The Independent: Terrorism in Europe is a result of the West's policies

British newspaper, The Independent, said the terrorism which strikes Europe today comes mostly as a result of the West’s policies committed in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.

In its Saturday edition, the newspaper pointed out that the media returned to focus on the threats that could be launched by Daesh in Europe in the wake of the arrest of Salah Abdelsalam in Belgium, who is believed to be the one who planned the Paris attacks.

It explained that the process of arresting him raises questions about how the most dangerous man in Europe managed to elude the police for so long while living in his home in the Molenbeek district of Brussels; where he was working.

The paper adds that the media focuses on Daesh and the danger it poses only when it commits a massacre like the Paris attacks or like the one on a beach in Tunisia, but soon the focus shifts dramatically and life returns to normal in a time when Baghdad, for example, is witnessing many attacks by the organisation, as well as the situation in Syria.

The Independent added: “There has always been a disconnect in the minds of people in Europe between the wars in Iraq and Syria and terrorist attacks against Europeans. This is in part because Baghdad and Damascus are exotic and frightening places…But there is a more insidious reason why Europeans do not sufficiently take on board the connection between the wars in the Middle East and the threat to their own security.”

“Separating the two is much in the interests of Western political leaders, because it means that the public does not see that their disastrous policies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and beyond created the conditions for the rise of ISIS and for terrorist gangs such as that to which Salah Abdeslam belonged,” using another acronym for Daesh.

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