Put up or shut up, says Stephenson
Book’s co-author calls on Defence chief to release camera footage of contentious SAS raids in Afghanistan
Journalist Jon Stephenson has called on the Defence Force chief to “put up or shut up” and release camera footage taken during SAS raids in Afghanistan. Lieutenant General Tim Keating fronted media on Monday after returning from Iraq and almost a week after Stephenson and Nicky Hager released Hit & Run, alleging SAS raids in Baghlan province in 2010 killed six civilians and not insurgents as officials have claimed.
A key part of Keating’s rebuttal of the book is that New Zealand personnel have never been to the two villages named in the book, Naik and Khak Khuday Dad.
Keating said he had seen georeferenced footage of the raid — called Operation Burnham — that proved both what was fired upon by supporting United States helicopters, and exactly where the raids occurred — not Naik and Khak Khuday Dad, which were about 2km away and in very different terrain.
While Labour, the Green Party, NZ First and United Future have all called for an inquiry, Keating said a starting point for any investigation was to “tie the alleged perpetrators to the scene of the crime”.
Stephenson urged Keating to release the footage. “Show the whole thing. There is no reason why it can’t be shown. It is many years since the operation. No one is in Afghanistan any more doing these operations.
“There is no operational security requirement. The SAS is facing serious allegations. Put up or shut up.”
He said details Keating covered tallied with those in his book. The name Operation Burnham had not been public before being used in Hit & Run, he said, and was confirmed by the NZDF on Monday.
Hit & Run described the SAS raiding the property of an insurgent called Abdullah Kalta in Naik village, and an SAS member being hurt when a wall of his guest house collapsed.
Stephenson said that was similar to the Defence Force’s account on Monday, when Keating confirmed an SAS soldier was hurt by falling debris.
“There was only one SAS trooper that was injured that night . . . only one that was flown out for medical treatment to Germany, and only one that my sources helped carry to the helicopter,” Stephenson said.
Because Naik and Khak Khuday Dad are in Taliban-controlled territory Stephenson said he interviewed villagers in a guest house between Kabul and their homes, and in Kabul.
Images were from cellphone or stills from cellphone footage, and Stephenson also provided a camera to one of the villagers’ representatives and asked for certain photos, such as a wide-angle shot of Naik.
He had gone back to village contacts after the NZDF said personnel had never been in the villages.
“I have spoken to the doctor who went to their village . . . and gone through in depth with him [the response] and he has just laughed at some of the allegations.
“Everyone knows everyone in this area . . . they all live close to a river or stream that runs down the valley . . . it is like a big gossip mill. They categorically state there was no other operation in that area that night.
“Either Tim Keating’s people are geographically confused or Nicky and I are, in terms of the actual points on the maps . . . there is no doubt the operations are the same.”
Since the raid the Defence Force has said claims civilians died in the raids were investigated and judged to be “unfounded” — a position repeated after Hit & Run’s release a week ago.
But Keating said on Monday that there “may have been” casualties.
Prime Minister Bill English said yesterday he would need to take advice about declassifying the raid footage cited by Keating.