#BringBackOurGirls Should America Intervene?

[Paperman299]

The #BringBackOurGirls campaign has extended awareness of the kidnapping of over 200 Nigerial schoolgirls far outside the country’s borders. The latest word is that the girls are being sold to members of the terrorist group who kidnapped them, Haka Boram, as brides for $12 a pop. Protests urging the Nigerian president to recover the victims have been met with inaction, and there is a growing feeling that the government does not have the power to stop this human trafficking. Said one of the parents, "Since the government has disappointed us over the rescue of our children, we'll rather seek foreign intervention; for foreign countries to wade into the matter to rescue our daughters from the kidnappers."

So - should America intervene?

 

[frigidweirdo]

The Nigerian govt has to do something about this. If they can't, it's very tragic, and shows what a mess Nigeria is, but the US going in will not solve anything in the long run.

 

[bendog]

No. We have no vital natl interest in the plight of the girls. It is unfortunate that we did not embark of helping muslim/non Judeo-Christian govts formulate educational guidelines and use internet tech to get lessons to all children, instead of invading Iraq.

Of course, the tea party is after common core, so we my be similarly nutty.

 

[Paperman299]

The Nigerian govt has to do something about this. If they can't, it's very tragic, and shows what a mess Nigeria is, but the US going in will not solve anything in the long run.

It's very sad. On the one hand, I'd like to see the politics thrown aside and some of our forces sent in. I bet we'd have most of them home in under 48 hours.

But sometimes politics really aren't ephemeral. If we push the Nigerian government aside and save the day - how does the Nigerian government look? And once we leave, isn't this terrorist group just emboldened in its challenges to that government?

 

[waltky]

#BringBackOurGirls...

Nigerians beg for help for kidnapped girls
May 6, 2014 – World pressure on Nigeria is mounting over its slow reaction and failure to rescue hundreds of schoolgirls kidnapped by terrorists in a remote part of the country.

Tuesday, President Obama called the abductions "outrageous" and "heartbreaking'' and said Nigeria has agreed to accept U.S. law enforcement and military assistance. "We've already sent in a team to Nigeria. They've accepted our help through a combination of military, law enforcement and other agencies who are going in, trying to identify where in fact these girls might be and provide them help,'' Obama told ABC News. Distraught parents of the stolen children have charged that officials stalled on action to free them, and international condemnation has grown amid protests in major cities. Demands for action have increased on social media, especially through the Twitter hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.

One of the mothers of the missing Chibok school girls wipes her tears as she cries during a rally by civil society groups pressing for the release of the girls in Abuja on Tuesday.

More than 300 girls were abducted. Of that number, 276 remain in captivity and 53 escaped. Tuesday, an additional eight girls were abducted from a village near a terrorist stronghold in the area. The schoolgirls have been held for three weeks by the Muslim terrorist organization Boko Haram, which has killed thousands of Christians and Muslims in an attempt to bring strict Islamic law to all of Nigeria. It declared plans to sell the girls or have them married to its members. "We've always identified them as one of the worst local or regional terrorist organizations there is out there,'' Obama told NBC News. "And I can only imagine what the parents are going through.'' U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the kidnappings an "unthinkable tragedy'' and "an offense to the conscience of the world.'' "The threat by Boko Haram's leader to sell them in the marketplace reflects the utter absence of humanity,'' Pelosi said.

Mia Kuumba brandishes a wooden stick during a protest May 6 at the Nigerian Embassy in Washington against the kidnapping of 276 girls. Militants from the Boko Haram group kidnapped the teenage schoolgirls on April 14 in Chibok province, Nigeria.

Protesters have begged for international help, and some Nigerians blame their government. The government cannot sit back and watch how these little girls suffer. Their families are traumatized,'' said Nigerian Sen. Ali Ndume, who represents the region. "The government needs to do something extra, even if seeking external support, to ensure these girls are rescued." Edmond Keller, a UCLA political science professor specializing in Africa, said the episode is part of continuing low-intensity conflicts in the northeastern part of Nigeria, and Nigerians have regarded terrorist violence as commonplace. "It took something as dramatic as the kidnapping of these young women to really get people's attention,'' Keller said. "Nigerians themselves have been loudly complaining about the government not doing much, but they hadn't protested in the streets up until recently.''

