Independent Argument Terrorists are scattered in different countries, relatively small in number, but capable of causing carnage and wrecking economies. While international leaders have been busy trying to link the war against terrorism to their obsession with Iraq, the terrorists have been regrouping. Last month Clare Short warned that already, only a year after 11 September, the attention of the US and to some extent Britain had wandered from Afghanistan in spite of commitments from President Bush and Mr Blair. According to Ms Short, the warlords are functioning again outside Kabul. With good cause she fears that Afghanistan could become a breeding ground for terrorists once more.

The old-fashioned notion of deterrence has worked in the case of Iraq. Saddam has not used weapons of mass destruction outside his country partly because he knows he would provoke a deadly response from the US. The tyrant shows every sign of preferring power to committing suicide. Yet the US and Britain seek a possible war that threatens to destabilise regions that are already terrorist breeding grounds. Consider the impact in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Indonesia, let alone the Middle East, of the US military occupation of Iraq that would follow the defeat of Saddam. War against Iraq is a perverse priority when it is already the terrorists who present much the bigger threat to international security.