We have discussed the almost weekly race to the bottom by Islamic extremists who use their faith to justify the most despicable and inhumane acts. However, few can match the atrocities of Boko Haram (“Western education is sinful”) — more properly known as The Congregation of the People of Tradition for Proselytism and Jihad. This Islamic movement in Nigeria, Cameroon, and Niger was founded by Mohammed Yusuf in 2002 and has made murder and church bombings its special signature of faith. However, even the piles of thousands of corpses killed in the name of Allah did not prepare the world for the latest atrocity: the kidnapping of 200 Nigerian girls and an announcement from Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau that “I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah.” Reports indicate that many of the girls have been “married” to Boko Haram soldiers. Nigerians are complaining that the government (which receives enormous U.S. and foreign aid) is not working particularly hard to free the girls. President Goodluck Jonathan described the detention as “unfortunate” and “insensitive”. His wife proved more direct. Mrs. Jonathan has reportedly ordered the arrest of Naomi Mutah, a representative of the Chibok community where the girls were seized from their school. So 200 girls are abducted to be sold into slavery by a fanatical Islamic movement and the wife of the president has the woman leading protests arrested.
Last month, the fanatics overpowered guards at a school and forced the girls out of bed and into trucks. Some 276 were kidnapped and at least 53 escaped. That left 223 in captivity. Mutah and others started a campaign to force action from the government.
Reports indicate that First Lady Patience Jonathan felt slighted that the mothers of the abducted girls had sent Ms. Mutah to the meeting. The First Lady appears to have no authority to order such an arrest but that does not appear to matter in Nigeria.
For his part, the devout man promising to sell girls into slavery is captured on a video coldly describing how “There is a market for selling humans. Allah says I should sell. He commands me to sell. I will sell women. I sell women.” The State Department believes that he means it and that the girls could well disappear into Nigeria’s “market.”
Even if one accepts the statements of the government that they are trying to find the girls, the actions of the First Lady are an outrage. At some point, the United States has to tie foreign aid to basic values protecting women and the rule of law. Nigeria is breathtakingly corrupt. We have seen around the world how such corruption invites extremists to take hold and offer Sharia law as the answer to endemic problems of local governments. We seen to be sustaining such corruption from Iraq to Afghanistan to Nigeria while increasing drone attacks against insurgents fighting these governments. It has not proven a winning strategy but we do not seem to have a plan B. We gave some $625 million to the country in 2012. In the meantime, girls are denied their most basic right to education and choice. U.S. dollars should go to those countries that commit themselves to basic values, including the rights of women and girls as well as protections for free speech and free exercise. The world is facing a deep divide between religious orthodoxy and individual rights. The West has to stop being apologetic for demanding that nations afford their citizens basic rights as a condition for support. At the moment, we are pouring billions into countries that continue to radicalize and organize against basic freedoms. At a minimum, we should put the emphasis on aid to educating girls and establishing free press and independent court systems. Obviously, this needs to include security protection for schools. I believe that the Obama Administration is targeting such programs but we clearly need to require more from recipient countries in terms of reforms. In the case of Nigeria, we might want to start with demanding reforms of the faux office of the First Lady.
bigfatmike: “Thanks. Imagine that. Here, I though the Obama was speaking extemporaneously …”
It’s like we discussed about Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Iraq mission didn’t begin with Bush. Neither did the War on Terror begin with Obama.
As with the law and policy of the Gulf War ceasefire enforcement that formed the basis of OIF, in order to understand the law and policy of counter-terrorism that forms the basis of the anti-ISIS campaign, the place to begin your study is the Clinton administration.
Btw, I’m still waiting for your response to my explanation of the law and policy basis of the Iraq mission – see http://learning-curve.blogspot.com/2014/05/operation-iraqi-freedom-faq.html .
bigfatmike,
The wording of that quote is purposeful. It hews to the legal authority for the counter-terror anti-ISIS campaign.
From Sec. 324, Public Law 104-132 (ANTITERRORISM AND EFFECTIVE DEATH PENALTY ACT OF 1996):
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-104publ132/html/PLAW-104publ132.htm
Thanks. Imagine that. Here, I though the Obama was speaking extemporaneously and had hit on a charming turn of phrase to express the connection and commitment of the American people to ISIL. .
So Obama supports ISIS now? Wow.
“So Obama supports ISIS now?”
Well, if you what you call support is a public commitment to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL, then, yes, Obama supports ISIL. What’s confusing about that.
“Our objective is clear: We will degrade, and ultimately destroy, ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy,”
You should see the guy when he really gets mad.
Amy:
Cause Obama doesn’t, Amy. He blows them up. Most liberals don’t support Isis. Try talking to one sometime. BTW Sherman wasn’t an arsonist. He arguably was guilty of waging war on civilians to end the Civil War. Lincoln wasn’t a war criminal and inflicting damage on enemy combatants and their ability to wage war is not a crime in any country or under international law.
mespo – under current international law, both Sherman and Lincoln could be tried as war criminals. They waged war on the civilian population which is against the Geneva Convention. Was it an effective strategy? Yes.
And I keep hearing how bad the Confederate States of America were. Well Sherman was an arsonist and both he and Lincoln would be tried as war criminals for the “collateral damage” the deliberately inflicted on the south. Please tell me why liberals like Obama support ISIS?
http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/freedom-rider-how-not-“bring-back-our-girls”
“While Americans wring their hands over the abducted teens, they know nothing about the African strong men supported by their government who do the very same thing. American allies like Yoweri Museveni in Uganda and Paul Kagame in Rwanda have kidnapped children and forced them to become soldiers. Both are also responsible for the deaths of six million Congolese. Americans not only have to be better informed, but they must stop thinking that their government and its allies are good and beneficent when they are anything but.
Sometimes the answer to the question, “What can we do?” is “Nothing.” There is nothing that the average American citizen can do to get these girls released and those with the power to do something aren’t very interested in internecine warfare in Nigeria. Their machinations created this and so many other tragedies around the world.
It is difficult not to have a strong emotional reaction to such a terrible story but that is the precise moment to dig deeper and search for complexities. That is the least that can be done to help bring back our girls.”
Schulte:
” I grabbed one a couple of weeks ago and the whole first paragraph was obscene.”
OK, I’ll ask again since you ignored me…
Which one?
Nick: “Anyone who attributes the murder of Americans on a video, critical of Mohammed, is apologizing for terrorists, “We insulted their religion!!”
I know for a fact that people have been killed because Muslims were angry that someone was critical, or drew a picture, of their deity.
When I state that fact, I am not apologizing for terrorists. I am simply stating a fact.
Schulte: “Nick – especially true when they have the maker of the video, which had nothing to do with the deaths of 4 Americans (including the ambassador), thrown in prison.”
The riot outside the embassy included people who were angry about the video, just as riots in Cairo and elsewhere did.
The person thrown in prison was not thrown in prison for making the video, as you suggested. He was thrown in prison for a parole violaiton.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/us/maker-of-anti-islam-video-gets-prison-term.html
Supak – evidence clearly points to a planned coordinated attack in Benghazi. The families of the victims were assured that the maker of the video would be punished (Hillary Clinton told them this) and he was. NYT is in bed with the Obama administration and was as clueless then as it is now.
Paul Schulte
“Supak – Benghazi is going to be an interesting hearing.”
Not at all, because the GOP didn’t care about all the attacks on our embassies in the past (when Republicans were President), they didn’t care about the half a million people dead in Iraq, and they cut funding for embassy security.
Supak – Lincoln was supposedly quoted at the end of the war saying that now he could listen to ‘Dixie’ because it was one of his favorite tunes.