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Tag: 9/11

  • US remembers 9/11 terrorists’ attack victims

    US remembers 9/11 terrorists’ attack victims

    The United States (US) has said it will never forget the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorists’ attack.

     The terrorists killed nearly 3,000 people and injured over 6,000 others in the attack.

    “Today we honour their memories and stand with the families and friends of those who perished in New York City, Arlington, Virginia, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania,” Secretary of State Antony J Blinken said in a statement. 

    Blinken added that the men and women of the U.S. Department of State would also always remember the first responders who rushed into danger to save them. “We also remember our colleagues who were killed on this day in 2012 in Benghazi, Libya. Their bravery and sacrifice continue to be an inspiration for this Department and our nation,” he said. 

    Read Also: Two decades after 9/11

    The memory of those who perished on 9/11, Blinken said, is a reminder that those who commit acts of terrorism must be fought. 

    “In the years since, we have stood side by side with partners from around the world to end the scourge of terrorism and ensure terrorists are held accountable for their crimes. The United States will continue to defend our homeland, our people, and our allies,” the Secretary of State said.

  • 9/11: FBI’s Final Report

    Osama is not a product of Pakistan or Afghanistan. He is a creation of America. Thanks to America, Osama is in every home (today). As a military man, I know you can never fight and win against someone who can shoot at you once and then run off and hide while you have to remain eternally on guard. You have to attack the source of your enemy’s strength. In America’s case, that’s not Osama or Saddam or anyone else. The enemy is ignorance. And the only way to defeat it is to build relationships with these people, to draw them into the modern world with education and business. Otherwise the fight will go on forever.”  ¯ Greg Mortenson (Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time)

     

    Preamble

    In about two months time, most Nigerian Journalists will begin, as usual, to mimic and chorus the voices of their Western ‘superior’ counterparts on the tragic occurrence of 9/11, 2001. Precisely, on the 11th day of the coming September, that event will be 15 years old. Ever since, so many statements and counter statements, disclosures and revelations as well as analyses and interpretations, have been advanced by people who are directly or indirectly connected to the incident. The thoughts and views of different people from different parts of the world on that incident have remained as diverse as the interests they represent.

    Some (Nigerian non-Muslim) readers of ‘The Message’ column have queried the leaning of this columnist so much towards religion, particularly Islam. They have wondered why yours sincerely can hardly put pen to paper in this column without tilting towards Islam in one way or the other. That is like querying the snail on why it incessantly goes about with its inseparable shell.

    Perhaps, it may be necessary to make a clarification here that there is no columnist in the world without a particular interest that he or she represents. Let the doubting readers of this column endeavour to verify this assertion and they will discover that every newspaper columnist or radio broadcaster represents an interest about which he or she is reflectively passionate. What matters in such cases is the necessary application of professionalism. After all, while this Islamic column called ‘The Message’ occupies only one page weekly in ‘The Nation’ newspaper to educate Nigerians about Islam, many other newspapers allocate about five pages or at least three pages to the propagation of Christianity and the Muslims are not complaining. That clearly shows where religious tolerance or intolerance lies.

     

    Voice of the Voiceless

    As a veteran Journalist and a devout Muslim, yours sincerely chose to represent (in Nigerian media) the voice of the voiceless majority who happens to be the Nigerian Muslims. And that is without any prejudice to the media activities of a retinue of non-Muslim professional colleagues who also represent the voices of the various religious denominations to which they belong in their faith. For any or some of such colleagues to want to intimidate or blackmail this columnist therefore is the height of professional absurdity. A pot must not tag a kettle black.

     

    Nigerian Media’s Perception of Islam

    In Nigeria, Islam is seen in the media from the perception of the non-Muslim Journalists who dominate the pen-pushing profession. Thus such Journalists see everything about Islam from their own biased perception as they often accuse the Muslims of practicing their religion against the expectations of the non-Muslims.

    What most Nigerian Journalists refuse to understand is that Islam is neither a dogma like other religions nor a mundane ideology that can be manipulated at will. It is rather a divinely guided total way of life for all its committed adherents. Any misconduct of a Muslim therefore, does not equate Islam in any way. There are laws and there are law breakers everywhere in the world. To attribute the misconduct of certain Muslims to the fundamental norms of Islam is to deliberately exhibit mischief with impunity at its peak.

