Former British intelligence officer Alastair Crooke warned Friday that the US and Europe had entirely misunderstood the real struggle in the Middle East when refusing to talk to or work with Muslim groups and certain countries. ”What we see is a complete misreading of the situation by Western governments,” said Crooke, who founded a Conflicts Forum in December 2004 to encourage dialogue with what he called Political Islam. He warned that the failure had ”serious consequences” not only for the Middle East but the West that are ”unperceived in areas of policy-making.” Conflicts Forum was launched as a non-profit organization with the support of former European and American officials and military chiefs, to bring about a new engagement between the West and Islam by challenging misguided policies and promoting tolerance. Presenting a review of the first year at a press conference in London, Crooke said that he had engaged widely with political Islamic groups, who he believed were ”at the vanguard of change in the Middle East.” These included two major meetings in Beirut with senior members of Hamas, Hezbollah, Muslim Brotherhood and Pakistan`s Jamiat al- Islami in March and July last year as well a series of lower-profile talks with other groups. He said that although they may have different agenda there was a ”common thread” that they all wanted elections, constitutional reforms, changes in society and uncorrupt governments. These he described as the ”four pivots of political Islam.” ”It was ironic that these are the same as demanded by the West yet not talked to,” said the former MI6 officer, who has spent many years contributing to mediation and conflict resolution in Northern Ireland, South Africa, Namibia, Afghanistan, Cambodia and Colombia. Crooke, who has previously served as a Security Advisor to the EU`s Foreign Policy Supremo Javier Solana, also has extensive experience in hostage negotiations. But he also became more widely known for his behind-the-scenes discussions with Palestinian groups to secure ceasefires until his cover as an British intelligence officer was reportedly blown by the Israelis a couple of years ago. The former agent warned of the dangers of ignoring the real struggle in the Middle East, saying that the political Islamic groups were already under pressure from skeptics, who believe that ultimately the west will never accept their aims and popularity. With regard to Iraq, he also criticized the US for not talking with Iran and Syria, saying it was a ”short-sighted policy. He said that along with Saudi Arabia, they were two or the three countries whose help was needed to resolve the crisis in Iraq. The blanketing of Hamas and Hezbollah resistance groups with the so-called al-Qaeda groups and their associates was also an ”illusive” comparison and had to be faced up to, Crooke said. Presenting an American perspective, co-director of Conflicts Forum, Mark Perry said that the talks with the Islamic groups proved it was an ”acceptable approach.” Perry, former vice president of the Washington-based political consulting firm, Jefferson Waterman International, revealed that there had been a change in the way American think-tanks in listening to their approach since last October after previously been shunned. ”The political dynamics changed,” he said in reference to the recognition of the failure in Iraq and the drawing up plans for a gradual military withdrawal. But the co-director warned against any hopes of the US having a realistic Middle East policy despite the dilemma it was in over Iraq. He suggested there was an ”element of truth” in that US policies in the Middle East were ”through the eyes of Israel” but suggested that this may not always be the case. ”At the end of the day, domestic considerations were the most important” in formulating American policy,” he said. The US, he insisted, was ”capable of independent action.”