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UK Spy Chief: West to Blame for ISIL Rise, We must Work with Iran

UK Spy Chief: West to Blame for ISIL Rise, We must Work with Iran
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The chaos in Syria that opened the door to the terror group ISIL was created because the West did not intervene in the civil war, the head of MI6 has suggested.

UK Spy Chief: West to Blame for ISIL Rise, We must Work with IranSir John Sawers also gave the strongest signal yet that the UK and US must find a way to work with Iran to combat the troubles in neighboring Iraq and Syria.

In rare public comments, the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service said the way the West responds to civil war in other countries created "real dilemmas".

The advance of ISIL in Iraq and Syria, which exploited the vacuums created by the conflicts, has raised questions over the previous stance of Western powers not to intervene directly.

Sir John told the Financial Times that the lesson of Afghanistan and Iraq was that a government can be toppled in months but it then takes years to rebuild the country.

He said: "If you decide not to [rebuild], as we did in Libya, partly because of the scars from Iraq, then you topple the government and you end up having nothing in its place.
"And if you don't intervene at all, you end up with a situation like you have in Syria. These are real dilemmas."

Meanwhile, Rory Stewart, chair of the UK Common's defense committee, urged the Government not to rush into anything.

He said: "It raises the big question about air strikes. Are we doing them for diplomatic reasons, to remain friends with the US, or because they will make a difference to the situation on the ground?

"Unless you get a clear sense of what difference they make on the ground, we shouldn't just be doing them because we are embarrassed that the French have started."

Sir John said there was also the possibility of reaching "some form of accommodation" with Iran, especially with the chaos in its neighboring countries.
It appeared to be stronger language than David Cameron, the Prime Minister, who told the Sunday Telegraph in August that Britain might "perhaps even" work with Tehran as he urged a coalition of nations to tackle the growing threat.

Last week Philip Hammond, the foreign secretary, said he hoped Iran would cooperate and "align itself broadly with the direction that the coalition is going".

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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