““the anniversary of July 7, moreover, Sir Richard Dearlove, former head of Britain’s MI6 secret intelligence service, said that the latest fighting in the region was ‘‘essentially a Muslim on Muslim affair’’ and that both the government and the media were exaggerating the threat. ‘‘It is time to move away from the distortion that 9/11 understandably created in our national security stance,’’ he said. ‘‘We must continue to cover the Middle East as a political requirement but without putting the incipient terrorist threat to ourselves at the center of the picture.””