There has been speculation that the Manchester Arena bomber was radicalised as a result of the Iraq invasion. However, as details of his family background are filled out, it is clear that little radicalisation or even training in the use of armaments were needed and that the roots of his action may lie earlier, in Libya. (Incidentally, the UK police and security forces are seething at the release to the US press by their US counterparts of intelligence which they wanted to keep confidential for the time being.)
The Home Office must have known when they admitted the Abedis to England in 1993 of the family's radical Islamist leanings. Presumably their reasoning was that "my enemy's enemy is my friend", the same reasoning that led the USA to arm Osama bin Laden and his followers against the Russians in Afghanistan. If so, it has rebounded on us. The Home Office's values were skewed then (and it was illiberal under both Ken Clarke and Michael Howard in the early 90s) and continue to be so. People of violence are given leave to stay, while those suffering persecution because of their sexuality or religion are denied asylum.
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