本·罗伯茨-史密斯（Ben Roberts-Smith）通过售卖服装开展活动，以应对针对他的战争罪指控。此举获得了美国一名著名退伍军人的支持，此人有着惊人相似的经历：埃迪·加拉格尔（Eddie Gallagher），曾是一名美国海军海豹突击队员，在全球反恐战争中被指控杀害一名战俘但最终无罪释放。加拉格尔本周在Instagram上发布了一段视频，身穿罗伯茨-史密斯网站出售的品牌连帽衫，对这位澳大利亚同行表示支持。
Ben Roberts-Smith’s clothing-driven campaign against his war crimes charges has secured the support of a famous American veteran with a remarkably similar story: Eddie Gallagher, a former Navy SEAL charged and acquitted of killing a prisoner in the global war against terror. Wearing a branded hoodie sold by Mr Roberts-Smith’s website, Gallagher endorsed his Australian counterpart in a video posted on Instagram this week.
这一信息表明，维多利亚十字勋章获得者面临的这起案件正受到世界各地西方特种部队退伍军人的密切关注。
The message is a sign that the case against the Victoria Cross awardee is being followed by Western special forces veterans across the world.
加拉格尔先生表示：“他的新创企业Epic One Two展现出了反抗政府并夺回本应属于自己的东西、应得的正义所需的韧性、毅力和勇气。”“让我们向澳大利亚政府施压，让他们做正确的事。”加拉格尔是伊拉克和阿富汗冲突中被指控犯有战争罪的少数美国精锐士兵中最著名的一位。2017年在伊拉克摩苏尔，他被判处杀害一名被俘受伤的“伊斯兰国”武装人员罪名不成立，但在尸体旁摆姿势拍不当照片的罪名成立。
“His new venture Epic One Two represents the resilience, perseverance and grit that it takes to fight back against the government and get what he is owed; the justice he deserves,” Mr Gallagher says. “Let’s put the pressure on the Australian government to do the right thing.”Mr Gallagher is the most prominent of a small number of elite American soldiers to be charged with war crimes from the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was found not guilty of stabbing a captured, injured ISIS fighter to death in Mosul, Iraq, in 2017, but convicted of posing for inappropriate photos with the corpse.
美国总统唐纳德·特朗普曾出面干预，阻止海军对加拉格尔降级的企图，称他是“终极斗士”和“硬汉”。军事法庭审判结束后，这名高级士官退役并成立了一个基金会，为在工作中被指控犯有刑事行为的军警人员提供法律诉讼费用资助。法律差异尽管被指控罪名相似，但两人的法律经历截然不同。由于美国不承认国际刑事法院的管辖权，加拉格尔于2019年在海军受审，距离被指控的杀戮事件已过去两年。
US President Donald Trump intervened to protect Mr Gallagher against attempts by the Navy to demote him, calling him “one of the ultimate fighters” and a “tough guy”. After his court-martial, the senior non-commissioned officer retired and founded a foundation to fund the legal costs of military personnel and police officers accused of committing criminal actions in the course of their work. Legal differences While charged with similar crimes, the two men’s legal experiences are very different. Because the US did not agree to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, Gallagher was tried by the Navy in 2019, two years after the alleged killing.
而澳大利亚的案件则根据霍华德联盟党政府同意的国际刑事法院的要求，通过民事法院进行审理。
The Australian case is being pursued through civilian courts in line with the requirements of the ICC agreed to by the Howard Coalition Government.
罗伯茨-史密斯上周在接受采访时表示，他可能需要七年的时间才能面对民事陪审团，这将是他被指控谋杀或指使他人谋杀的五名战俘中第一人死亡的24年之后。
Mr Roberts-Smith said in an interview last week it could take seven years for him to face a civilian jury, which would be 24 years after the death of the first of the five prisoners he is accused of murdering or ordering others to murder.
加拉格尔没有立即回复电子邮件，该邮件询问他是如何参与罗伯茨-史密斯的活动的。该活动通过印有其一个呼号Epic One Two的品牌的服装，来宣传这位特种空勤团（SAS）退伍军人的服役经历。在阿富汗，特种空勤团主要与美国陆军三角洲部队合作执行任务。但在2010年蒂扎克战役（Battle of Tizak）期间，一名美国海军第五海豹突击队队员被借调到罗伯茨-史密斯的中队。该战役为该团赢得了除了维多利亚十字勋章和多枚英勇勋章之外的第一枚战役荣誉。
Gallagher did not immediately respond to an email asking how he become involved in Mr Roberts-Smith’s campaign, which promotes the Special Air Service veteran’s military service through clothing branded with one of his call signs, Epic One Two. In Afghanistan, the SAS mainly co-operated on missions with the US Army’s Delta Force. But a member of US SEAL Team Five was seconded to Mr Roberts-Smith’s squadron in 2010 when it fought the Battle of Tizak, which was recognised with the regiment’s first battle honours in addition to the Victoria Cross and several other bravery decorations.
