IZHAR KHAN
Aberdeen

Sir, Your leader (Aug 15) is right to say that the anti-Western feeling in the Islamic world goes much deeper than grievances about Iraq or Lebanon. But I think it is wrong to play down that events in the Middle East have made terrorism worse, particularly in radicalising young British Muslims and contributing massively to terrorist recruitment in Britain.

Both Mr Bush’s global “axis” and Mr Blair’s Middle Eastern “arc” of terror are mirrored in Islamic eyes by the Western “aggression” in the Middle East and its threat to the Islamic way of life. The messages from al-Qaeda and the videotapes of the 7/7 bomber cite British foreign policy as the reason for targeting this country. The Muslim community leaders here say that Iraq and Israel are a huge factor in inflaming the hatred of our young Muslims and giving them a cause to fight for. Writers on Middle Eastern politics comment again and again that Iraq has been the tipping point in promoting extremism here and making its containment more difficult than it would otherwise have been.

The fact that Tony Blair denies this does not mean that your editorials should follow suit. Of course 9/11 happened long before Iraq. But for him to say that the occupation of Iraq (and the failure to address the Israel-Palestinian problem) had little effect in aggravating terrorism, destabilising the Middle East and making the world a more dangerous place, is absurd.

These outcomes were precisely what the protesters at the time had given warning about. Mr Blair needs to keep up his pretence because the policies were his.

SIR CHRISTOPHER R. P. BEAUCHAMP
Sidmouth, Devon

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