The Iraq War was probably the most divisive and tragic event of the last decade, causing me, and millions like me, to stand in steadfast opposition to any invasion or occupation.

Today might be a day to stand-up and humbly say that maybe we were wrong.

Today we see that a country that was never meant to get itself back on track has just held its second free election- with record numbers braving threats of violence to vote.

This was never meant to happen.

The country was meant to descend into sectarian chaos, become a second Vietnam, make the US reticent to use force, show us that neoconservatism doesn't work and prove that we can't impose our values on other ideologies.

Went to script for a while.

Saying that though, the question that can never be answered remains; were the deaths of hundreds of thousands worth this new security, safety and prosperity?

The Iraq enquiry started off as a bit of an interview.

“Were you too trusting of the material at the time?”

Well duh.

But was he meant to tell his intelligence, whose job it is to provide intelligence, you’re wrong?

But then the questions got marginally better.

Like hundreds of thosands of others, on February 15th 2003 I protested with my family against the oncoming Iraq War in Sydney's Hyde park.

I was fourteen, which meant a lot of my opposition to the war came from what I'd been taught as a kid- we are good, war is bad, war as a last resort.

At that point I knew nothing of international law.

I didn't know about the crime of aggression, I didn't know most of the provisos of the Geneva Convention, nor how the UN Security Council mandated military action.

After hearing from respected advisor to the Foreign Secretary Sir Michael Wood at the Iraq Inquiry, I'm starting to think, maybe the British government didn't know much more about the law than I did.

Tony Blair will face pressure at the Iraq inquiry a week on Friday to explain how he was able to claim that Saddam Hussein was building a "growing" programme of weapons of mass destruction six months before the invasion in 2003. by Nicholas Watt

Yet, in an article written by Gordon Brown on last week’s failed plane bombing there are already signs that the worst may yet be to come. Brown stated that:

“The new decade is starting as the last began- with al-Qaeda creating a climate of fear… [revealing] an evolving terrorist threat”

Now I’m still trying to work out the similarities between the highly co-ordinated 9/11 attacks and a guy with a bomb stuffed down his underpants, but there are similarities in Brown’s response- one of fear and over-reaction.

Yes, a terrorist attack was very nearly carried out which would have resulted in mass murder and untold sadness and devastation- but terrorist attacks are happening every day in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, and they’ve also been occurring for decades (if not centuries).

What we have to focus on is that the weakness of this attack must suggest that al-Qaeda hasn’t got the resources or expertise it once had.

And similarly, we must- if this decade is to become one of greater understanding and problem solving- learn that thinking as we have has only made us more unsafe, more amoral and more hated in the eye's of the world, and we must change.