Al-Qaeda-threat to UK 'brutal'
2006-07-02 19:12
London - Al-Qaeda may well pose an increasingly brutal threat to Britain and the worsening security situation in Iraq is providing Islamic extremists with a crucial training ground, British MPs warned on Sunday.
In their report into the "war on terror", the foreign affairs select committee concluded that it was becoming more difficult to tackle the threat of international terrorism.
The members of parliament also said that any military action against Iran would probably trigger "extremely serious consequences".
The gloomy report added that the security situation had deteriorated in Iraq and Afghanistan, in both of which Britain has troops deployed.
"Despite a number of successes targeting the leadership and infrastructure of al-Qaeda, the danger of international terrorism - whether from al-Qaeda or other related groups - has not diminished and may well have increased," the assessment said.
"Al-Qaeda continues to pose an extremely serious and brutal threat to the United Kingdom and its interests.
"The situation in Iraq has provided both a powerful source of propaganda for Islamist extremists and also a crucial training ground for international terrorists associated with al-Qaeda."
Progress towards resolving key international conflicts would go some way towards removing the widespread feelings of injustice in the Muslim world that feed into causes of and support for terrorism, the report said.
The committee recommended that the government set out the circumstances under which it would withdraw British forces from Iraq.
It also urged that wherever and whenever possible, detainees should be handed over to the Iraqi government for trial.
The MPs expressed their concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions. However, they issued a strong warning against military action, except as a last resort.
"Military action against Iran 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."
The committee warned that the British mission in Afghanistan was in danger of "blurring" its twin objectives of fighting insurgents and tackling drug barons.
It said that amid the deteriorating security situation there were "signs that the tactics that have brought such devastation to Iraq are being replicated there".
The MPs also said they acknowledged that there was a problem of what to do with some of the detainees at the US terror suspect detention camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
"The continuing existence of Guantanamo diminishes US moral authority and adds to the list of grievances against the United States.
"Detentions without either national or international authority work against British as well as US interests and hinder the effective pursuit of the 'war against terrorism'."