Iraq war fuels home-grown terrorism -report

LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters) Britain's involvement in the Iraq war is one of the reasons behind domestic terrorist activity, according to a report based on the views of over 1,000 people from London.

Released today by the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), the report is the most extensive of its kind since the July 7 2005 suicide attacks in London.

The MPA held a series of hearings to collect the views of faith groups, Asian men, young people, women and local and business officials over the year to last December.

The report said the groups were angered by suggestions that British foreign policy and terrorism were unconnected, ''There is palpable rage at what some consider a disingenuous stance adopted by politicians who deny this link,'' the report said.

''The point which comes across is that certainly the effect of the Iraq war has made it easier for individuals to be taken down that road towards terrorism,'' said Lord Toby Harris at an MPA meeting.

Harris, the Home Secretary's representative on the MPA which oversees the London police force, also said police stop and search powers needed urgent review in the light of the report.

''The significance of this is the sheer depth and level of hostility and anger that we came across, not just from one section of the community but across many of the communities that we spoke to,'' he said.

The report, ''Counter-Terrorism: The London Debate,'' said police stop and search powers should be scrapped if they cannot be justified.

''There is a widespread conviction that the use of the power is targeted at Asian men, and genuine public anger that this should be the case,'' the report said.

Under anti-terrorism legislation introduced in 2000, the police are able to stop and search people in an area they feel is at risk of terrorism even if they are not believed to acting illegally.

Of the 22,672 people stopped in the year to September 2006, just 27 were arrested.

Sir Ian Blair, police commissioner, said ''Of course we will review it -- we have to reflect on what is being said to us.'' However, he said that London had changed since the attacks and so had policing, ''We have to have every methodology open to us,'' he added.

The report said a suggestion that university lecturers should keep an eye on students for signs of extremism, made by Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly, was ''crass and underhand'' students believed.

Former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was criticised too, for describing the full veil worn by some Muslim women as ''a mark of separation'' last October.

''Extreme resentment of his intervention was evident amongst Muslim women, who argued that the woman whose wearing of the niqab he found problematic had actually been brave enough to attend his surgery,'' the report said.

The report's findings and recommendations will be presented to Prime Minister Tony Blair next week.

REUTERS SAM BD2158