by Taliban hordes in Kandahar have been rescued in a dramatic desert operation. Around 20 elite SAS troops were left stranded in the province hundreds of miles from friendly forces when the militants took over. As enemy fighters closed in they sent an SOS request to Special Forces bosses back in Britain calling for immediate extraction. But they could not use Kandahar airfield – once home to 26,000 international troops at the height of the military campaign – because it had already been overrun by Taliban. So the SAS soldiers...

President Donald Trump extended his gratitude to a British Special Air Service hero who helped save Americans during a jihadi attack on a Kenyan hotel in 2019, the soldier has revealed. The soldier, who uses the pseudonym 'Christian Craighead', shared a photo of his meeting with Trump at the White House on Instagram on Monday. 'Last year I had the privilege of meeting the 45th President of the United States Donald J. Trump,' he wrote in the caption.

An SAS officer armed with a shotgun has killed five jihadis during a dawn raid, it has been reported. The intense fire fight was over in just seven seconds, and quickly led to the militant group's surrender of the stronghold. The covert operation took place on an Islamic State outpost in Baghdad, Iraq. Several other terrorists emerged from the building but immediately surrendered and began panicking as two of the bodies didn’t have heads – they thought they were about to be executed.'