London, Sep 2(ANI): British intelligence service, former M15 chief Lady Eliza Manningham- Buller has launched a scathing attack on the invasion of Iraq, which she described as a "distraction in the pursuit of al-Qaida" and held out the prospect of talks with the terror group, Al- Qaida.
She said the UK and US governments failed to effectively gauge Arab citizens' sentiment, which was only compounded by the war against Iraq.
Recording her first BBC Reith lecture on the theme, 'Securing Freedom', she said Arabs never had a right to choose their own rulers.
"For them an external enemy was a unifying way to address some of their frustrations.It was wrong to say all terrorists belonged to al-Qaida," Manningham-Buller said.
She also denounced the 9/11 attacks as "a crime, not an act of war".
"So I never felt it helpful to refer to a war on terror", she added.
According to her, 9/11 attacks were a "monstrous crime" which required an understanding of the causes and roots of terrorism, the Guardian reports.
She expressed hope that the governments across the world, especially the West, would consider having talks with al-Qaida.
She suggested that some way must be found to have negotiations with Al Qaeda but she did not know how they could be carried out. (ANI)
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