Most Muslims believe Iraq war inspired London terror attacks
A majority of Muslims in Britain believe the reaction to the US-led war in Iraq helped inspire the July 7th terrorist bombings in London, according to a new poll.
Nearly six out of ten (58 per cent) British Muslims concurred with the view that Tony Blair’s decision to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with US president George Bush in the 2003 Iraq war influenced the attacks “a lot”, the ICM poll found.
Two out of ten (21 per cent) said the invasion influenced events “a little” and only one in ten said they thought the war had zero influence on the attacks.
One in five Muslims said they or a family member had faced Islamophobia since the attacks.
The overwhelming majority of Muslims (81 per cent) said further attacks by suicide bombers were politically and morally indefensible.
The poll also found that many Muslims considered leaving Britain in the wake of the London bombings. Some 63 per cent of interviewees said they asked themselves whether it was safe to stay in the UK.
ICM surveyed 500 Muslims by telephone between July 15th and 19th. The poll echoes the one by YouGov for the Daily Mirror and GMTV on Monday that found 85 per cent of voters believed that the Iraq war was partly to blame for the recent London bombings.
The poll found 23 per cent of respondents believed the invasion of Iraq was the main reason for the attacks.
