Never forget those who died, but also remember the lies of those who took us into these wars and continue to justify them
Lindsey German
The area around Whitehall and Westminster in central London is full of statues and memorials to – sometimes forgotten – wars and the generals and politicians who fought them. It is unusual however to have a memorial to wars which are continuing and which are highly contested.
Yet the latest war memorial in London – to commemorate the Iraq and Afghanistan wars – is exactly that. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it has been unveiled against a background of rows and controversy. The unveiling of the new memorial took place at a ceremony where, astonishingly, many of the relatives of those who died were not invited – some did not even know it was going on.
The project was launched by a financial appeal through Rupert Murdoch’s Sun on Sunday, and among those contributing to the cost were the arms company BAE Systems.
