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07-20-2010, 05:37 PM
Ex-MI5 Chief: 'We Gave Bin Laden His Jihad'
Comments (37) (http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Politics/Iraq-Inquiry-Former-Head-Of-MI5-Baroness-Manningham-Buller-Says-Invasion-Increased-Terrorist-Threat/Article/201007315667833?lpos=Politics_First_Home_Article_T easer_Region_5&lid=ARTICLE_15667833_Iraq_Inqu#comments)
2:53pm UK, Tuesday July 20, 2010
Mark Stone, Sky News reporter
A former MI5 chief has told the Iraq Inquiry the invasion in 2003 "substantially increased" the terrorist threat to the UK and "gave Osama Bin Laden his Iraqi jihad".
Baroness Manningham-Buller said the UK's involvement in Iraq gave "fresh impetus" to "home-grown" terrorists who saw the attack on Saddam Hussein as an attack on Islam.
"Our involvement in Iraq radicalised, for want of a better word, a whole generation of young people - not a whole generation, a few among a generation - who saw our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan as being an attack on Islam," she said.
She repeatedly warned ministers of the increased threat and was forced to ask for the MI5 budget to be doubled as a consequence, she told the inquiry (http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/).
"We were overburdened with intelligence on a broad scale that was pretty well more than we could cope with in terms of plots, leads to plots and things that we needed to pursue," she said.
Pressed on what direct access she had been given to the then Prime Minister Tony Blair (http://indepth.news.sky.com/InDepth/topic/Tony_Blair), she revealed she had no one-to-one meetings with him on the subject.
"I believe the head of the SIS [MI6: the UK's foreign intelligence agency] saw him much more frequently than I did, for understandable reasons," she said.
Arguably we gave Osama bin Laden his Iraqi jihad so that he was able to move into Iraq in a way that he was not before.
Baroness Manningham-Buller
Previous witnesses have told the Inquiry that the 9/11 attacks prompted a steep change in American policy towards Iraq.
The threshold of what constituted a threat to their national security changed.
Containing Saddam's apparent weapons of mass destruction (WMD) was no longer an option for them.
Baroness Manningham-Buller visited Washington on a number of occasions after the Twin Tower attacks.
She told the Inquiry she detected a split in opinion within US government departments.
"There is no credible intelligence to suggest that connection . That was the judgment of the CIA. It was not a judgment that found favour in some parts of the American machine," she said.
"It is why [US defence secretary] Donald Rumsfeld started an alternative intelligence unit in the Pentagon to seek an alternative judgment."
Former MI5 Chief At Iraq Inquiry (http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=5a4a61312a)
She added she was asked to try to influence her US colleagues both prior to the invasion and following it.
Asked whether she had any success, she replied: "Not a hope."
Despite there being no link before the invasion between Saddam, al Qaeda and 9/11, Baroness Manningham-Buller claimed the toppling of the Iraqi leader allowed al Qaeda to establish a foothold in the country.
"Arguably we gave Osama bin Laden his Iraqi jihad so that he was able to move into Iraq in a way that he was not before," she said.
Concluding her evidence, she reflected that the Government's analysis of a possible increased terror threat to the UK turned out to be correct.
But she said the justification for the invasion in the first place - namely that Saddam had WMD and therefore posed a threat - was entirely wrong.
Baroness Manningham-Buller was Director General of MI5 from 2002 until her retirement in 2007.
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Ex-MI5 Chief: 'We Gave Bin Laden His Jihad'
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[/URL]Posted by: Bertent (http://blogs.news.sky.com/profile/Bertent) on July 20, 2010 5:20 PM
Of course it increased risk of attack, shes hardly going to say otherwise or it would highlight yet again how incompetent our spooks really are in failing to notice and prepare for threats.
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Posted by: [URL="http://blogs.news.sky.com/profile/Caratacus10AD"]Caratacus10AD (http://blogs.news.sky.com/profile/Caratacus10AD) on July 20, 2010 4:27 PM
cooldri: I suggest you believe a version of the truth that has been fashioned for those whom wish to hide reality of events... Islamic terror has been a scourge upon the world for many many years and dates back generations... The attack on the world trade centre was the second of two attacks (one in 93 and the other 01) both at the behest of one Saddam Hussein who's war against America raged from the end of Desert Storm to Huseins eventual capture and trial and hanging for his crimes against humanityl! Al Qaeda facilitated Husseins wishes to strike at America and Western interests... Do some genuine research cooldri!
