Former MI5 chief decries 'war on terror'

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MI5 Thames House's Millbank entrance, Westminster, London.

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Lady Eliza Manningham-Buller, the former head of MI5, delivered a withering attack on the invasion of Iraq, decried the term "war on terror", and held out the prospect of talks with al-Qaida during a  BBC Reith lecture on the theme, Securing Freedom,

The ex MI5 chief made it clear she believed the UK and US governments had not sufficiently understood the resentment that had been building up among Arab people, which was only compounded by the war against Iraq.

Young Arabs, she said, had no opportunity to choose their own rulers. "For them an external enemy was a unifying way to address some of their frustrations."They were also united by the plight of Palestinians, a view that the west was exploiting their oil and supporting dictators. "It was wrong to say all terrorists belonged to al-Qaida."

Terrorist campaigns, Northern Ireland as an example, could not be solved militarily and the invasion of Iraq was a "distraction in the pursuit of al-Qaida". She added: "Saddam Hussein was a ruthless dictator but neither he nor his regime had anything to do with 9/11." The invasion, she said, "provided an arena for jihad", spurring on UK citizens to resort to terror.

guardian.co.uk