LONDON, 29 August 2005 — The war to oust Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein continues to haunt British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has consistently denied any link between the war and the rise of extremism among British Muslims.
Yesterday it emerged that London was warned more than a year ago before the July 7 suicide bombings that killed 56 people, that the war made Britain a target for extremists, who now regard Britain, along with the United States, as a “crusader state”.
The weekly Observer published a leaked letter from the Foreign Office’s permanent secretary Michael Jay to Cabinet secretary Andrew Turnbull, who provides administrative support to Blair, dated May 18, 2004.
The letter said British foreign policy was a “recurring theme” in Britain’s Muslim community, “especially in the context of the Middle East peace process and Iraq.
“British foreign policy and the perception of its negative effect on Muslims globally plays a significant role in creating a feeling of anger and impotence among especially the younger generation of British Muslims.
“This seems to be a key driver behind recruitment by extremist organizations.”
Both No 10. Downing Street and the Foreign Office in London yesterday refused comment saying that they never discuss leaked documents.
The letter together with an attached Foreign Office strategy document exposes divisions over British foreign policy relating to Muslim countries between Downing Street and the Foreign Office.
The document stresses that Muslim resentment towards the West is worse than ever.
This resentment was previously vented towards the US, but Tony Blair’s staunch support for President Bush’s policy in the so-called war against terrorism and especially the invasion and occupation of Iraq has elevated London to the same level of approbrium as Washington in the eyes of extremists.
British foreign policy, added the document, has undermined the Foreign Office’s engagement with Islam outreach project, a concern which was expressed by the then Foreign Office Minister Mike O’Brien.
More controversially, all mention of the Iraq war connection with extremism was removed from “all core scripts” such as briefing papers given to ministers to defend the Blair government’s position on the Iraq war and on the war on terrorism.
In other words, the briefing papers were sanitized to remove any links between Iraq and terrorism.
The document highlights the “valuable contribution” Muslims have made and continue to make to British society. “We do not see the Muslim community as a threat,” concludes the document.
Both opposition parties, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats yesterday called on the government to come clean on the connections between the Iraq war and British foreign policy.
Shadow foreign secretary Liam Fox said the government’s handling of the problem had been “inept from start to finish”.
Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Menzies Campbell said: “It’s not simply a question of competing ideologies as the prime minister would argue.”
