Home > Cook: War in Iraq boosted terrorism
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Former foreign secretary Robin Cook has said the invasion of Iraq had "undoubtedly" boosted terrorism around the world.
Mr Cook, who quit the Cabinet over his opposition to the war, said that unless the Government addressed the issue it would struggle to win over young Muslims in Britain.
He stressed that he was not arguing that the attacks on London would not have occurred if Britain had not joined the invasion.
However he said intelligence agencies had warned Tony Blair on the eve of conflict that military action would increase the terrorist threat to Britain.
"The problem is that we have handed al Qaida an immense propaganda gift, one that they exploit ruthlessly," he told the BBC News 24 Sunday programme.
"There have been more suicide bombings in the two years since we invaded Iraq than in the 20 years before it. Yes, it has happened around the world. I don’t think you can make a simple link between any one event and Iraq, but undoubtedly it has boosted terrorism.
"This is a very complex phenomenon and I am certainly not saying that you can say that the events of the last few weeks would not have happened if there had not been a war in Iraq. What you can say is that the problem of terrorism has got a lot worse."
He said that the Prime Minister now needed to take steps to reduce the causes of tension within the Muslim community and he called on him to set a timetable for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq.
"The Muslim leaders who, quite rightly, are being asked to confront fundamentalism and fanaticism in their own community are also entitled to say to Tony Blair ’You have got to help us by removing the issues that contribute to the tension’, because if there is one issue that makes it difficult for young Muslims to support this Government it is Iraq," he said.