Browne rejects foreign policy link to terror
Defence secretary Des Browne has refused to accept the argument that the government’s foreign policy is to blame for radicalising some British Muslims.
He insisted this “distorted analysis” failed to explain why some people turned to violence where others were simply angry with the government, and ignored the fact that the current terror threat pre-dated the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
His comments this morning came as David Cameron reiterated his belief that Israel’s attacks on southern Lebanon in pursuit of Hizbullah were not proportionate.
However, the Conservative leader expressed support for the recently agreed UN resolution, and said it would back the government in ensuring its conditions were met, in particular the plans for a “robust” international security force in the region.
Mr Browne is the latest minister forced to defend the UK’s foreign policy after a letter signed by a number of Muslim organisations this weekend warned the Iraq war and the UK’s failure to condemn Israel’s attacks on Lebanon were “ammunition to extremists”.
In an article in The Times this morning, Labour MP Shahid Malik defended his decision to add his name to the list.
Anger about foreign policy “does not in itself cause terrorism – unquestionably, the lethal ingredient is a twisted, perverted interpretation of Islam whereby you can legitimately kill yourself and other innocent people, and you will go to heaven”, he wrote.
But he warned: “It is the perception of double standards that fuels anger and hatred and has single-handedly served to undermine our counter-extremism arguments.”
Speaking this morning, Mr Browne accepted that foreign policy could give a “new focus” to the way people present their case, but insisted: “I don’t believe that it changes people’s minds.”
He told Today: “I believe that it may have given them a focus around which they want to frame their grievances and it is explained to some degree by people looking to find another argument for their own opposition to our foreign policy.”
Speaking this lunchtime, Mr Cameron said the people behind the various terror attacks around the world were driven “not by poverty, nor by some specific or legitimate
grievance, but by a twisted and perverted ideology”.
However, he appeared to support Mr Malik’s concerns that the government’s foreign policy appeared inconsistent.
“Our recognition of the need to bolster democracies abroad does not mean that we endorse disproportionate or ill-conceived actions, or that we will adopt a one-sided view,” the Tory leader said.
“Of course we recognise the right of Israel to defend itself against attack. But the measures taken to achieve that defence ought, in the interests of Israel and of the long term peace of the region, always to be proportionate.”
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