Do Mention The War!

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In recent weeks, generals, civil servants and even senior Republicans have united in blaming British and American foreign policy, and particularly the Iraq War, for stimulating rather than containing terrorism.

When President Bush announced US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's resignation in the wake of the Republicans' Mid-Term election defeat, he said that 'a fresh perspective' was needed in the Pentagon.

Both British and American public opinion now seem convinced of the need for change in current foreign policy towards the Middle East specifically and the Muslim world in general.

While there are no simple answers, Analysis identifies the key questions we now need to ask and assesses realistic policy options.

Should we wash our hands of it all and try to build a cordon sanitaire between 'us' and 'them'?

Has the Neo-Conservative philosophy of encouraging the spread of democracy actually made matters worse when the ballot-box continues to return Islamist parties?

Or should we accept that Western intervention remains indispensable in resisting jihadism, but consider new ways of isolating extremists from the Muslim mainstream?

Analysis asks if we can apply some of the lessons of the Cold War, when we fought and defeated global Communism, and considers how much room for manoeuvre the West still has as it treads the minefield of Muslim grievances.

Zareer Masani discusses these issues with contributors from both sides of the Atlantic including the British defence specialist Professor Michael Clarke and his American counterpart Steven Simon; the Chair of the Commons' Foreign Affairs Select Committee, the Labour MP Michael Gapes; Danielle Pletka who has been close to the Bush Administration and Dr Abdeslam Maghraoui who heads the 'Muslim World Initiative' which was set up at the US Institute of Peace in the wake of 9/11.

Presenter: Zareer Masani
Producer: Ingrid Hassler
Editor: Nicola Meyrick