    As an informed Muslim, I do not query the use of anybody’s column to defend or protect his or her interest, whatever that interest may be. And in the same token, I do not expect any civilized reader or fellow journalist to query my choice of interest. Doing so may not only connote irritating ignorance, it may also amount to implacable provocation or unwarranted aggression which in itself is a euphemism for fanatical intolerance.

    You may not like my thoughts or views just as I may not like yours. But in as much as I do not accost you for holding your convinced views, you do not have any right to accost me for holding mine. That is the democratic norm to which every civilized modern person should adhere in a multi ethnic and multi religious society like Nigeria. It is the also the principle of fair play with which journalism should be practiced as a profession.

     

    FBI’s Disclosure on 9/11

    On Friday, June 10, 2016, the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released what can be termed as its concluding report on the 2001 disaster popularly known as 9/11. This can be found in Vol.52 Issue 22 of an American security journal called ‘The Onion’. Excerpts from the introduction to that report reads thus:

    “…..After 15 years of broadly targeting the 3.3-million-member community and extensively monitoring its activities, the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) declared an end Friday to its surveillance of Muslim Americans, saying its exhaustive study of their beautiful culture was finally complete”.

    Officials confirmed that the program was started in the fall of 2001 when federal agents, captivated by Islam’s complex history and rich spiritual traditions, redirected the full force of the bureau’s intelligence-gathering apparatus toward developing a more thoughtful, nuanced appreciation of the Muslim-American way of life. The Director of FBI, James B. Comey had the following to say recently when the latest report of the Bureau was about to be released:

    “We’d always known Islam was one of the great world religions, but it wasn’t until we recruited a network of 15,000 informants and infiltrated mosques all over the country (US) that we came to understand just how magnificent and fascinating it truly is,” said FBI director James B. Comey, who noted that agents gained a valuable and eye-opening understanding of Islam—while also learning a lot about themselves and their own faith in the process—after entering the Muslim places of worship to collect as much information as they could on the intriguing personal beliefs of the religion’s followers. “After analyzing the transcripts of thousands of phone calls and intercepting the communications of prominent Muslim-American leaders and academics, we’ve really come to admire their vibrant culture.”

    “The considerable amount of intel we’ve gathered and carefully pored over for the past 15 years has shown us that their faith and customs are really quite inspiring,” Comey added. “If there’s one thing we’ve taken away from all our surveillance, it’s what a glorious and enriching part of our world Islam is.”

     

    Explanation

    “According to sources within the bureau, the harvesting of internet data, widespread racial profiling, and the nationwide mapping of Muslim communities have allowed agents to closely observe the followers of Islam on an extremely personal level, thereby allowing them to develop a deep respect for the amazing ethnic and cultural diversity of the faith’s 1.6 billion believers, as well as the striking distinctions between the religion’s various sects, which, they stressed, went far beyond just Sunni and Shiite.

    Remarking on all the information they had gathered, FBI officials emphasized that adherents of Islam speak dozens of beautiful languages—Arabic, but also Urdu, Pashto, Farsi, Bengali, Javanese, and many others—and noted that agents came to treasure this linguistic richness after installing recording devices throughout Muslim-American communities and then surreptitiously listening in on Qur’anic study groups, prayer sessions, and social events.

    “Thanks to advances in video surveillance, we’ve been able to look inside Muslims’ homes and view some breathtaking calligraphy prints and hand-woven tapestries,” said former agent Casey Hanna, who fondly recalled assignments that allowed him to overhear moving recitations of the Hadith, which he was fascinated to learn come from an oral tradition and are considered to be the direct word of the Prophet Muhammad. “I went undercover in hundreds of Muslim-owned businesses and residences across the nation and was lucky enough to sample many variations on the aromatic stews and delectable desserts that serve as staples of halal cuisine—Arabian, North African, Indonesian. They were all delicious, and unlike anything I’d ever tasted.”

    “I’ll never forget this one instance when I closely trailed a New York shop owner for three straight years—his coffee was just spectacular,” Hanna added. “Muslims were the first people to drink coffee, you know.”