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau

He did not see racism as a factor in the slow international reaction to the kidnappings, but he said that in general, the West is more concerned about human rights in Ukraine, Syria and other world hot spots than in Africa. "There's a certain amount of racism involved in the tendency to look upon African conflicts as being normal and being a part of the way Africans behave, as opposed to something whites need to be concerned with,'' he said. Girls from the Chibok Government Girls Secondary School are the latest victims in a long-running Islamist militancy straining relations between a north dominated by Muslims and a Christian-centric south. Boko Haram is especially opposed to educating girls. Its name translates as "Western education is forbidden."

More Nigerians beg for help for kidnapped girls

See also:

NIGERIAN GIRL DESCRIBES KIDNAP, 276 STILL MISSING
May 6,`14 -- The girls in the school dorm heard the sound of gunshots from a nearby town. So when armed men in uniforms burst in and promised to rescue them, at first they were relieved.

"Don't worry, we're soldiers," one 16-year-old girl recalls them saying. "Nothing is going to happen to you." The gunmen commanded the hundreds of students at the Chibok Government Girls Secondary School to gather outside. The men went into a storeroom and removed all the food. Then they set fire to the room. "They ... started shouting, `Allahu Akhbar,' (God is great)," the 16-year-old student said. "And we knew." What they knew was chilling: The men were not government soldiers at all. They were members of the ruthless Islamic extremist group called Boko Haram. They kidnapped the entire group of girls and drove them away in pickup trucks into the dense forest.

Three weeks later, 276 girls are still missing. At least two have died of snakebite, and about 20 others are ill, according to an intermediary who is in touch with their captors. There were reports Tuesday that another group of 11 girls had been kidnapped in the villages of Warabe and Wala in northeastern Borno state. State police officials at first denied to The Associated Press that the abductions had taken place. But later in the day the state police commissioner, Tanko Lawal, confirmed the kidnappings. A resident said the girls, ages 12 to 15, were dragged into the forest Monday night by men armed with AK-47s, according to local journalists.

The plight of the kidnapped girls - and the failure of the Nigerian military to find them - has drawn international attention to an escalating Islamic extremist insurrection that has killed more than 1,500 so far this year. Boko Haram, the name means "Western education is sinful," has claimed responsibility for the mass kidnapping and threatened to sell the girls. The claim was made in a video seen Monday. Amid growing outrage at the girls' prolonged captivity, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan Tuesday announced he has accepted a U.S. offer to help in the search, including security personnel and unidentified assets.

The British government has also expressed concern over the fate of the missing students, and protests have erupted in major Nigerian cities and New York. The 16-year-old was among about 50 students who escaped on that fateful day, and she spoke for the first time in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. The AP also interviewed about 30 others, including Nigerian government and Borno state officials, school officials, six relatives of the missing girls, civil society leaders and politicians in northeast Nigeria and soldiers in the war zone. Many spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing that giving their names would also reveal the girls' identities and subject them to possible stigmatization in this conservative society.

MORE

 

[AvgGuyIA]

Provide intelligence. No boots.

 

[NoNukes]

It is not up to the United States to take care of every problem in the world. If our allies get involved, that might be different.

 

[waltky]

Boots onna ground...

US Forces Are in Nigeria to Aid Search for Kidnapped Girls
May 08, 2014 ~ The U.S. military said almost a dozen staff officers were in Nigeria and would form the core part of the U.S. team to aid in finding nearly 300 schoolgirls who were abducted last month in northern Nigeria.

Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said the team is “sharply focused” on crisis and “moving as quickly as possible.” About 10 more members from AFRICOM will join the team within days. The team will be based at the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, and will help with communications, logistics and intelligence. Discussions about how to share information with the Nigerian government is ongoing. Parents of the kidnapped girls said troops had arrived on Thursday in Chibok on a mission to find the girls. "There are about three military helicopters hovering around our town and many soldiers have just arrived," said Maina Chibok, whose 16-year-old daughter is among the missing. "They are moving and advancing toward the bush. We hope they succeed in rescuing our daughters."

First ladies show support

U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama showed her support for the kidnapped girls on social media, posting a picture of herself on Facebook and Twitter, along with a message saying her thoughts and prayers were with the girls and their families. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also lent her voice to the international outcry on Wednesday, expressing her outrage and calling for action. "It's criminal. It's an act of terrorism and it really merits the fullest response possible. First and foremost from the government of Nigeria,” Clinton said.

South Africans, protesting the abduction of hundreds of schoolgirls and what protesters said was the failure of government to rescue them, march to the Nigerian Consulate in Johannesburg, South Africa

Earlier Thursday, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan pledged to find more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by Islamist rebels, as the hostage crisis overshadowed his opening address to a major conference designed to showcase investment opportunities in Africa's biggest economy. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Africa (WEFA) being hosted in the capital Abuja, Jonathan thanked foreign nations including the U.S., Britain, France, Canada and China for their support in trying to rescue the girls, who were kidnapped from a secondary school on April 14 by the Islamic militant group Boko Haram.

WEFA summit

In remarks during the WEFA summit, Jonathan thanked delegates for coming despite the danger posed by the militants, then quickly moved on to a speech about creating jobs in African economies. “As a nation we are facing attack from terrorism,'' Jonathan told delegates. "I believe that the kidnap of these girls will be the beginning of the end of terrorism in Nigeria.” Despite such pledges, Jonathan admitted on national television this week that he had no idea where the girls were. The recent kidnappings and numerous other attacks by Boko Haram have overshadowed Nigeria's hosting of the forum, an annual gathering of the rich and powerful that replicates the one in Davos, Switzerland.

Foreign aid

See also:

Girls Abduction, Crimes Against Humanity, says Nigeria Official
May 08, 2014 ~ An adviser to Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan says the abduction of the school girls and the increasing violence carried out by the Islamic militant group, Boko Haram, are crimes against humanity which have enraged Nigerians and the rest of the international community.

Reuben Abati says security personnel promised by the U.S administration will soon arrive in the country to help the West African country find and free the school girls abducted last month by the Islamic militants. He says Mr. Jonathan held discussions with world leaders including Prime Minister of China, Li Keqiang, France President Francois Hollande, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry who have promised security collaboration to combat Boko Haram’s terrorist activities. “The Nigerian government has received offers of assistance from the international community; some were direct offers, others involved the Nigerian president himself requesting for support,” said Abati. “We have the United State offering to support Nigeria to send a team of experts; intelligence and security experts to assist with the search of the girls…discussions are ongoing about the intervention of the Americans.”

China has offered to help improve Nigeria’s surveillance capabilities as well as training its military officials, Abati said, and noted the abduction of the school girls has not only been hard on the parents and their communities, but also has embarrassed the country. “There is a shared sense of outrage within the international community about this crime against humanity, because clearly the abduction of the girls, the threats to marry them off into slavery, is an affront against humanity,” said Abati. He declined to specify the arrival date of the external experts to help the country search for the abducted girls for security reasons. “From the tone of the conversation between Secretary of State John Kerry and President Jonathan, there was clearly a sense of urgency that this is not a task that can wait,” said Abati. “The British, and the French, and China also spoke with the sense of urgency. So, you are likely to see a situation whereby there would be a great multilateral effort to bring the nightmare that this abduction of the girls has caused to an end.”

Women attend a demonstration calling on the government to rescue the kidnapped school girls of a government secondary school Chibok, outside the defense headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria

Abati hailed continued security collaboration between the government of Abuja and Washington in the fight against terrorism in Nigeria. Some security experts expressed concern about cross-border terror activities also perpetrated by the Islamic militant group. Abati says the government in Abuja is working closely with its neighboring countries to find a solution to the cross-border crimes. “Our immediate neighbors that are involved include Cameroon, Chad and Niger. These neighboring countries work in collaboration with the security chiefs in Nigeria. What Nigeria is looking forward to and is working on is to further strengthen that cooperation,” said Abati.

