"Bombings linked to Iraq" posted by Richard Seymour

The Royal Institute of International Affairs, known colloquially as Chatham House, has declared its view on the London bombings:

Britain's involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan contributed to the terrorist attacks in London, a respected independent thinktank on foreign affairs, the Chatham House organisation, says today.
According to the body, which includes leading academics and former civil servants among its members, the key problem in the UK for preventing terrorism is that the country is "riding as a pillion passenger with the United States in the war against terror".

It says Britain's ability to carry out counter-terrorism measures has also been hampered because the US is always in the driving seat in deciding policy.

...

In the most politically sensitive finding, Chatham House, which used to be known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs, concludes there is "no doubt" the invasion of Iraq has "given a boost to the al-Qaida network" in "propaganda, recruitment and fundraising", while providing an ideal targeting and training area for terrorists. "Riding pillion with a powerful ally has proved costly in terms of British and US military lives, Iraqi lives, military expenditure and the damage caused to the counter-terrorism campaign."

The least interesting aspect of this article is where it tautologically notes that Blair is disavowing such a connection. Somewhat more interesting is the fact, not noted in the article, that Chatham House receives a good portion of its funding by the Foreign Office, is thoroughly imbricated with the foreign policy establishment, provides recruits, seminars, interfaces and the rest of it for the FO and security services. In other words, although it does have a certain amount of organisational independence, this view does appear to emanate directly from the upper echelons of the establishment.