Posted by David on March 3, 2008, 6:16 pm, in reply to "Response from Mary Kenny"
86.47.143.98
Dear Mary Kenny,
It's a very strange concept of defence where, by the their own admission, the invasions actually increased the threat they were allegedly designed to defend against.
"A report by the Joint Terrorist Analysis Centre - which includes officials from MI5, MI6, GCHQ and the police - explicitly linked US-led involvement in Iraq with terrorist activity in the UK." [The Guardian, July 19 2005] [1]
"A stark assessment of terrorism trends by American intelligence agencies has found that the American invasion and occupation of Iraq has helped spawn a new generation of Islamic radicalism and that the overall terrorist threat has grown since the Sept. 11 attacks." [New Tork Times, 24 September 2006] [2]
"Dr Jonathan Eyal, the director of international security at the Royal United Services Institute, said that the al-Qaeda revival was down to the West's inability to kill or capture Osama bin Laden and that wars in Afghanistan and Iraq made matters worse." [The Telegraph, 25/02/2007] [3]
It also seems unfair that you can on one hand take donnish umbrage with the inclusion of Afghanistan under the term Middle East and yet purposefully confuse Al Qaeda with the Afghan people. The Afghan people, and indeed the Afghan government, prior to and since the invasion have never attacked democratic western societies (I doubt you supported a British invasion of the Republic during the troubles) - the bombers were as you know predominantly of Saudi Arabian origin, yet we have witnessed no military aggression there.
I agree, soldiers are for the most part pawns, but it is those soldiers that refuse to do the unconscionable bidding of their corrupt leaders, knowing the likely punishment and ridicule, that deserve to be praised. Rather this than repeat the old lie...'Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori'.
Yours sincerely,
David Manning
1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/jul/19/july7.uksecurity4
2. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/world/middleeast/24terror.html?hp&ex=1159156800&en=22b7a0941b08007f&ei=5094&partner=homepage
3. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/25/nterr25.xml
4. http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/owen1.html
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