Wars raised terror threat to UK: Ex-MI5 chief

LONDON: The invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan led to a huge surge in the terrorist threat to the United Kingdom, the former head of MI5 said. Giving evidence to the official inquiry into the war, Baroness Manningham-Buller said the service struggled to cope with the number of plots in the aftermath of the invasion in 2003. She added: “Our involvement in Iraq radicalised 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 many UK-born individuals were attracted to the ideology of al Qaeda after the invasion and added that the number of Britons who became involved in terrorist plots took MI5 by surprise. Manningham-Buller said the toppling of Saddam Hussein had enabled al Qaeda to establish a foothold in Iraq which it had never managed before. Manningham-Buller said there was clear evidence that Britain’s involvement in the Iraq war was a motivating factor in terrorist attacks on the UK. Manningham-Buller said MI5 was given a budget increase after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US and again in 2002, but still needed far greater resources as a result of the Iraq invasion. She suggested that the threat to the UK might have been reduced if there had been better plans for post-invasion Iraq.