US encouraged more terrorism instead of reducing it: UCSB professor

Tehran – An American scholar has said the US may have actually encouraged more terrorism instead of reducing it by over-reacting to terrorism on the US.

“I think that the idea of a ‘war on terrorism’ and the US invasion and occupation of two countries (Afghanistan and Iraq) were over-reactions to a very real problem, terrorist attacks on the US,” said Professor of sociology and of global studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Mark Juergensmeyer, according to IRNA.

He made the remarks in an exclusive interview with the Habilian association which is a non-government and cultural organization formed to represent families of 17,000 terror victims of Iran.

Professor Juergensmeyer added, “By over-reacting, the US gave credibility to al Qaeda’s message and may have actually encouraged more terrorism instead of reducing it.”

 When asked about the reason why the first four terrorist groups who are responsible for two thirds of terror acts around the globe are Muslim, Juergensmeyer replied, “Just because a group uses the language and images of religion doesn’t mean that religion is their prime motivation.”

“Some  of the ISIS leaders, however, think in terms of religion but even they are probably motivated more by power than piety”.

He added that terrorism is a response to a lot of different factors, including the marginalizing and humiliating policies of local leaders, adding, “Sometimes the US and European countries are also blamed because of the history of colonialization, but they are not the only things causing terrorism.”

M.Wassouf