Speech to the Labour Against The War conference by Milan Rai, University of London Union, Malet Street, London
5 February 2005
[edited version]

Commenting on the handling of terrorist suspects, the Prime Minister said in the House of Commons on Wednesday 2 February, ‘the one thing I will not do as Prime Minister is engage in anything that I think puts the security of our country at risk. That is paramount for me.’ (Hansard)

Why, then, did he ignore the advice of British intelligence, which warned him in February 2003 that the invasion of Iraq would ‘heighten’ not lessen the risk of terrorism against Britain?

The Intelligence and Security Committee report into Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, published in September 2003, found that the Joint Intelligence Committee gave this warning to Tony Blair on 10 February 2003:

‘The JIC assessed that al-Qaida and associated groups continued to represent by far the greatest threat to Western interests and that threat would be heightened by military action against Iraq.’ (emphasis added)