战役的一些参与者认为，这名海豹突击队员在自己也遭到火力攻击的情况下，指挥西方战机对至少是其三倍规模的塔利班武装发动了十几次袭击，从而帮助他们拯救了生命。长篇访谈罗伯茨-史密斯在其与商品系列推出同期的第三次长篇访谈中描述了这场战役。这场定于周四播出的长达五个半小时的讨论，是由“零极限”（Zero Limits）播客创始人马修·莫里斯（Matthew Morris）进行的，这将是罗伯茨-史密斯自2021年在他对九号台娱乐集团（Nine）提起、最终以失败告终的名誉诉讼中担任11天证人以来，对他战时经历作出的最长时间的解释。
Some participants in the battle credit the SEAL with helping save their lives by directing more than a dozen attacks by Western aircraft, while under fire himself, against a Taliban force at least three times as large. Extended interview Mr Roberts-Smith describes the battle in his third extended interview to coincide with the launch of his merchandise line. Scheduled for Thursday, the five-and-a-half-hour discussion with Zero Limits podcast founder Matthew Morris will be the longest explanation Mr Roberts-Smith has given about his war-time experiences since the 11 days he spent as a witness in his unsuccessful defamation lawsuit against the Nine media group in 2021.
在这段发布到网上的播客短片中，这位前下士回忆了蒂扎克战役中的一个关键时刻，当时他担心自己团队的一名队友Epic One会被枪击身亡。罗伯茨-史密斯在描述队友趴在地上以躲避三挺敌方机枪射击时，情绪激动得说不出话来。
In a short clip of the podcast posted online, the former corporal recounts a pivotal moment in the Battle of Tizak when he feared a fellow member of his team, Epic One, was about to be shot dead. Mr Roberts-Smith becomes too emotional to speak as he describes his teammate lying on the ground to avoid being shot by three enemy machine guns.
他说：“他把脸紧紧贴在泥土里，因为他动弹不得。”“我经常说：枪战中没有任何特种部队可言。”罗伯茨-史密斯说，他向机枪手投掷了一枚手榴弹。他说：“它落在了应该落的地方。”“什么都没发生。”
“He was pushing his face into the dirt because he couldn’t move,” he says. “I say it all the time: there is nothing special forces about a gun fight.”Mr Roberts-Smith says he threw a grenade at the machine gunners. “It lands right where it is supposed to land,” he says. “Nothing happened.”
手榴弹未能爆炸，这成了特种空勤团少数士兵发起运动、要求撤销罗伯茨-史密斯维多利亚十字勋章的一部分。其中包括蒂扎克战役中的一名中士，其化名为肯尼斯·巴伯（Kenneth Barber）。他在2015年告诉一名记者，罗伯茨-史密斯未能拉响手榴弹保险并“将其送给了敌人”，随后他才冲向阵地并击毙了三名机枪手中的两人。
The failure of the grenade to explode became part of a campaign by a small group of SAS soldiers to have Mr Roberts-Smith’s Victoria Cross revoked. Among them was a sergeant at the Battle of Tizak, who has been identified by the pseudonym Kenneth Barber. He told a journalist in 2015 that Mr Roberts-Smith failed to arm the grenade and “gave it to the enemy” before he stormed the position and killed two of the three machine gunners.
其他士兵给出的一种解释是，特种空勤团使用的是一种由插销和安全夹激活的美制手榴弹，罗伯茨-史密斯可能在激烈的战斗中忘记将其取下。
One explanation offered by other soldiers was that the SAS used a US-made grenade activated by a pin and safety clip, which Mr Roberts-Smith may have forgotten to remove in the heat of battle.
罗伯茨-史密斯从未承认自己没有正确激活手榴弹，他在播客中依然坚持这一立场。
Mr Roberts-Smith has never conceded he did not activate the grenade properly, a position he maintains in the podcast.
“拔掉插销，拨开保险卡扣，扔出手榴弹，”他这样描述当时发生的事情。
“Pull the pin, flick the bail, throw the grenade,” is how he describes what happened.