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Iraq war led to London bombings, says report

Mark Townsend

Government's "narrative" was compiled using intelligence from the police and security services

London: The first official recognition that the Iraq war motivated the four London suicide bombers has been made by the British Government in a major report into the 7 July attacks.

Despite attempts by Number 10, Downing Street, to play down suggestions that the conflict has made Britain a target for terrorists, the Home Office (Interior Ministry) inquiry into the deadliest terror attack on British soil has conceded that the bombers were inspired by U.K. foreign policy, principally the decision to invade Iraq.

The Government's "narrative", compiled by a senior civil servant using intelligence from the police and security services, was announced by Home Secretary Charles Clarke last December following calls for a public inquiry into the attacks.

Key factor

The narrative will be published in the next few weeks, possibly alongside the findings of a critical report into the London bombings by the House of Commons Intelligence and Security Committee.

Initial drafts of the Government's account into the bombings state that Iraq was a key "contributory factor". The references to Britain's involvement in Iraq are contained in a section examining what inspired the "radicalisation" of the four British suicide bombers, Sidique Khan, Hasib Hussain, Shehzad Tanweer and Germaine Lindsay.

The findings will prove highly embarrassing to Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has maintained that the decision to go to war against Iraq would make Britain safer. On the third anniversary of the conflict last month, the Prime Minister defended Britain's involvement in Iraq, arguing that only an interventionist stance could confront terrorism.

The narrative largely details the movements of the four bombers from the point when they picked up explosives to the time when the devices were detonated on the morning of July 7.

Motivating factors

Alongside Iraq, other motivating factors for the bombers, three of whom came from west Yorkshire and one from Buckinghamshire, are identified. These include economic deprivation, social exclusion and a disaffection with society in general, as well as community elders. A videotape of Mohammed Sidique Khan was released after the attacks, in which he makes an apparent reference to Iraq, accusing "Western citizens" of electing governments that committed crimes against humanity.

Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, also appeared on the tape, repeating his claim that Mr. Blair's decision to go to war in Iraq was responsible for the outrage. Letters to the Home Office from a law firm acting for the family of one victim warned that an independent inquiry was essential to explore what could be done to prevent such attacks.

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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