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Nigeria’s Christmas Present: Blown Up Christians-The New York Times screws it up again
FrontPage Magazine ^ | 12-30-11 | Raymond Ibrahim

Posted on 01/03/2012 5:07:31 AM PST by SJackson

Several churches in northern Nigeria were bombed December 25, in what has been described as “Nigeria’s blackest Christmas ever.” The attacks, perpetrated by the Muslim militant group Boko Haram, killed at least 39 people, “the majority dying on the steps of a Catholic church [in Madalla near the capital of Abuja] after celebrating Christmas Mass as blood pooled in dust from a massive explosion.” Charred bodies and dismembered limbs lay scattered around the destroyed church.

As usual, the world offered the requisite, if perfunctory, condemnations. Of note, however, is the word so many Western leaders, from the White House to the Vatican, used to characterize this latest Muslim attack on Christians—“senseless”—a word that implies no motive, no goal, no rhyme, no reason.

Although Boko Haram has been bellowing its straightforward and far from “senseless” goals for a decade—enforcing Sharia law and, in conjunction, subjugating if not eliminating Nigeria’s Christians—one can see why so many are decrying the Christmas Day bombings as “senseless”: the mainstream media’s coverage offers little by way of context or continuity concerning the attacks.

Consider the New York Times’ coverage, as reported by Adam Nossiter, in an article titled “Nigerian Group Escalates Violence With Church Attacks.” After stating the facts, Nossiter writes:

The sect, known as Boko Haram, until now mostly targeted the police, government and military in its insurgency effort, but the bombings on Sunday represented a new, religion-tinged front, a tactic that threatens to exploit the already frayed relations between Nigeria’s nearly evenly split populations of Christians and Muslims…

This sentence is fraught with problems. For starters, Boko Haram has been terrorizing Nigerian Christians for years, killing thousands of them, and destroying hundreds of their churches. Considering that just last Christmas Eve, 2010, Boko Haram bombed several churches, killing nearly 40 Christian worshippers, the New York Times’ characterization of these latest attacks as “represent[ing] a new, religion-tinged front” is not only unconscionable, but unprofessional.

Boko Haram—whose full name in Arabic is “People of Sunna for Da’wa [Islamization] and Jihad [Holy War]”—has, for a decade, been representing a very “religion-tinged front,” that is, an Islamic front, one that is hostile to all things non-Muslim, with Christians at the very top.

In just the last couple of months, Boko Haram has carried out attacks on dozens of other churches, bombing some, torching others. In one instance, they opened fire on a congregation of mostly women and children, killing dozens; they executed two children of an ex-terrorist because he converted to Christianity; they murdered Christian pastors in cold blood; they “went to shops owned by Christians, ordering them to recite verses from the Quran,” killing those who could not.Just last month, hundreds of armed Muslims from Boko Haram invaded Christian villages, “like a swarm of bees,” killing, looting, and destroying. At the end of their four-hour rampage, at least 130 Christians were killed. Forty-five other Christians in another village were slaughtered by another set of “Allahu Akbar!” screaming Muslims. Hundreds of Christians are missing; thousands have fled the region.

Of course, you would not know any of this reading Nossiter’s NYT report, which asserts that Boko Haram’s attacks on Christians are somehow “new.” The report willfully refracts reality through the approved paradigm of political-correctness—a paradigm that always minimizes or ignores Muslim persecution of Christians around the world (lest it appear to “side” with Christians), while always putting the best spin on Muslim violence (lest it appear critical of Islam).

Moreover, the assertion that there are “already frayed relations between Nigeria’s nearly evenly split populations of Christians and Muslims” suggests both camps are equally hostile—even as one seeks in vain for Christian terror groups that bomb mosques in Nigeria to screams of “God is Greatest!”

The report goes on to offer more canards, including the suggestion that the Nigerian government’s “heavy-handed” response to the terrorists is responsible for their terror:

Critics of the government campaign against Boko Haram say that the effort has not only failed but has increased the sect’s appeal, because the security forces’ heavy-handed tactics have given it new sympathizers.

The NYT report even manages to insert another mainstream media favorite: the myth that poverty-causes-terrorism—this despite the acres of evidence that many of the most notorious Islamic terrorists are well educated and come from wealthy families, and that the terrorists’ Christian victims are often worse off than they. Regardless:

The sect’s attacks have been further bolstered by festering economic resentment in the impoverished and relatively neglected north, which has an exploding birthrate, low levels of literacy and mass unemployment.

