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From The Times
August 31, 2005

Straw concedes war had impact

By Philip Webster, Political Editor
Jack Straw admitted yesterday that the Iraq war had been used as a “tool” for fuelling Muslim extremism in Britain. But the Foreign Secretary “wholly refuted” suggestions that the country would have been safer if Britain had not gone to war.

Britain was a terror target before the war, he said, commenting for the first time since it was disclosed that the Permanent Secretary at the Foreign Office had concerns over the impact of the war on Britain. Sir Michael Jay said in a letter in May 2004, leaked at the weekend, that the war was fuelling Muslim extremism in Britain.

But Mr Straw said on BBC Radio 4 that he had agreed with Sir Michael’s letter. Extremists used the war as a tool but that did not mean that Britain would have been safer without it. Sir Michael’s letter echoed his own comments at the time, he said.

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