Former MI5 head: Iraq war "increased terrorist threat"

The former director-general of MI5, Eliza Manningham-Buller, has told the BBC that the war in Iraq "increased the terrorist threat" and "was a distraction" from the pursuit of al-Qaeda after 9/11.

She was speaking during her first 2011 Reith Lecture, external, which will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4, external on Tuesday 6 September 2011 at 09:00 BST and repeated on Saturday 10 September at 22:15 BST. You can also listen via the BBC iPlayer, external or download the programme podcast, external.

  • Subsection
  • Published