Britain's alliance with US makes it vulnerable

A think tank has countered PM Tony Blair's view that the London attacks had nothing to do with the Iraq war.

Countering the views held by Prime Minister Tony Blair that the serial bombings in London had nothing to do with the war in Iraq, a leading British think tank has said UK's close alliance with US and involvement in the Iraq war has made it vulnerable to terror attacks.

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According to a report by the think tank, Britain is particularly at risk because it was the closest ally of US and had deployed armed forces in the military campaigns to topple the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and in Iraq it had taken a leading role in the fight against Al-Qaeda.

Titled "Riding Pillion for Tackling Terrorism is a High-risk Policy," the report by the Royal Institute of International Affairs, known as Chatham House, said a key problem with regard to implementing the strategy against terrorism is that the UK government has been conducting counter-terrorism policy shoulder to shoulder with the US.

This has not been in the sense of being an equal decision-maker, but rather as a pillion passenger compelled to leave the steering to the ally in the driving seat, it said.

"The Iraq war gave a boost to the Al-Qaeda networks propaganda, recruitment and fundraising, caused a major split in the coalition, provided an ideal targeting and training area for Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists, and deflected resources and assistance that could have been deployed to assist the Karzai government in Afghanistan and to bring Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to justice," it said.