In short, Boko Haram’s actions have been anything but “senseless”: its terror campaign has seen Christians reduced in number—whether by killing them off or tormenting them into fleeing their villages—and has seen hundreds of churches eliminated. These results correspond quite well with Boko Haram’s own stated goals of creating an anti-infidel Sharia state.

“Senseless” is better reserved for the New York Times and other mainstream media that—by disinfecting, delousing, and deodorizing events until they correspond to the ideals of their writers and editorial boards—distort and lie about the truth.

The article originally appeared in Hudson New York.

Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: Click here.

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Article printed from FrontPage Magazine: http://frontpagemag.com

URL to article: http://frontpagemag.com/2011/12/30/nigerias-christmas-present-blown-up-christians/

Click here to print. Copyright © 2009 FrontPage Magazine. All rights reserved.


TOPICS: Editorial; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: bokoharam; christmasjihad; nigeria

1 posted on 01/03/2012 5:07:35 AM PST by SJackson
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To: SJackson

NYT does not screw up, it calculates if people know the facts, and if they can get away with telling the others a lie.


2 posted on 01/03/2012 5:10:33 AM PST by Doogle (((USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated)))
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To: SJackson
The Enemy is now ignored by Obama, the DOJ, and the MSM.

The victims and 'poverty' are blamed as the terrorists
are ignored, lauded, and then given money, weapons,
grenades, ..... and passports.

3 posted on 01/03/2012 5:11:58 AM PST by Diogenesis ("Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. " Pres. Ronald Reagan)
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

Islam’s War on Christmas

In Iraq, for example, all Christian services and masses were scheduled for daylight hours. Why? “Midnight Christmas Mass has been canceled in Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk as a consequence of the never-ending assassinations of Christians,” bluntly stated Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk in northern Iraq. In Egypt, where we are witnessing the outright, state-assisted genocide of the dwindling Coptic Christian population, churches were also threatened with violence. Christian prisoners in Pakistan, incarcerated for such crimes as blasphemy against Islam, were refused Christmas Day visits from their families.

Muslim Terror for Christmas

4 posted on 01/03/2012 5:20:36 AM PST by SJackson (The Pilgrims—Doing the jobs Native Americans wouldn't do !)
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To: SJackson

Look for Nigeria to go the way of Sudan, now divided up into two nations, with a new nation called “South Sudan” last summer.


5 posted on 01/03/2012 5:29:20 AM PST by Biggirl ("Jesus talked to us as individuals"-Jim Vicevich/Thanks JimV!)
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To: SJackson

I have yet to hear a single Muslim, Muslim leader or Imam speak out against those Christmas bombings. We hear that silence loud and clear.


6 posted on 01/03/2012 5:32:24 AM PST by Ge0ffrey
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To: Biggirl
Look for Nigeria to go the way of Sudan, now divided up into two nations, with a new nation called “South Sudan” last summer.

This is the only outcome that would allow survival of the Christian population.

7 posted on 01/03/2012 5:37:13 AM PST by PapaBear3625 (During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.)
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To: SJackson
Here we go again. 'Useful idiots' in the U.S. media, reflexively kowtowing to Muslims that they mistakenly consider an oppressed minority and thus worthy recipients of liberal 'journalist's' largess in the form of positive 'news' coverage and often other types of more tangible aid. What these blind, arrogant fools don't understand is that if violent Muslims, who are legion, ever gained control in the U.S., which is no longer merely a Muslim fantasy, they would eagerly behead some pipe-smoking liberal 'journalist' for simply not being Muslim (fat chance, Muslims can't touch alcohol) or converting to Islam - and think they are doing a service for their false god. Those self-satisfied fools at The New York Times deliberately soft-pedaling their coverage of Islamic butchery against innocent Christians in Nigeria and weaving a web of lies to make excuses for it may some day bitterly regret their conscienceless folly. Of course, should that day ever arrive, we'll all be either bowing to the Muslim moon god or losing our heads. With only that choice, I'll opt for the latter. Let's hope it never comes to that.
8 posted on 01/03/2012 5:49:19 AM PST by Jim Scott
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To: Ge0ffrey
I have yet to hear a single Muslim, Muslim leader or Imam speak out against those Christmas bombings.

