Rogue Forces

Winner ofthe 2022 Prime Ministers Literary Award for Non-fiction. Shortlisted for NSW Premiers Literary AwardsDouglas Stewart Prize for Non-fiction. Longlisted for theAustralian Political Book of the Year Award.Rogue Forcesis the explosive first insiders' story of how some of Australia's revered SAS soldiers crossed the line in Afghanistan, descending from elite warriors to unlawful killers. Mark Willacy, who won a Gold Walkley for exposing SAS war crimes, has penetrated the SAS code of silence to reveal one of the darkest chapters in our country's military history. Willacy's devastating award-winningFour Cornersprogram, ';Killing Fields' captured on film for the first time a war crime perpetrated by an Australian: the killing of a terrified, unarmed Afghan man in a field by an SAS soldier. It caused shockwaves around the world and resulted in an Australian Federal Police war crimes investigation. It also sparked a new line of investigation by the Brereton inquiry, the independent Australian Defence Force inquiry into war crimes in Afghanistan. It was a game changer. But for Willacy, it was just the beginning of a much bigger story. More SAS soldiers came forward with undeniable evidence and eyewitness testimony of other unlawful killings, and exposed a culture of brutality and impunity. Rogue Forcestakes you out on the patrols where the killings happened. The result is a gripping character-driven story that embeds you on the front line in the thick of the action as those soldiers share for the first time what they witnessed. Willacy also confronts those accused about their sides of the story. At its heart,Rogue Forcesis a story about the true heroes who had the courage to come forward and expose the truth. This is their story. A story that had to be told. [T]his brilliant and courageous book should be required reading for anyone seeking to paint our most recent military adventure as morally unambiguous. As Willacy shows, the ';moral injury' sustained by many veterans was often a case of friendly fire.'The Australian