Intel warning

Gaddafi, the Manchester attack and the lesson British leaders must still learn

A few wise officers in MI6, Britain’s foreign intelligence agency, warned of the dangers of invading Iraq.

The then-head of MI5, Britain’s domestic security service, warned that an invasion would increase the risk of radicalising Muslims and the terrorist threat. Britain’s Joint Intelligence Committee, which brings together the heads of all the country’s security and intelligence agencies, stressed that terrorism, not Saddam Hussein, was the biggest threat to the safety of the British public.

They were ignored. After the mayhem and violence provoked by that invasion, leading British politicians said they had learned the lesson. They had not. The next time it was senior military figures who warned of the dangers. They were ignored. Britain joined France in bombing Libya, with Nato support and those of some Arab countries.

Muammar Gaddafi, once a friend of Britain, just like Saddam Hussein, had become the enemy. And the enemy’s enemy seemed to become friends again, or at least tolerated, no matter what kind of hardline Islamism or violent, anti-Western views they espoused.