Ex-MI5 chief calls on government to negotiate with Al Qaida

London: The former head of MI5 has made a controversial call for the government to negotiate with Al Qaida.

Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller, the security service's former director general, said she would hope the government was reaching out to the shadowy Islamic terrorist group headed by Osama Bin Laden.

Calls for negotiation with Al Qaida by other public figures have resulted in furious condemnations by the Foreign Office.

The baroness made the comments in a television interview to be screened today in a BBC2 documentary, The Secret War on Terror.

She said: "I would hope that people are trying to do so... it s always better to talk to the people who are attacking you than attacking them, if you can."

"I would hope that people are trying to reach out to the Taliban, to people on the edges of Al Qaida, to talk to them."

No victory

Baroness Manningham-Buller, who was head of MI5 from October 2002 to April 2007, also said the so-called War on Terror could not be won in a military sense.

But she said the threat to British security could be reduced. "If we can get to a state where there are fewer attacks, less lethal attacks, fewer young people being drawn into this, less causes resolution of the Palestinian question, less impetus for this activity, I think we can get to a stage where the threat is thus reduced."

The documentary argues that the torture of terror suspects and the use of Guantanamo Bay for terrorist detainees has led to a propaganda victory for Al Qaida.

In an apparent criticism of the use of torture, Baroness Manningham-Buller said: "Making sure we hold to our values, our ethical standards, our laws and are not tempted to go down a route which others, in my view, have made the profound mistake of going down, means that in the longer run we'll have a chance... of addressing some of the underlying causes of these problems.