'Moderate' Muslim leaders link plotters, foreign policy

An open letter to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair by three Muslim MPs, three peers and 38 Muslim community groups, condemning British policy in the Mideast for providing "ammunition to extremists," has been sharply criticized by government officials as 'facile,' 'dangerous,' and a 'comfort' to terrorists.

"I have no doubt that there are many issues which incite people to loath government policies but not to strap explosives to themselves and go out and murder innocent people," Foreign Office minister Kim Howells told the BBC. "There is no way of rationalizing that."

The letter read:

Prime Minister,

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As British Muslims we urge you to do more to fight against all those who target civilians with violence, whenever and wherever that happens.

It is our view that current British government policy risks putting civilians at increased risk both in the UK and abroad.

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To combat terror the government has focused extensively on domestic legislation. While some of this will have an impact, the government must not ignore the role of its foreign policy.

The debacle of Iraq and now the failure to do more to secure an immediate end to the attacks on civilians in the Middle East not only increases the risk to ordinary people in that region, it is also ammunition to extremists who threaten us all.

Attacking civilians is never justified. This message is a global one. We urge the Prime Minister to redouble his efforts to tackle terror and extremism and change our foreign policy to show the world that we value the lives of civilians wherever they live and whatever their religion.

Such a move would make us all safer.

MP Sadiq Khan

"Whether we like it or not such a sense of injustice plays into the hands of extremists," said MP Sadiq Khan, who signed the letter and complained that British foreign policy was seen as unfair and unjust by many Muslims.

"As moderates we will do all we can to fight extremism," he told the BBC. "We hope the government will join us in this, not just by changing the rules on hand luggage, but by showing itself as an advocate for justice in the world."

Howell called the letter's linkage of foreign policy to the airline plotter's plan to kill thousands in the air with liquid explosives, "facile" and said terrorism cannot be allowed to influence the nation's policy.

"I think it is very, very dangerous when people who call themselves community leaders make some assumption that somehow that there's a rational connection between these two things," he said.

One voice in support of linkage came from Liberal Democrats deputy leader Vince Cable, but he expressed reservations over the Muslims' message, saying it could "give some comfort to the kind of people who say: 'Well, change your foreign policy or we'll blow you up'."

A spokesman for Blair defended the prime minister's record, saying "nobody could have worked harder" for an end to fighting in the Mideast. He noted, however, that the region's violence was longstanding and not due to policy's in the West.

"We should always remember that the terrorism affecting the West today has blighted Muslim countries for several decades," he said. "It certainly pre-dated our decision to support democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq and of course the September 11 attacks."

The letter was also signed by representatives for the Muslim Council of Britain, the Muslim Association of Britain, British Muslim Forum and the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain.

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