Warning: Ex-MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove said jihadists should not get the 'oxygen of publicity' The threat posed by 'pathetic' British jihadis is being exaggerated and the government should instead focus more on tensions such as those between Russia and Ukraine, the former head of MI6 has warned. Sir Richard Dearlove said the 9/11 attacks put a 'distortion' towards Islamic extremism in the public consciousness which has remained ever since. And he insisted the 'oxygen of publicity' being handed to young radicals could make them more dangerous than they really are. A former intelligence officer who served in Kenya, Switzerland, the U.S. and the Czech Republic, Sir Richard oversaw MI6 from 1999 to 2004 during the invasion of Iraq. He insisted the British and U.S.-led intervention in 2003 had 'probably very small significance' in relation to the current wave of terror sweeping through Iraq. That is despite many blaming the aftermath of the war for opening up a chasm which allowed the extremist group ISIS to take hold in key cities. Using social media to spread their wave of terror, ISIS militants have gained strongholds in several parts of Iraq over the last few months. Yesterday images emerged of almost a dozen ancient shrines and Shia mosques being destroyed. Sir Richard's comments, on the ninth anniversary of the London bombings, came after several young British jihadis signed up to fight in Syria and Iraq. Some, barely out of their teens, have appeared in recruitment videos pledging to give their lives in the name of religious fight. But Sir Richard argued much of the current conflict was 'Muslim on Muslim' and unlikely to affect those on British soil. In a speech to the Royal United Services Institute defence and security think tank (Rusi), he said: 'Despite . some of the blood-curdling claims made on our TV screens by young . British jihadis... this new conflict is essentially Muslim on . Muslim. Wave of terror: Images emerged yesterday showing almost a dozen ancient shrines and Shia mosques being destroyed in the Iraqi city of Mosul. Sir Richard said the conflict is largely 'Muslim on Muslim' The images were posted on a website which carries official statements from the Islamic State extremist group . 'It is time to move away . from the distortion that 9/11 understandably created in our national . security stance. 'Counter-terrorism activity will . remain an important requirement but it should no longer dominate our . national security thinking and planning, rather a problem we have . learned to live with and that should seldom be given, either by the . Government or the media, the oxygen of publicity. 'We . must continue to cover the Middle East as a political requirement but . without putting the incipient terrorist threat to ourselves at the . centre of the picture and, in particular, without demonising our own . Muslim community on account of the small number of their young men who . were tragically sucked into the conflict and risk returning home in an . ugly and dangerous frame of mind.' Sir Richard, who has been the Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, since he left MI6 in 2004, blamed ministers for 'warning us again and again about the seriousness of the terrorist problems that we face' and blamed the media for making extremists into 'monsters'. 'I feel deeply uncomfortable to see our national media making national security monsters out of rather misguided young men from our Muslim communities who frankly, I think, cut rather pathetic figures,' he said. Probe: Security agencies in Iraq were yesterday working to verify a video of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (pictured), the leader of Islamic State, purportedly delivering a sermon at the Great Mosque in Mosul . 'They achieve celebrity status beyond their wildest dreams and are probably actually encouraged by the attention towards fulfilment of some of their more extreme radical fantasies. 'Surely better to ignore them and assume the means to control them, if and when they do come home, are sufficient to meet the threat that they pose.' Britain's resources would be better-served focusing more on other issues such as the growing dominance of China or political populism in Europe, he said. The Russian incursion into Ukraine will have provoked a 'lively debate' about the share of resources that should be moved from counter-terrorism to other threats, he added.
Ex-intelligence chief made remarks in a speech in London yesterday .
He said government and the media should not offer 'oxygen of publicity'
Fighting in Syria and Iraq is 'essentially Muslim on Muslim', he added .
Instead he said people should focus on growing threat of Russia and China .
Warning: Ex-MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove said jihadists should not get the 'oxygen of publicity' The threat posed by 'pathetic' British jihadis is being exaggerated and the government should instead focus more on tensions such as those between Russia and Ukraine, the former head of MI6 has warned. Sir Richard Dearlove said the 9/11 attacks put a 'distortion' towards Islamic extremism in the public consciousness which has remained ever since. And he insisted the 'oxygen of publicity' being handed to young radicals could make them more dangerous than they really are. A former intelligence officer who served in Kenya, Switzerland, the U.S. and the Czech Republic, Sir Richard oversaw MI6 from 1999 to 2004 during the invasion of Iraq. He insisted the British and U.S.-led intervention in 2003 had 'probably very small significance' in relation to the current wave of terror sweeping through Iraq. That is despite many blaming the aftermath of the war for opening up a chasm which allowed the extremist group ISIS to take hold in key cities. Using social media to spread their wave of terror, ISIS militants have gained strongholds in several parts of Iraq over the last few months. Yesterday images emerged of almost a dozen ancient shrines and Shia mosques being destroyed. Sir Richard's comments, on the ninth anniversary of the London bombings, came after several young British jihadis signed up to fight in Syria and Iraq. Some, barely out of their teens, have appeared in recruitment videos pledging to give their lives in the name of religious fight. But Sir Richard argued much of the current conflict was 'Muslim on Muslim' and unlikely to affect those on British soil. In a speech to the Royal United Services Institute defence and security think tank (Rusi), he said: 'Despite . some of the blood-curdling claims made on our TV screens by young . British jihadis... this new conflict is essentially Muslim on . Muslim. Wave of terror: Images emerged yesterday showing almost a dozen ancient shrines and Shia mosques being destroyed in the Iraqi city of Mosul. Sir Richard said the conflict is largely 'Muslim on Muslim' The images were posted on a website which carries official statements from the Islamic State extremist group . 'It is time to move away . from the distortion that 9/11 understandably created in our national . security stance. 'Counter-terrorism activity will . remain an important requirement but it should no longer dominate our . national security thinking and planning, rather a problem we have . learned to live with and that should seldom be given, either by the . Government or the media, the oxygen of publicity. 'We . must continue to cover the Middle East as a political requirement but . without putting the incipient terrorist threat to ourselves at the . centre of the picture and, in particular, without demonising our own . Muslim community on account of the small number of their young men who . were tragically sucked into the conflict and risk returning home in an . ugly and dangerous frame of mind.' Sir Richard, who has been the Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, since he left MI6 in 2004, blamed ministers for 'warning us again and again about the seriousness of the terrorist problems that we face' and blamed the media for making extremists into 'monsters'. 'I feel deeply uncomfortable to see our national media making national security monsters out of rather misguided young men from our Muslim communities who frankly, I think, cut rather pathetic figures,' he said. Probe: Security agencies in Iraq were yesterday working to verify a video of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (pictured), the leader of Islamic State, purportedly delivering a sermon at the Great Mosque in Mosul . 'They achieve celebrity status beyond their wildest dreams and are probably actually encouraged by the attention towards fulfilment of some of their more extreme radical fantasies. 'Surely better to ignore them and assume the means to control them, if and when they do come home, are sufficient to meet the threat that they pose.' Britain's resources would be better-served focusing more on other issues such as the growing dominance of China or political populism in Europe, he said. The Russian incursion into Ukraine will have provoked a 'lively debate' about the share of resources that should be moved from counter-terrorism to other threats, he added.
jihadists should not get the 'oxygen of jihadis is being exaggerated and the government of publicity' being handed to young radicals British jihadis signed up to fight in Syria and those on British soil. In a speech to the Royal is essentially Muslim on . Muslim. Wave of by the . Government or the media, the oxygen of other threats, he added.