Australian decorated hero quits corporate job after Afghanistan war crime revelations

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s most decorated living war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith has quit his corporate job after a civil court blamed the national hero for unlawfully killing four Afghans and escalated calls for him to be stripped of his revered Victoria Cross medal. Roberts-Smith quit his job on Friday as state manager of Seven West Media after losing a defamation suit against newspapers that had accused him of an array of war crimes. Roberts-Smith has been fighting to salvage his reputation through a defamation suit in the federal court since Australian newspaper articles in 2018 accused him of an array of war crimes including culpability in six unlawful killings.