Straw rejects UK terror report
The government has dismissed suggestions that its support for the US in the war to oust Saddam Hussein from power has increased the risk of terrorist attack at home.
Foreign secretary Jack Straw said he was “astonished” by the Chatham House report yesterday claiming the invasion of Iraq had boosted recruitment and the coffers of al-Qaida.
He said the war on terror had been sparked by the “premeditated unprovoked attack” on September 11th 2001 terror attacks on New York and Washington, and not vice versa.
“The time for excuses for terrorism is over. The terrorists have struck across the world, in countries allied with the US, backing the war in Iraq and in countries which had nothing whatever to do with the war in Iraq,” he said.
“They struck in Kenya, in Tanzania, in Indonesia, in the Yemen. They struck this weekend in Turkey, which was not supporting our action in Iraq. It is the terrorists who will seek any excuse whatsoever for their action.”
Defence secretary John Reid also dismissed the report, saying it had failed to proffer any alternatives.
“The terrorists want to kill anyone who stands in the way of their perverse ideology. So when this report says that we have made ourselves more of a target because of our involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq and our efforts to tackle al-Qaida, what alternative is it proposing?” he said.
“That we should stand back while others take on the terrorists? I do not think this is what the British public would want.”
The think tank said there was “no doubt” the presence of British troops in Afghanistan and Iraq had increased the risk of terror attack.
It claimed the Iraq war had given al-Qaida a propaganda boost, serving to increase recruitment and fundraising to create an “ideal” training ground for potential terrorists.
