Iraq war plan based on 'primitive' grasp of Islam, admits Labour frontbencher

Source: Guardian

Labour has conceded for the first time that a "primitive understanding" of the Islamic world caused some of the problems faced by the west in Iraq and Afghanistan, and warned David Cameron his response to the terrorist crisis in north Africa shows he has not learned the painful lessons from those conflicts.

In a speech on Thursday, Jim Murphy, the shadow defence secretary, will suggest the Blair government did not appreciate what it was getting itself into after the September 11 attacks, as British forces joined the international effort to overthrow the Taliban and hunt down Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.

Murphy will stop short of saying Labour was wrong to have supported the invasions, but will say Cameron is in danger of ignoring lessons from the past in his analysis of the jihadist threat in Mali and Algeria.

In particular, he will criticise the prime minister for a speech in which he said the UK faces a "generational struggle" against Islamist-inspired terrorism in the region.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/13/iraq-war-islam-labour