“War on terror” spawning terror

[sonz]

The American-led, British-backed “war on terror” is only fuelling more violence by focusing on military solutions rather than on root causes, a British think tank warned on Wednesday.

In a report a year ago, the Oxford Research Group (ORG) highlighted four factors that it said were contributing to world instability. Climate change, competition for increasingly scarce resources, marginalization of the majority of the world's population as socio-economic divisions widen, and the increasing use of military force were all threats mentioned last year.

In the new study, titled Beyond Terror: The Truth About the Real Threats to Our World, ORG said these challenges are still the greatest threats, but added that the “war on terror” and the Iraq War are increasing the risk of further terrorist atrocities on the scale of September 11, 2001.

“Treating Iraq as part of the war on terror only spawned new terror in the region,” the report’s authors said, calling for the withdrawal of U.S. occupation forces from Iraq.

“Sustainable approaches" to fighting terrorism should involve the replacement of foreign troops in Iraq with a United Nations stabilization force, said the study, which came as the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a separate report that every aspect of life was getting worse for ordinary Iraqis.

Contrary to what the U.S. and UK want, their foreign policy didn’t weaken Iran, Syria and North Korea who had become “emboldened”, the ORG report said, warning that the Taliban was also on the rise in Afghanistan, six years after the U.S. invaded the country.

The study recommended the provision of sustained aid for rebuilding and developing Iraq and Afghanistan as well as closing the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where most suspects have been held for more than five years without charges. It also called for a "genuine commitment to a viable two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict."

* “Disastrous”

Any military intervention in Iran over its nuclear program would be "disastrous", the Oxford Research Group said, calling instead for a firm and public commitment to a diplomatic solution.

Military force “would involve the development of facilities that are potential terrorist targets, as well as encourage the spread of technology and materials that could be used in the development of nuclear weapons,” it said.

The report also warned that the British government's plan to upgrade its nuclear submarine system Trident could "substantially encourage" other states to develop nuclear weapons.

"Nuclear weapon modernization is likely to serve as a substantial encouragement to nuclear proliferation as countries with perceptions of vulnerability deem it necessary to develop their own deterrent capabilities.”

* “Anti-Britishism”

Another report criticizing the British government’s foreign policy, particularly towards Iraq, was released on Wednesday. Charity Oxfam slammed the UK’s “terrible misadventure” in Iraq, saying that it "seriously undermined" Britain's reputation.

In its report, Oxfam demanded the UK to make its foreign policy focused on protecting civilians, as well as challenging human rights abuses by friends as well as enemies.

The attitudes towards the wider Middle East have led to "a disturbing trend of anti-Britishism" in many developing countries, based partly on a perception of double standards, Oxfam said, citing Israel’s deadly offensive in Lebanon last summer and the Western states’ refusal to call for an immediate ceasefire, resulting in the death of more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians.

“It is now clear that the invasion of Iraq, and the government's failure to stand up to all governments when they break international law and harm innocent people, have seriously damaged Britain's capacity to be a force for good on the world stage," Oxfam Director Barbara Stocking said.

"The Iraq war was a terrible misadventure, but it must not cause future prime ministers to return to the caution of the previous Conservative government… That administration stood by while the genocides in Bosnia and Rwanda unfolded. We must say 'never again' as much to our failure to stop these atrocities, as to repeating Iraq."