Richard Norton-Taylor exposes a large amount of dissent within the British government concerning any war with Iraq. He reports that many withing the British security establishment feel that any invasion of Iraq, would simply lead to more Islamic extremists. As a leaked secret document from the defence intelligence staff puts it:
“Al-Qaida will take advantage of the situation for its own aims but it will not be acting as a proxy group on behalf of the Iraqi regime.” Osama bin Laden must be praying for a US assault on Iraq.