Comments (37) (http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Politics/Iraq-Inquiry-Former-Head-Of-MI5-Baroness-Manningham-Buller-Says-Invasion-Increased-Terrorist-Threat/Article/201007315667833?lpos=Politics_First_Home_Article_T easer_Region_5&lid=ARTICLE_15667833_Iraq_Inqu#comments)
2:53pm UK, Tuesday July 20, 2010
Mark Stone, Sky News reporter
A former MI5 chief has told the Iraq Inquiry the invasion in 2003 "substantially increased" the terrorist threat to the UK and "gave Osama Bin Laden his Iraqi jihad".
Baroness Manningham-Buller said the UK's involvement in Iraq gave "fresh impetus" to "home-grown" terrorists who saw the attack on Saddam Hussein as an attack on Islam.
"Our involvement in Iraq radicalised, for want of a better word, a whole generation of young people - not a whole generation, a few among a generation - who saw our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan as being an attack on Islam," she said.
She repeatedly warned ministers of the increased threat and was forced to ask for the MI5 budget to be doubled as a consequence, she told the inquiry (http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/).
"We were overburdened with intelligence on a broad scale that was pretty well more than we could cope with in terms of plots, leads to plots and things that we needed to pursue," she said.
Pressed on what direct access she had been given to the then Prime Minister Tony Blair (http://indepth.news.sky.com/InDepth/topic/Tony_Blair), she revealed she had no one-to-one meetings with him on the subject.
"I believe the head of the SIS [MI6: the UK's foreign intelligence agency] saw him much more frequently than I did, for understandable reasons," she said.
Arguably we gave Osama bin Laden his Iraqi jihad so that he was able to move into Iraq in a way that he was not before.
Baroness Manningham-Buller
Previous witnesses have told the Inquiry that the 9/11 attacks prompted a steep change in American policy towards Iraq.
The threshold of what constituted a threat to their national security changed.
Containing Saddam's apparent weapons of mass destruction (WMD) was no longer an option for them.
Baroness Manningham-Buller visited Washington on a number of occasions after the Twin Tower attacks.
She told the Inquiry she detected a split in opinion within US government departments.
"There is no credible intelligence to suggest that connection . That was the judgment of the CIA. It was not a judgment that found favour in some parts of the American machine," she said.
"It is why [US defence secretary] Donald Rumsfeld started an alternative intelligence unit in the Pentagon to seek an alternative judgment."
Former MI5 Chief At Iraq Inquiry (http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=5a4a61312a)
She added she was asked to try to influence her US colleagues both prior to the invasion and following it.
Asked whether she had any success, she replied: "Not a hope."
Despite there being no link before the invasion between Saddam, al Qaeda and 9/11, Baroness Manningham-Buller claimed the toppling of the Iraqi leader allowed al Qaeda to establish a foothold in the country.
"Arguably we gave Osama bin Laden his Iraqi jihad so that he was able to move into Iraq in a way that he was not before," she said.
Concluding her evidence, she reflected that the Government's analysis of a possible increased terror threat to the UK turned out to be correct.
But she said the justification for the invasion in the first place - namely that Saddam had WMD and therefore posed a threat - was entirely wrong.
Baroness Manningham-Buller was Director General of MI5 from 2002 until her retirement in 2007.
Bookmark the story
Ex-MI5 Chief: 'We Gave Bin Laden His Jihad'
Video
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[/URL]Posted by: Bertent (http://blogs.news.sky.com/profile/Bertent) on July 20, 2010 5:20 PM
Of course it increased risk of attack, shes hardly going to say otherwise or it would highlight yet again how incompetent our spooks really are in failing to notice and prepare for threats.
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Posted by: [URL="http://blogs.news.sky.com/profile/Caratacus10AD"]Caratacus10AD (http://blogs.news.sky.com/profile/Caratacus10AD) on July 20, 2010 4:27 PM
cooldri: I suggest you believe a version of the truth that has been fashioned for those whom wish to hide reality of events... Islamic terror has been a scourge upon the world for many many years and dates back generations... The attack on the world trade centre was the second of two attacks (one in 93 and the other 01) both at the behest of one Saddam Hussein who's war against America raged from the end of Desert Storm to Huseins eventual capture and trial and hanging for his crimes against humanityl! Al Qaeda facilitated Husseins wishes to strike at America and Western interests... Do some genuine research cooldri!