In Britain, a group of prominent British Muslims — including members of Parliament — have sent an open letter to Tony Blair criticizing his policies in the Middle East. The letter read, “The debacle of Iraq and the failure to do more to secure an immediate end to the attacks on civilians in the Middle East not only increases the risk to ordinary people in that region, it is also ammunition to extremists who threaten us all.” The letter was sent two days after the British government announced that it had foiled an alleged plot by a group of British-born Muslims to down trans-Atlantic airliners bound for the United States.