That's why the Australian Greens have moved again for the creation of a comprehensive, independent inquiry modelled on Sir John Chilcot's 2016 Iraq War Review in Britain. How were the decisions taken in the lead-up to the Iraq war? How was the war prosecuted? And most importantly, what does that tell us about how to avoid similar mistakes in future?

The hostile response to those calls just goes to show how entrenched the bipartisan culture of silence around the military has become. There is now an unwritten rule within our parliament and elements of the media to wave through matters relating to defence, national security and defence spending. But with hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars going into defence expenditure, and new plans to expand defence exports to countries guilty of horrendous human rights abuses, silence is a recipe for disaster.

Speaking out inevitably invites charges about where one's loyalties lie, but a true patriot asks tough questions and holds powerful institutions to account even when it makes them unpopular. Far from disrespecting those who serve, we owe it those brave men and women who put their lives on the line. Lieutenant General David Morrison's inspiring words in the wake of Elizabeth Broderick's 2013 review into the Australian Defence Force's unhealthy treatment of women shows the importance of speaking out and holding powerful institutions to account.

After Iraq, Syria is now mired in turmoil of our own making. We must learn from that conflict too so as to do better when it comes to the next global flash point. Unfortunately, as Labor fears looking weak on matters of defence and national security, we now rely on the Greens, veterans such as Ben Wadham at Flinders University, and military experts such as our former national head of defence Paul Barratt to push hardest for accountability through an Iraq war inquiry.

An Australian Chilcot Report, with the full support of the Government and the Defence Force, would go a long way towards healing the wounds opened by the Iraq War and left to fester in the long public silence that has followed. Only by understanding the rationale behind John Howard's decision to take us to war will we avoid another disastrous foreign policy catastrophe, and there could not be a more important time than with a dangerous hawk currently occupying the White House.