     

     

     Advanced Curiosity

    “After realizing they could not fully nurture their curiosity by limiting their study to Muslims in the United States, the FBI reportedly enlisted the help of the NSA to find out more about the incredible religion. Between 2002 and 2008, the bureau is known to have monitored 7,485 email addresses around the globe in order to learn answers to their many questions about Muslims’ compelling lives and rituals, from why they don’t eat pork, to what Muslim holidays are like, to why some Muslim women wear garments that cover their heads while others don’t”.

     

    Camey’s Revelation

    The Director, J. B. Comey, told reporters that the FBI also received information from the CIA, whose enhanced interrogation techniques and clandestine intelligence-gathering methods yielded many interesting revelations from Muslim sources around the world, such as the fact that Arabs make up only 15 percent of the global Muslim population, and that through most of history, women in Islamic societies actually had more property rights than women in the West.

    He said they thoroughly enjoyed studying “such a lovely people and such a lovely faith,” Comey explained that agents would often remove a Muslim citizen from their community and keep them detained for days, weeks, or even months on end to learn everything they could from them about Islam”.

    “There’s no way I could remember the names of all the Muslim citizens that our agents brought in to discuss the beauty of Islam with one-on-one, but rest assured that with their help, the FBI has gained a deep and illuminating understanding of Islamic culture,” said Comey, who noted that by combing through thousands upon thousands of citizens’ banking records, agents discovered with astonishment how some observant Muslims set up special loan payment plans to avoid paying interest, as they consider it usury, which is forbidden under Sharia law”.

    “It’s crazy to think about, but until little more than a decade ago, I had no idea there were Five Pillars of Islam that guided all Muslims’ spiritual lives. I also didn’t know anything about the multitude of Muslim contributions to mathematics and science that have been absolutely vital to the world. But that’s not to say they don’t value art, though. Poets like Rumi and Hafez drew upon mystical Sufist interpretations of the Qur’an to write verse that is every bit as sublime as, say, Keats or Coleridge. And don’t even get me started on the architecture.”

     

    Comey’s Conclusion

    In concluding the report of his team’s research and findings, FBI’s Director, James B. Comey told the American Muslims as follows:

    “As this program sadly comes to an end, I just want to thank Muslim Americans from the bottom of my heart for teaching us all about your faith and your culture,” he continued. “We’ve learned so much about you over the years. More than you could possibly imagine.”

     

    Observation

    From the foregoing, it can be vividly deduced that contrary to general global belief, Muslim terrorism in the US is more hypothetical than real. In other words, it is more of media propaganda than physical disaster. Another vital report from an FBI data summarized the scenario as follows:

    “Terrorism Is a Real Threat … But the Threat to the U.S. from Muslim Terrorists Has Been Exaggerated”

    The above conclusion seems to have brought to an end the 20th century view of a British intellectual but deified poet, Rudyard Kipling who in one of his poems once stated as follows:

    “…OH, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,“

    Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;

    But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,  When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth!”  If that poem was sensible to the Europeans of the 20th century, it has surely become anachronistic to the Europeans of the 21st century. Today’s world is a global village in which no part can claim to be an island onto itself.

     

    Conclusion

    If it could take the well educated people of the United States a whole length of 15 years of rigorous research to understand Islam despite the involvement of experts in many areas of human endeavours, one can imagine the number of decades it will take half-educated Nigerians to even think of sitting down to study the divine religion called Islam. Nigerians are only good in copying from other countries either evil acts or satanic means of becoming rich as quickly as possible. The thought of emulating decency from other lands is alien to Nigerian so-called elite. But no matter how long it may take, reality will one day dawn on Nigerians about Islam as it is now beginning to dawn on Americans. Bitter as it may sound in the ears of Nigerian pessimistic bigots, America may soon become the voluntary haven of Islam with or without bigotry of the rest of the world, Nigeria inclusive.

  • 9/11 and changing face of global terrorism

    9/11 and changing face of global terrorism

    In September 11, 2001, the world was in a state of confusion as news broke out about the vicious escapades of 19 deadly hijackers who hijacked four commercial passenger planes flying towards the east coast of the United States.

