Now that Denmark has again become a warring nation, it should come as no surprise to anyone that war is brutal and dirty. You’re trapped – even when your allies are the ones who contravene conventions.

Somewhat more surprising is the fact that the Liberal-Conservative government was able to convince large sections of society that the harsh realities and dilemmas of war did not apply to Denmark’s contribution. The most recent disclosures of the widespread torture of prisoners in Iraq show that the notion of a ‘clean war’ was an illusion.

The cunning practice of letting Iraqi or British soldiers arrest people – so Danes were not formally involved – bears witness to the fact that the harsh reality on the ground was clear throughout the chain of command.

Both the Liberal-Conservative government, and what were then the opposition parties, were fully conscious of the fact that that Denmark was taking part in wars in which not all of the rules were always followed.

The biggest scandal surrounding the issue of surreptitious prisoner torture is that politicians in Parliament have not been willing to own up to the consequences of their decisions and have tried to hide behind all sorts of legal pretences.

The former government has seemingly tried to keep the defence force’s knowledge about prisoner torture secret. But the opposition parties have also let us down by not insisting on transparency. Criticism of the wars was a taboo.

Fortunately, a new Commission of Inquiry is to investigate the entire obscured complex surrounding the illegal war in Iraq. The disclosures of recent days have only confirmed the necessity on the one hand of mapping what Danish authorities knew - and on the other what they told the public.

The important immediate issue for the Commission is not to apportion responsibility for possible illegal acts, but rather to shine a critical light on what actually happened. The Danish population has the right to know exactly what happens when their soldiers are sent to war in faraway countries.

Smokescreens about technology that protects civilians, and humane wars that comply with all conventions, should be dispersed so that the electorate is able to assess the bloody consequences of political decisions.

Situations can quite easily arise in the future in which Denmark should take part in a strike – although this should only ever be as a last resort. But such a move must be taken with our eyes open, with the full knowledge of the horrors of war.

Denmark must never again wage a war based on the same sort of naïve and mendacious reasoning used when the Liberal-Conservative government drew us into combat in 2003.

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