John Kerry never ceases to amaze every time he opens his big mouth. He is either incredibly stupid or just being dishonest when he blames the horrors carried out by the Nigerian Islamist group, Boko Haram, on poverty.
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/boko-haram-recruitment-kerry-blames-poverty
Kerry is so arrogant in his dishonesty that he completely ignores the explanation given by Boko Haram's own leader when he released a tape justifying their kidnapping of some 300 schoolgirls whom he threatens to sell into slavery (if they haven't already).
He is acting under the authority of Allah.
But Kerry plods on blaming it all on poverty. If only we could pledge another 50 million or so dollars to the most corrupt country in Africa (Nigeria), everything will be all right. It won't.
Keep in mind that Kerry's predecessor, Hillary Clinton, resisted calls to designate Boko Haram a terrorist group, something that was only done last November.
As it is, if we want to see these poor girls liberated, we will probably have to spend more of our own blood to get it done because the Nigerian army can't or won't do it without our intelligence, our training, our weapons, our supplies, and probably our troops. Where do you think Boko Haram got most of those weapons you see draped over their shoulders? They likely bought most of them from the Nigerian army.
It's not poverty, Mr Kerry. Usama bin Laden himself, was a multi-millionaire who was driven by ideology-religious ideology. The nineteen 9-11 hijackers were college students with the wherewithal to study abroad.
As for Nigeria and the rest of Africa, we have poured billions into that continent and no doubt prevented the starvation of millions. However, that can't solve the endemic corruption, and it doesn't address Islamic fundamentalism.
As for the hapless Mr Kerry, I suspect he is simply afraid to utter the real reason Boko Haram carries out its horrors. It is because they consider it halal*.
* Haram means forbidden in Arabic. Halal means permitted.
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According to the article, "
Boko Haram, a label given to the group by outsiders, means “Western education is prohibited.”
The group itself uses the name Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (which can be translated Congregation of the People of Islamic Tradition for Proselytism and Jihad). It is demanding shari’a across Nigeria, and has declared war on non-Islamic education, democracy and the large Christian minority in Africa’s most populous country."
I don't know if the name was given by outsiders or not but the meaning is plain... they go after school girls.
It seems that Kerry is carrying out the wishes and the world view of his boss, Barack Obama. If we only gave them more money and concessions they would be happy. He refuses, despite their announcements, to see that they see this as a theological imperative.
Incidentally, because of our incomprehensible policy in Libya and hubristic aftermath, things unraveled. As there was no sufficient presence to look after the dictator's abandoned arsenal, a terrorist weapons bazaar sprouted up that not only armed al Qaeda and Hamas but also ended up in Mali and no doubt here as well.
As the girls are probably split up into groups now, drone strikes, if we could spot them, would be ineffective because of collateral damage. It could take probably less than 1,000 volunteer special forces to kill or capture these terrorists, but our President and Secretary of State would rather blame something else than the true cause so that he can stand by and watch to see what happens.
Yeah, Kerry is being idiotically simplistic.
The more sophisticated analysis is:
Nigeria has had a culturally distinct Christian south and Muslim north dating to pre-British times.
When Islamic fundamentalism began to spread in the late 20th century, it had attractions to some in the Muslim north, as a vehicle for their long standing grievances against the central government.
Because of the long-standing rivalries, government troops tending to be heavy handed on civilians, driving civilians, as such tactics will do, into the arms of the armed groups.
Generally, the north has been economically less developed, which is partly a matter of regional rivalries giving the north short shrift, and partly the anti-development prejudices inherent in the culture of the northern states. Poverty is a factor in creating fertile ground for this type of insurgency. Happy, prosperous, well-fed people with TV's and washing machines and hot and cold running water tend not to join insurgencies which put all that at risk.
Boko Haram is destroying whatever advantage they may have had in terms of civilian sympathy, but the indiscriminate savagery of their attacks. There are local militias forming to drive them out or keep them out. The federal armies remain incompetent, cowardly and unmotivated.
Now that defines a tremendous amount of work, and a tremendously careful job that would have to be done, to really make any progress. Sending in special forces could help, but it wouldn't be enough by itself. It sure is a tempting thought though.
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