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War on terror fuelling more violence: Think Tank

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LONDON: Focusing on military solutions rather than addressing the root causes, the US led War on terror has failed to yield positive results. To the contrary it played a key role in fuelling more violence and increasing more terrorist attack across the world, the Oxford Research Group said on Wednesday.

The Group in its study titled "Beyond Terror: The Truth About The Real Threats To Our World" said, "The 'war on terror' is failing and actually increasing the likelihood of more terrorist attacks".

It said that UK and US tried to deal the issue of terrorism by using military might to "keep the lid" on problems rather than eliminating the root causes of terrorism.The study said that such an approach,  particularly the Iraq invasion, had in fact heightened the risk of more terrorist atrocities on the scale of 9/11.

"Treating Iraq as part of the war on terror only spawned new terror in the region and created a combat training zone for jihadists," the report's authors argued. It pointed out that the Islamist Taliban movement is now resurgent, six years after it was overthrown in 2001 by the US-led invasion in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

The study said that 'sustainable approaches' to fighting terrorism would involve the pull out of US-led forces from Iraqi soil and their replacement with a United Nations stabilisation force.

It also suggested a sustained aid for reconstruction and developing Iraq and Afghanistan as well as closing the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where most suspects are held without charge or trial. And it called for a "genuine commitment to a viable two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict."

The study warned that military intervention in Iran would be disastrous, demanding a firm and public commitment to resolve the issue amicably.

The study also said the British government's plans to upgrade the submarine-based Trident nuclear deterrent could produce international instability. "Nuclear weapon modernisation 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," it said.