Turnaround

Former MI5 Head: Let's Talk to Al Qaeda

Says war on terror can’t be won with force.

This ought to give the British pause: Eliza Manningham-Buller, who took over as director of MI5, U.K.’s counterintelligence agency, follwing the 9/11 attacks, said in her first television interview that the war on terror can’t be won by the military alone and that it’s time to start “reaching out” to al Qaeda. "It's always better to talk to the people who are attacking you than attacking them, if you can," Manningham-Buller said. That's a surprising public stance for Manningham-Buller: She was crucial in supporting George W. Bush’s military campaigns during her tenure at MI5 from 2002 to 2007. But the baroness said “there won’t be a Waterloo” for the war on terror, and negotiating may be the only way to achieve a future with a reduced threat of terror attacks.