Britain’s involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan contributed to the terrorist attacks in London, a respected independent thinktank on foreign affairs, the Chatham House organisation, says today.
According to the body, which includes leading academics and former civil servants among its members, the key problem in the UK for preventing terrorism is that the country is “riding as a pillion passenger with the United States in the war against terror”.
It says Britain’s ability to carry out counter-terrorism measures has also been hampered because the US is always in the driving seat in deciding policy.
The Guardian report also quotes Azzam Tamimi of the Muslim Association of Britain as saying that the Muslim community would not suffer in silence for the crimes of the suicide bombers:
“We will continue to talk, we will continue to write and we will continue to challenge the government. I say to Muslims, do not bow to pressure to keep accepting those pointing fingers at you. Say, ‘No, I’m not responsible for what happened on July 7. My heart bleeds, I condemn it, yes, but I did not make those boys angry. I did not send those bombs to Iraq. I do not keep people locked in Guantánamo Bay and I do not have anything to do with Abu Ghraib, except to denounce it.’ Politicians, see what you have done to this world?