Some Nigerians have been critical of the administration of failing to accept international community support immediately after the girls were abducted. But Abati says the government and the people of Nigeria are grateful for the international community’s support, which he says is a significant boost to the country’s efforts to find and free the abducted school girls. “We must all be united in fighting terror in fighting criminality, and in ensuring that the evil deeds of these criminals involved in this crime against humanity does not prevail in our environment,” said Abati.

Girls Abduction, Crimes Against Humanity, says Nigeria Official

 

[g5000]

The #BringBackOurGirls campaign has extended awareness of the kidnapping of over 200 Nigerial schoolgirls far outside the country’s borders. The latest word is that the girls are being sold to members of the terrorist group who kidnapped them, Haka Boram, as brides for $12 a pop. Protests urging the Nigerian president to recover the victims have been met with inaction, and there is a growing feeling that the government does not have the power to stop this human trafficking. Said one of the parents, "Since the government has disappointed us over the rescue of our children, we'll rather seek foreign intervention; for foreign countries to wade into the matter to rescue our daughters from the kidnappers."

So - should America intervene?

Is that to be our threshold for foreign intervention now? 200 people?

Don't let Obama Derangement Syndrome carry you to the point of retardation.

This situation is sad. Hell yes. Very sad. Very fucked up.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

I wish the parents of these girls were armed

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Why is this news today?

 

[PredFan]

Not only no, but hell no!

 

[boedicca]

Foreign intervention should be limited to situations in which the U.S. has a national security interest.

This sad situation doesn't qualify for that...but we should provide any satellite info we have that could help them locate the girls.

 

[deltex1]

Yes...with extreme violence and bad intentions.

 

[Katzndogz]

Why is this news today?

It is news because it is supposed to make Benghazi disappear. The kidnapping was a favor to obama and Hillary for keeping Boko Haram off the terrorist list.

 

[Sallow]

So long as the Nigerian government allows it..yes.

This sort of thing is in the vital interest of the United States Government.

And it puts on display that America is a force for good.

 

[frigidweirdo]

So long as the Nigerian government allows it..yes.

This sort of thing is in the vital interest of the United States Government.

And it puts on display that America is a force for good.

No it doesn't.

Yes, it might be in the US's interests, because hey, there's OIL in them there hills. Would the US give a damn if it were in a country without oil?

As for making the US look like a force for good, it might to some, to others it won't, especially to some Muslims who will use this against the US.
Also, if it goes wrong, who's going to get the blame?

The SAS are in there, I don't know who else, if it goes wrong it's not going to be the useless Nigerian govt that gets the blame.

 

[Sallow]

So long as the Nigerian government allows it..yes.

This sort of thing is in the vital interest of the United States Government.

And it puts on display that America is a force for good.

No it doesn't.

Yes, it might be in the US's interests, because hey, there's OIL in them there hills. Would the US give a damn if it were in a country without oil?

As for making the US look like a force for good, it might to some, to others it won't, especially to some Muslims who will use this against the US.
Also, if it goes wrong, who's going to get the blame?

The SAS are in there, I don't know who else, if it goes wrong it's not going to be the useless Nigerian govt that gets the blame.

Wanting women to get an education vs. those who don't?

Okay, some radical muslims may want to keep half the world's population uneducated, but, most people of all faiths think that is "evil". And if you want to remove "good" and "evil" from the equation, it's "progress" vs. "tradition".

And if it "goes wrong"? I think the blame goes squarely on the folks that kidnapped these women.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

If only the Benghazi consulate was staffed by Nigeria schoolgirls

Sent from smartphone using my wits and Taptalk

 

[TemplarKormac]

#BringBackTraditionalForeignPolicy
#EndHashtagDiplomacy