Posted on 05/11/2014 4:06:10 PM PDT by Nachum
Pressed by dozens of lawmakers from both parties in 2012 to put greater focus on growing violence by Boko Haram, the Islamist militant group that recently kidnapped 200 teenage girls in Nigeria, the State Department sent something akin to a form letter in reply.
The Oct. 12, 2012 letter from the State Department to the congressional officials downplayed the religious motivations of the group's violence. "Similar to the United States, Nigeria’s religious diversity is a source of strength, with communities working across religious lines to protect one another," the letter, obtained by Breitbart News, said.
The State Department's 2012 response to congressional pressure has emerged as a controversy after the kidnapping incident, which raised the profile of the loosely-banded, violent group. The response occurred during Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State.
After years of resisting, the State Department designated Boko Haram as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) in November 2013.
Republican lawmakers and aides said that their private conversations with State Department officials were even more dismissive than the letter itself. H.R. 5822, The Boko Haram terrorist designation act, was legislation introduced by House members on May 17, 2012 but the bill died in Committee seven days later. A similar bill in the upper chamber met the same fate in Committee on the same day.
“[State Department officials] would say, ‘What you’re doing is counter-productive here. It’s hurting our relationship with the Nigerian government. What you’re saying is not true,’” recalled a GOP aide who participated in the meetings.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
(July, 2012)
American Ambassador to Nigeria, Terrence McCulley, on Thursday called on the Federal Government to adopt a more targeted approach and combination of better services for Northern citizens as a way to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency.
He believes that this would enable government to attract more friends.
The envoy reiterated his home government’s objection to the use of “heavy-handed tactics” by security agencies in tackling security challenges.
“Nigeria’s government needs friends in the North and a more targeted approach to tackling Boko Haram,” McCulley said while delivering a paper entitled, ‘Leadership, Good Governance and Generative Cities as Prerequisite for National Development,’ at the distinguished public lecture organised by the Faculty of Engineering, University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, on Thursday.
The envoy said a population anywhere in the world that feels neglected by authorities tends to become complacent to criminal activities, noting that criminals and terrorists exploited such sentiments to unleash terror in protest.
He explained that contrary to dominant notion held in the media that the United States government believes poverty causes terrorism, the actual cause of terrorism was failure of governments to provide things citizens needed.
McCulley, who likened the Nigerian situation to the industrial decline and resultant high rate of criminality in New York city at the end of the 1970s crisis, noted that New York main train and bus terminus that were hangouts for the city’s version of “area boys” now provides efficient and safe daily 24 hours transportation for residents from Seattle, Portland and New York.
“Whenever and wherever a population feels its government is not providing an adequate quality of life, it becomes complacent to criminals, whether they are vandals or terrorists.
“I see some similarities between New York in the 1980s and Northern Nigeria today. The underlying cause in both cases was subtly different.
“New Yorkers in the 1980s and Nigerians in the North today felt betrayed by their governments, who had failed to provide the things citizens needed, like good schools and adequate infrastructure.
“Criminals and terrorists exploited these sentiments and took advantage of a dearth of government presence to grow their nefarious organisations.
“That is one reason why the U.S. supports the improvement of schools, health programmes and infrastructure in Northern Nigeria as part of comprehensive approach to the challenges posed by the Boko Haram sect.
“It is also a reason that the U.S. objects to the use of heavy-handed tactics by security forces taking on those challenges.
(snip)
A century ago liberalism was enamored by the notion of the “noble savage.”
Now they are enamored by the notion of the “peaceful muslim”.
Plus ce change....
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