To speak out is to go against the teachings in their holy books. It is the religion of “blow them to pieces”

The Koran:

Sura (2:191-193) - "And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution of Muslims is worse than slaughter of non-believers...and fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for Allah."

Sura (4:76) - "Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah…"

Sura (5:33) - "The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement"

Sura (8:12) - "I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them"

Sura (8:39) - "And fight with them until there is no more persecution and religion should be only for Allah"

Sura (9:14) - "Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to disgrace..."

Sura (9:29) - "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, even if they are of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued."

Sura (9:30) - "And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!"

Sura (9:123) - "O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness."

Sura (47:4) - "So when you meet in battle those who disbelieve, then smite the necks until when you have overcome them, then make them prisoners,"

Sura (61:4) - "Surely Allah loves those who fight in His way"

Sura (66:9) - "O Prophet! Strive against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be stern with them. Hell will be their home, a hapless journey's end

From the Hadith:

Muslim (1:33) - the Messenger of Allah said: I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah

Bukhari (8:387) - Allah's Apostle said, “I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah’”

Tabari 7:97 The morning after the murder of Ashraf, the Prophet declared, "Kill any Jew who falls under your power."

Ibn Ishaq: 327 - “Allah said, ‘A prophet must slaughter before collecting captives. A slaughtered enemy is driven from the land. Muhammad, you craved the desires of this world, its goods and the ransom captives would bring. But Allah desires killing them to manifest the religion.’”

Ibn Ishaq: 992 - "Fight everyone in the way of Allah and kill those who disbelieve in Allah."

The Koran and hadiths are replete with examples of Muhammad's barbaric behavior. Robert Spencer does a good job here explaining Islam - Blogging the Qur’an Start at the bottom.

9 posted on 01/03/2012 5:52:07 AM PST by FatherofFive (Islam is evil and must be eradicated)
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To: SJackson

These are NOT “senseless” attacks’ These are the actions of the “moderate” muslims.


10 posted on 01/03/2012 5:54:36 AM PST by freeangel ( (free speech is only good until someone else doesn't like it)
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To: Diogenesis
As it was ignored by Bush and friends.

Face it, the US wars in the Middle East have destroyed the last remnants of the Christian communities. We have served our Saudi masters well.

Just like the coming war with Iran will be for the Sunni Saudi’s against the Shia Persians.

11 posted on 01/03/2012 7:41:12 AM PST by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
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To: Jim Scott

There is another option.

Don’t go quietly.


12 posted on 01/03/2012 7:43:46 AM PST by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
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To: redgolum
the coming war with Iran will be for the Sunni Saudi’s against the Shia Persians.

GOOD!

Sounds like a perfect prescription for curing the "War on Terrorism".

Let's give it a couple of good kicks to get it started, then back off and let the murdering fleabags annihilate each other.

Meanwhile...Drill Baby Drill!

13 posted on 01/03/2012 7:51:38 AM PST by ROCKLOBSTER ( Celebrate Republicans Freed the Slaves Month.)
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To: Jim Scott

Sure, they’re Christians, but they’re Nigerian Christians. What’s next, worring about Sudanese Christians, or Vietnamese Christians. We’ll worry about it when it’s an issue here. Who knows, maybe there’ll be non-Muslims somewhere to worry about it with us.


14 posted on 01/03/2012 4:34:15 PM PST by SJackson (The Pilgrims—Doing the jobs Native Americans wouldn't do !)
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To: Ge0ffrey
I have yet to hear a single Muslim, Muslim leader or Imam speak out against those Christmas bombings. We hear that silence loud and clear.

I've not seen that either. Doesn't mean there aren't any, but I suspect a silent minority at best.

15 posted on 01/03/2012 4:36:10 PM PST by SJackson (The Pilgrims—Doing the jobs Native Americans wouldn't do !)
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To: Biggirl
Look for Nigeria to go the way of Sudan, now divided up into two nations, with a new nation called “South Sudan” last summer.

Certainly a possibility.

16 posted on 01/03/2012 4:37:35 PM PST by SJackson (The Pilgrims—Doing the jobs Native Americans wouldn't do !)
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