[A-List] UK state: reliable intelligence

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Al-Qaida would back Bush, says UK envoy

Sophie Arie in Rome and Ewen MacAskill
Tuesday September 21, 2004
The Guardian

The Foreign Office was thrown into turmoil yesterday after the British
ambassador to Rome, Sir Ivor Roberts, described President George Bush as
"the best recruiting sergeant ever for al-Qaida".

His comment, made at a closed conference of about 100 British and Italian
diplomats, politicians and journalists in Tuscany, was leaked to an Italian
newspaper, provoking embarrassment in London.

According to one of those present, Sir Ivor had been taking part in a
discussion on which candidate Europeans would back if they had a vote in the
US election. The ambassador said they would vote for Mr Kerry but some
people would want Mr Bush, not least al-Qaida.

"If anyone is ready to celebrate the eventual re-election of Bush, it's
al-Qaida. Whereas it is clear that the Palestinians hope that a Kerry
victory will unblock the situation," he said.

The Foreign Office, which warned before the war that Iraq could become a
breeding ground for al-Qaida, did not deny yesterday that Sir Ivor made the
remarks. "We are not making any comment other than the fact they do not
represent government policy," a spokesman said.

In a statement, Sir Ivor said last night: "These statements as reported do
not reflect my personal views."

The Foreign Office is taking a soft line because Sir Ivor had not intended
his comments to be made public and there was a breach of Chatham House
rules, meaning the conference had been held on condition that all comments
should be kept off the record.

The Foreign Office minister for Europe, Denis MacShane, and the EU
commissioners Neil Kinnock and Chris Patten were among those at the
conference. Mr MacShane, who left before the remarks were made, yesterday
praised Sir Ivor as an "effective advocate of good relations between Britain
and Italy".

The report of the conference came from Corriere della Sera's Monica
Guerzoni, who covered the meeting from outside.

A delegate who attended the meeting said that the ambassador's comments had
come in response to a question using the same expression, "the best
recruiting sergeant for al-Qaida", from a British delegate.

Sir Ivor, born in 1946 in Liverpool, has been ambassador in Rome for just
over a year. He represented Britain in Yugoslavia in the 1990s and was
criticised by the US for being over-friendly with Slobodan Milosevic.