West allowed Takfiri extremists to thrive: Analyst

Press TV has interviewed University of Tehran Professor Dr. Mohamad Marandi to discuss Western powers and their role in supporting Takfiri militants.

Below is an approximate transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Our guest there in Beirut believes this is not government support for the insurgents or Takfiris, this is about individuals. Do you agree with that?

Marandi: Well, I think many individuals are deeply involved in this and they are a major problem of course. Many of these governments have had the opportunity to prevent these individuals from supporting these extremist groups. They neglected to do so for whatever reason. But I also think that in addition, a major problem has been coming from text books and speeches that have come out of Saudi Arabia. The ideology that the Saudi political order has supported over the past few decades has been very extremist. When people go to the Haj pilgrimage, you regularly see speakers in the mosques make extreme statements, calling people of the Islamic faith non-Muslim and of course non-Muslims, as worthless beings often.

The language is extremely provocative and dangerous. Now, this problem has really spread. We can see it extend all the way to Nigeria, Boko Haram is very much influenced by Wahhabi ideology and Takfiri sentiments and you see it as well as in Kenya and Syria, in Pakistan and in Afghanistan, and unfortunately, Western countries for political reasons have turned a blind eye to this reality for over three decades.

They have also used this ideology in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union, but by using this and helping the spread of this form of extremism, ultimately they have to face the blow back on September 11, 2001. And the danger is that as these groups spread across the globe, controlling them becomes extremely difficult, if not completely impossible.

I think now we see that the Europeans are becoming much more concerned that this is going to be a threat to the security of Europe. We have to remember that mainstream Islam Sunni Islam, Shia Islam really has nothing to do with these Takfiri sentiments, but the money, the oil money, the wealth behind these organizations, that’s what makes them so dangerous.

Press TV: Our guest there Mr. Mouracadeh, is suggesting that we shouldn’t overlook the fact that in his view, that the US, France, etc. are working against terrorism. The African states, he was referring there, and even he’s saying that it was America that persuaded Saudi Arabia to change its policies concerning its support for Takfiris. You views?

Marandi: I respectfully disagree. Obviously the United States supported Osama bin Laden and his people during the Soviet occupation and it wasn’t just his organization, it was many such organizations. The Taliban was supported by the Saudis, the United Arab Emirates, both private and public supporters. The ideology most importantly that they pursued through madrasas in Pakistan and alongside the border of Afghanistan was from books coming from Saudi Arabia.

The United States did nothing to stop the Saudis from doing this. And when you look more recently in this part of the world for example, in the case of Libya, the Americans allowed Qatar to fund foreign groups that are very close and similar to al-Qaeda and we see the results today in Libya, a destroyed country.

The United States helped Qatar and later on Saudi Arabia to fund extremist groups in Syria until it became such a huge problem and an enormous monster that now the United States is deeply concerned and worried, but many in this part of the world have been saying for years now that this is a fearful situation and the Western media neglected this. They were completely silent about it. They denied it. But I would also like to draw your viewers’ attention to something even more worrisome, and that is that tens of TV channels funded from this part of the world have been advocating religious, racial, and sectarian hatred over the past few years at an extraordinary level. And these are being broadcast on satellite channels. Yet for example, Press TV was banned from satellite TV by the United States as well as other channels, yet these extremist channels were never banned. And no, we have a new phenomenon.

You have these Shia organizations in the West, based in the West with these channels, that they are also just as extreme and it is extraordinary that the British and American governments allow them to repeat the same sort of hatred that comes from the Saudi-funded channels, yet they are not stopped. It is the same sort of language that is now being used by many of these extremists on satellite TV, were used against minorities in the United States there would be riots in the country, but the United States government, the European Union has done nothing to stop this spread of hatred.

Press TV: There are a lot of the media of course, a lot of political reservists talking about the phenomenon of Islamophobia. We even had Iran’s leader referring to Iranophobia, Shiaphobia, but you know terms like Islamic terrorism, militant Islam, Islamic fundamentalism, we hear things like that a lot especially in Western media. Do you think this is a sign that there is a concerted effort to portray extremism as Islam?

Marandi: Well, we have to keep in mind that the Western media is closely affiliated to the political order. Corporate media in the United States and major political players are very close. In the United States there is a plutocracy, as many say. People like Chomsky call it a plutocracy. Some even go further, but in any case I think that it is obvious that the misrepresentation of the Islamic world is something not new in the West. It’s just for example the BBC just this morning I saw a piece where it spoke of the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards admitting that there was fraud in the Iranian presidential elections five years ago, which was a clear, it was a dishonest news item, but it was on the website of the BBC world service.

This is normal when it comes to the Islamic world, but what is even more disturbing for example, is today Agence France Press (AFP). They reported the same speech that you were discussing from the leader earlier on, when he spoke about Takfiris, AFP said Sunni extremists, they quoted him as saying. He never used the word Sunni and you constantly see the narrative Shia, Sunni in the Western media and whereas the Takfiris have nothing to do with either.

As I said, the very fact that we have literally tens of Arabic TV channels spreading hatred and now new channels come in the West spreading hatred, with the permission of Western governments, I think is itself, very problematic to say the least. And the reality on the ground is despite that fact that I would like to agree that the United States saw eye to eye with other mainstream Muslims in this part of the world about terrorism, I believe that the United States and the Europeans have allowed the Saudis to advocate and support extremist ideologies for decades. And one final point is that we’ve seen them [West] allow these groups to thrive until the threat began to become worrisome for the West itself and then suddenly they change policy.

Press TV: You’re saying that there is no effort to distort Islam. Mr. Marandi in 30 seconds if you can, would you agree with that?

Marandi: Well I would hope that there is change in the West, but what my concern is that this is because they are seeing the threat coming to Europe and the West itself. If the West truly wants to stop this, they have to stop the hate that is coming from satellite TV channels being funded through Western entities and through their dictatorships in this region that are their allies.

If such language was used about let’s say, Jews, there would be uproar in the West, but they allow satellite TV to talk like this about different sects in this part of the world and they do nothing and that is very disturbing.