The hero-soldier brand is undeniably potent. The increased presence of soldiers at sports events - be it at Premier League games or the Olympics - is a shrewd move by the PR-savvy Ministry of Defence. The idea of a wholesome, dutiful hero is very appealing and is very much a feature of British identity, intertwined as it is with our military history and our imperial present.

Like smoke drifting across no man's land as the sound of the guns and the mortar finally fell quiet, the Christmas truce of 1914 has been shrouded by the mists of time. A historical event which occurred early in the First World War and one many of us are familiar with; yet it has the feel and texture of legend as much as fact.

Concerted efforts over the last year by Kurdish and British campaigners have scored a major result. The British Parliament will discuss the genocide against the Iraqi Kurds in a special and historic debate from about 2.15-5pm on Thursday 28 February.

It isn't the size of our demonstration that those of us against the war should be proud of, it is our judgement. Our arguments and predictions turned out to be correct and those of our belligerent opponents were discredited. Every argument advanced by the hawks proved to be utterly false.

The thing that struck many of us most at the time, and still does ten years on, is how this historic global antiwar movement rubbished completely the lie that humanity is divided along national, ethnic, religious, gender, or any other line.

Ten years into the war in Iraq, the conflict is as controversial as ever. HuffPost UK political director Mehdi Hasan and HuffPost senior political eco...

There is mounting concern that Iraq is once again descending into chaos and potential civil war, barely one year after the last American troops left the country. In recent weeks hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have taken to the streets in protests in six of the main Iraqi provinces, including Baghdad itself.

Here's the edited highlights of The Huffington Post UK's Iraq war debate. var src_url="https://spshared.5min.com/Scripts/PlayerSeed.js?playList=51...

Ten years on from the historic and record-breaking demonstrations against the Iraq war, the Huffington Post UK is asking "Was It Worth It?" at a publi...

The shock and awe that the US and UK subjected Iraqis to was not just the bombardment and destruction of their infrastructure but the abuses and torture. The occupiers paved the way for their continuity. HRW 2012 report noted that the human rights of Iraqis "are violated with impunity".

Academics, journalists and policy makers may continue to debate the war but it is ultimately a question for Iraqis to answer and time and again surveys show the vast majority happy to be rid of that regime. What's more we have moved on as despite the difficult years, we are now in a position to confront our challenges and decide our own future.

The current campaign to win formal recognition of the Kurdish genocide is nearing its finale in Britain. Last week, leading supporters of the all-party group on Kurdistan urged a business committee, which allocates time, to endorse an historic parliamentary debate on the Kurdish genocide and its contemporary relevance.

We are not only marking the tenth anniversary of the fall of Saddam but the 50th anniversary of the beginnings in 1963 of a campaign of demonisation of the Kurds that proceeded to full-blown genocide, most notably at Halabja where 5,000 people were killed and many more hideously injured by Saddam's Weapons of Mass Destruction.

The untold story of the Kurdish genocide was the subject last week of a major international conference organised, just a stone's throw from Parliament, by the Kurdistan Regional Government in the UK.

Diverse issues like instability in the Middle East, the financial crisis and climate change, all bear the footprint of the US. It is therefore incontrovertible that if we, here in the UK, wish to genuinely affect such issues, it is in our vital strategic interest to cement the 'special relationship.'

In the politics of the battle for the votes of the British Muslim communities it is Ed Miliband who has seized the initiative and has taken the first step in what will be a long and fruitful relationship with Britain's Muslims.