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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Kevin Rawlinson

‘It never goes away’: three Britons on how the Iraq war changed their lives

Rose Gentle, the bereaved mother of Fusilier Gordon Gentle, who was killed while serving with the 1st Battalion Royal Highland Fusiliers in Basrah on 28 June 2004.
Rose Gentle, the bereaved mother of Fusilier Gordon Gentle, who was killed while serving with the 1st Battalion, Royal Highland Fusiliers in Basrah on 28 June 2004. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

The Iraq war left a profound mark on the UK. It forced the country to face up to its role, having initially helped rid Iraq of a brutal dictator, in the years of deadly chaos that followed. At home, meanwhile, it acted as the catalyst for one of the most popular domestic antiwar movements the country has seen.

The conflict also left many people in the UK asking: could they ever really trust their political leaders at a time of national crisis again? And could it ever be right to send young men and women to war without having first exhausted all peaceful means – and without a clear idea of what they were even meant to achieve once they got there?

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