I'm Pretty Sure I'm Carrying Out God's Will...The Onion on Boko Haram leadership
- Last month, I wrote a piece entitled, "F*ck Hastag Diplomacy: A .50 Cal Round Between The Eyes Is Much More Effective." If you recall, this was shortly after Boko Haram kidnapped about 200 young Nigerian girls, First Lady Michelle Obama posted a photo of herself with the hashtag #Bring Back Our Girls. That was followed with thousands of postings on social media. I also stated that whatever works to bring the girls back, I'm all in-anything to bring more attention to these Islamist killers. On the other hand, I'm not naive either. I knew it was a waste of time. That motivated me to my writing the post referenced above.
- This is what the hashtag diplomacy has led to in just the last month. In early June, Boko Haram murdered approximately 200 people in three separate NE Nigerian villages. This past weekend, these same terrorist thugs kidnapped 20 young mothers only about 4 miles from the same village where they kidnapped those young school girls last month. In fact, Persecution.org reports that Boko Haram killed almost 300 innocent people in just a 10 day period in late May and early June of this year.
- It's becoming increasingly obvious that the Nigerian government can't do a damn thing about these attacks. They've been going on for almost a decade leading to the death and kidnapping of over 1000 people mostly targeting Christians. Their purpose is to turn Nigeria into an Islamist state. And, until recently, Boko Haram was not even designated a terror group by the United States or the UN. If you recall, when Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State her department blocked designating them as such.
- So it's clear that hashtags are not effective unless they are armed. But there are more effective measure that can be utilized. For example, Nigerian security forces should be deployed to those areas where Boko Haram operates, largely in the NE part of the country (In 2009, the Nigerian government did destroy a Boko Haram stronghold including killing some of its leadership). The Nigerian military and police should stand guard at schools, churches and security agencies. These have been the main targets of Boko Haram. Identify and assassinate the leadership.
- There is some good news. Several weeks ago, villagers themselves fought off some Boko Haram attackers. Deputize villagers and arm them. When armed at least the people stand a fighting chance.
- But then again, this is Africa and corruption is rampant. But we've learned one important lesson: hashtag diplomacy is a waste of time. Hunting them down and killing them would be much more effective.
Postscript:
Since this was posted, Boko Haram has murdered and kidnapped yet more innocents and taken more villages.
