Dear Sir or Madam,

Having written to the Home Office to request documents supporting a
statement by their spokesman that "the conflicts in Iraq and
Afghanistan had no bearing on the level of the security threat in
the UK or in the rest of Europe," reported in the Independent on 18
May [Independent], refuting the view of Europol, that the
"conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have a large impact on the
security environment of the EU" [Europol], I was told that the
information I wish to acquire is held by yourselves.

Please can you supply me with documents assessing the impact of the
conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan on the terrorist threat to the
UK, including that arising from "young, radicalised British
citizens" [Europol], given the difficulty in getting across the
positive message of British foreign policy across to young Muslims
at home and abroad[Beckett]; and external threats given the
"dangerous and volatile" situation in Iraq [Beckett].

Yours faithfully,

Laurence Rowe

[Independent] "Britain is focal point for terrorism, warns Europe's
police force", 18 May 2008,
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/cri...

[Europol] "EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report TE-SAT 2008",
http://www.europol.europa.eu/publication...

[Beckett] 'TERRORISM: DEFEATING THE THREAT' (14/11/2006),
http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/newsroom/latest...

(The original exchange with the Home Office is recorded here:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ev...
)

Dear Mr Rowe

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request. It has been passed to
the relevant section within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to deal
with. They will be in touch with you should your request need
clarification.

We received your request on 7 July 2008 and will aim to respond within 20
working days.

Yours

Samuel Osei-Wusu
Information Management Group
Information Rights Team

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Rowe,

Please find attached a response to your recent request under the Freedom
of Information Act.

Mark

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