It has been twenty years since Australia joined the coalition of the willing and the US President, George W Bush, launched Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The choice drew mass protests around Australia and, while the war itself was relatively brief, it was years before troops were permanently withdrawn.

Donna Mulhearn is a writer and activist, and in 2003 she traveled to Iraq as a human shield.

Mulhearn has written about her experiences in two books, and in the Drawing Room she looks back on her experience and on the lessons she feels still need to be learnt two decades later.