LONDON — International conflicts, such as the situation in Iraq and the occupied Palestinian territories, breed feelings of injustice in the Muslim world which can boost support for terrorism, the British parliament's influential Foreign Affairs Committee said on Sunday, July 2.
"It (Iraq war) increases that sense that those terror groups have, that this is a war against Islam by the West," Fabian Hamilton, who sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee, was quoted as saying b y the BBC News Online.
"But that's the way they feel, that's the proposal they put forward and of course Iraq just makes that worse."
In its latest report into the so-called war on terror, the committee found that Iraq had provided a source of propaganda and a training ground for "terrorists", a view Blair has dismissed in the past.
It said the government should set out the circumstances under which it would withdraw UK troops from Iraq.
The report also asked the government to respond to issues such as the level of detentions by US-led forces.
Almost a year after four British Muslims killed 52 commuters in London bombings, many community leaders say Blair's decision to side with US President George W. Bush in Iraq has provided fertile ground for radicalism.
Blair argues militants use situations like Iraq as an excuse to commit atrocities.
Experts and politicians in Europe have said that the Iraq invasion-turned-occupation has fuelled home-grown terrorism.
The London-based Royal Institute of International Affairs has said that the war gave a momentum to Al-Qaeda's recruitment and fundraising and made Britain, the subject of an odious terrorist attack in July that killed 52 people, more vulnerable to terror attacks.
A would-be London bomber told investigators that he and three fellows were motivated by the Iraq war and not by religious fervor, denying any Al-Qaeda link.
Insufficient Propaganda
Despite a number of successes targeting the leadership and infrastructure of Al-Qaeda, the danger of global terrorism may well have increased, said cross-party committee said.
"Al Qaeda continues to pose an extremely serious and brutal threat to the United Kingdom."
The report also argued that too little effort was being put into communicating with the Arab and Islamic world to counter terrorist propaganda.
"Although the United Kingdom and its allies recognize this, and are working to resolve these conflicts, they are putting insufficient effort and funding into countering terrorist propaganda," it noted.
"Much greater effort needs to be made to communicate effectively with the Arab and Islamic world to bridge the gulf of mistrust that feeds into international terrorism," added the committee which heard evidence from politicians, academics and diplomats.
With anti-Americanism on the rise in the Muslim world, the Bush administration is drafting a strategy centered on recruiting "strategic influencers" in about a dozen high-priority countries to market America's values in their respective nations.
A recent global poll by the American Pew Research Center indicated that the presence of US forces in Iraq weigh heavily on the US image in the Muslim world as well as in Europe and Japan.
Another Pew survey also indicated a widening confidence gap between the west and the Muslim world with the two sides attributing negative traits to the other.
Afghanistan
The report said the government must clarify the role of British troops in Afghanistan.
The influential committee also highlighted a worrying deterioration in the security situation in Afghanistan and said there were signs that tactics which brought devastation to Iraq were being replicated there.
Afghanistan is experiencing an escalation of violence before NATO troops take over the volatile and lawless south from US forces.
The MPs said Blair should set out what his government is doing to prevent a further deterioration.
The government must clarify the role of British troops in Afghanistan to avoid a blurring of the UK's aims, noted the committee.
The report coincided with the killing of two British soldiers in an attack on their base in southern Afghanistan.
The soldiers were part of Operation Mountain Thrust, the biggest operation since the US-led forces toppled the ruling Taliban regime in 2001.
Fighters attacked the base in the Sangin district of Helmand province with small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire.
The base had been under attack for three nights.
The new fatalities bring to five the number of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan in the past three weeks and since a new British deployment began arriving around late April.
Britain has about 2,000 troops in Helmand, one of the most restive provinces in the country, out of a total of 3,300 troops stationed in the south.
Iran
The influential committee expressed concern about the Iranian involvement in Iraq, saying Tehran's position regarding the so-called war on terror had "been contradictory, and extremely unhelpful in a number of key areas".
However, the committee commended the cooperation between the UK, France and Germany in their negotiations with Iran.
"Military action would be likely to unleash a host of extremely serious consequences both in the Middle East and elsewhere, and would not be guaranteed to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons in the long term."
The report said the government should not undertake or support military action against Iran "until all other options have been exhausted or without broad agreement" among its international allies.
"Government should also make these points absolutely clear to the administration in Washington."
Top Iranian and European envoys will meet Wednesday to discuss "ambiguities" in a package of international incentives aimed at persuading Tehran to suspend its controversial nuclear program, Tehran announced Sunday.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana presented the incentives package to Iran when he visited the country on June 6.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said his country would take until mid-August to respond to the Western offer, prompting Bush to accuse Tehran of dragging its feet.
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