By Toby Helm
The Telegraph, UK, 03 July 2006
The war on terrorism is likely to have increased the chances of another "brutal" attack on Britain, a committee of MPs says today ahead of this week's first anniversary of the London bombings.
In a bleak assessment, the foreign affairs select committee says al-Qa'eda, rather than being subdued, has changed its modus operandi and is using Iraq as a propaganda tool and training ground for its global operations.
The committee also cites growing evidence that terrorist tactics used in Iraq, such as attacking allied troops with vehicles packed with explosives, are being imitated by al-Qa'eda-linked groups in Afghanistan.
"Despite a number of successes targeting the leadership and infrastructure of al-Qa'eda, the danger of international terrorism, whether from al-Qa'eda or other related groups, has not diminished and may well have increased," it says.
"Al-Qa'eda continues to pose an extremely serious and brutal threat to the United Kingdom and its interests."
The MPs argue that since the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington in 2001, al-Qa'eda has fragmented into autonomous local cells united by the same extreme ideology, but far more difficult to track than when it was under more centralised leadership.
Despite this, lessons are being learned by terrorists in one theatre of war from their counterparts in another.
"We have seen methods copied from the terrorist campaign in Iraq being used in Afghanistan by Taliban and al-Qa'eda-linked groups and their Afghan warlord allies to attack," the report says.
The report will place more pressure on Tony Blair after the death at the weekend of two British soldiers in Afghanistan and a series of bombings in Baghdad killed 69 and injured more than 100.
Its assessment of deteriorating conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan - and the effects the conflicts are having on fuelling Islamic extremism - comes before Friday's first anniversary of the London attacks in which 52 innocent people and four suicide bombers died.
Downing Street said yesterday that Mr Blair was likely to play a low-profile role in commemorative events for the 52 victims, which will include a two-minute silence.
The Foreign Office said the terrorist threat pre-dated September 11 and the war on terrorism. But it promised to answer all the main points raised by the committee in a response to Parliament.
The report argues that Britain and its allies are falling behind in the propaganda war with Islamic extremists. "Much greater effort needs to be made to communicate effectively with the Arab and Islamic world in order to bridge the gulf of mistrust that feeds into international terrorism," it says.
Fabian Hamilton MP, a Labour member of the committee, said the link between events in Iraq and the heightened threat was clear.
"It increases that sense that those terror groups have, that this is a war against Islam by the West, something not shared by pretty well every member of the Islamic faith in Great Britain and most of Europe.
"But that's the way they feel, that's the proposal they put forward and of course Iraq just makes that worse."
The MPs' report says the security situation in British-controlled Basra was "deeply worrying" and in part blamed the tactics of coalition forces.
"Relying on Shia and Kurdish communities to build up the Iraqi security forces has contributed to the development of sectarian forces … This is regretable in the volatile security and political environment in Iraq."
Afghanistan, it says, is now in danger of going the same way as Iraq.
"There has been a worrying deterioration in the security situation in Afghanistan," the report adds.
"There are signs that the tactics that have brought such devastation to Iraq are being replicated in Afghanistan."
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Citation: Toby Helm. "Risk from al-Qa'eda is greater than ever, warn MPs," The Telegraph, UK, 03 July 2006.
Original URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=FCQLXCS0CWCPTQFIQMFSFFWAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2006/07/03/nterr03.xml
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