LONDON, July 18: British Prime Minister Tony Blair came under fresh pressure on Monday for supporting the Iraq war after a respected think-tank linked the invasion to Britain’s worst terror attack in which at least 55 people died. The comments — rejected by the government — came as interior minister Charles Clarke prepared to meet his opposition counterparts to discuss planned anti-terrorism laws, and as a global hunt for clues into who planned the July 7 bombings in London forged on.
The Royal Institute of International Affairs, known as Chatham House, concluded in a report that the war in Iraq gave a “boost” to Al Qaeda and made Britain especially vulnerable to attacks — a theory that clashed with Mr Blair’s belief that there is no link with the July 7 bombings.
“There is no doubt that the situation over Iraq has imposed particular difficulties for the UK, and for the wider coalition against terrorism,” said the London-based research centre in its study, “Riding Pillion for Tackling Terrorism is a High-risk Policy”.
“It gave a boost to the Al Qaeda network’s propaganda, recruitment and fundraising,” Chatham House said, arguing that it also provided an ideal training area for Al Qaeda-linked terrorists and deflected resources that could have gone to help bring terror mastermind Osama bin Laden to justice.
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, however, denied the allegation that London’s part in the US-led, March 2003 invasion of Iraq made it more vulnerable
“I’m astonished that Chatham House is now saying that we should not have stood shoulder to shoulder with our long-standing allies in the United States,” Mr Straw said on arrival at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
For his part, Mr Blair’s official spokesman stressed that Al Qaeda attacks long pre-dated the Iraq war.
“The question you have to pose is: what is this report suggesting we should have done? It is suggesting we should simply have put our heads down and hoped that we weren’t going to be attacked?” he asked reporters.
“The fact that 26 countries have had various types of terrorism the last 12 years, some of them Western countries, some of them not, suggests that that wasn’t actually going to work.”
Chatham House also heavily criticised the British government’s anti-terrorism strategy, accusing it of working shoulder-to-shoulder with the United States as a back seat passenger rather than an equal decision maker.
To this charge, Mr Blair’s spokesman said both London and Washington simply had the same priorities in the fight against terrorism.
“What it means is that we work with allies,” he added.
Hoping to prevent further attacks, the government was preparing to hurry through new laws to combat terrorism following the London bombings 11 days ago that left at least 55 people dead and some 700 injured.
Mr Clarke was scheduled to meet his opposition counterparts later in the day to discuss planned offences such as indirectly inciting terrorism, for example preachers who praise suicide bombers.
A statement on the meeting was expected to be issued afterwards.
Meanwhile, the massive police investigation into the blasts on three London Underground trains and a bus rumbled on one day after police released the first image yet seen of the four suspected bombers in a bid to jog the memory of potential witnesses.
Taken from a security camera at Luton station, north of London, the picture shows Hasib Hussain, 18, Shahzad Tanweer, 22, Mohammed Sidique Khan, 30 and Germaine Lindsay, 19, toting large rucksacks as they prepared to take a train to the capital on the morning of July 7.
Keen to forge a consensus on confronting Islamic extremism, Mr Blair will meet leaders of the 1.6 million strong Muslim community on Tuesday, his spokesman said.—AFP