    According to BBC report, two of the aircrafts were deliberately flown into the two main towers of the World Trade Centre in New York, with a third hitting the Pentagon in Virginia while the fourth plane never reached its intended target. Reports had it that it crashed in Pennsylvania. It is believed that the passengers and crew overpowered the commandeers who wanted to expropriate the plane.

    Notwithstanding, the total loss of life on 9/11 was about 3, 000 including the 19 transgressors who forcefully took over the planes. The Osama bin Laden-led Al-Qaeda group is believed to be responsible for the barbaric act. The attack remains epochal in the nation’s history.

    There were series of major attacks carried out on US forces prior to the September 11 attack. Some reported cases include the shooting down of two American Black Hawk helicopters in Somalia in October 1993, killing of 19 Americans in a bombing incident at a military housing complex in Saudi Arabia in 1996, the bombing of US embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi in 1998 claiming 223 lives, and the suicide attack on the USS Cole in 2000 which killed 17 servicemen and wounded 39.

    No doubt, the quest to maintain peace and build the national security of the state has always been a politically sensitive issue. The greatest threats to national security have been political, social, economic, environmental, ideological and religious differences. These have given rise to insurgent groups over the years.

    Historically, insurgent groups have thrived in countries with weak government structures and unable to maintain national security. To call a spade a spade and not an agricultural instrument, there is no justification for any violent act resulting to the killings of innocent people whether in America or anywhere in the world. Hence the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York, the hitting of the Pentagon in Virginia and the crash in Pennsylvania are morally and politically wrong and must be condemned by every right thinking person.

    Although several scholars have argued for and against it, most prominent are the views of Mackinlay and Kicullun. Kicullun argues that insurgency has changed over time and space. Mackinlay, however, observed that nothing has changed about insurgency, whether from Mao to Osama bin Laden. Both sides of the argument cannot be ignored. For Kicullen, modern insurgency is viewed from four distinctive levels, which are the level of policy, strategy, operational art and technical technique.

    The then President of America, G.W. Bush, noted that the attack was “evil, and a despicable acts of terror”. He concluded that the US was “at war with a new and different kind of enemy”. Judging from this statement, it is obvious that the September 11 attack has changed the nature of insurgency and transnational terrorism owing to the fact that insurgency has moved from villages to cities. It also opened up an era of crisis, upheaval and militarisation of American society as well as a far-reaching overhaul of US military doctrine. More so, the attack marked the onslaught of the “Global War on Terrorism” (GWOT), used as a pretext and a justification by the US and its NATO allies to carry out a “war without borders”, a global war of conquest. Notwithstanding, Al-Quaeda is a US intelligence asset.  Osama bin-Laden was a once a CIA agent. He was 22 years old at the time he was undergoing guerilla training sponsored by the Central Intelligence Agency.

    Ironically, while Washington accuses Iran and Afghanistan of supporting terrorism, the historical record and evidence indelibly point to the “state sponsorship” of Al Qaeda by the CIA, MI6 and their counterparts in Pakistan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. This is a story for another day.

    Without dwelling much on the analysis, it is quite important that the world should be at peace with one another at this point in time when global tension is becoming ubiquitous. We must collectively unite to end violence and every act of terrorism.

    I have never read or heard of any religion that says we must kill one another. That is the more reason why the issue of insurgency and terrorism must be tackled without any religious sentiment so that the death of the September 11 heroes and those of the past attacks will not go in vain.

    Let all aggrieved persons seek legal means of getting their grievances settled. The law is clear on how to create a state or leave a union. A referendum will show and determine if truly their people want a state on their own or not.

    The killing of Osama by the Obama led administration ten years after is a clear indication that no one is above the law. The world can live in peace if only we can tolerate one another. The global crisis is caused by politics and it can best be settled with politics.

     

    • Sheyi is a Master’s student of Conflict, Development and Security, University of Leeds, UK

     

  • 9/11 and Nigeria’s war on terror

    As the world marks the 14th anniversary of the most deadly terror attack ever known which claimed the lives of 2,996 persons, it is critical for us to look inwards and correlate the events of that day to the acts of terrorism, particularly, religious extremism that has been on the rise in Nigeria since the beginning of this era.

    It is an undeniable fact that the four coordinated terror attacks by Al-Qaeda, a radical Islamic terrorist group on September 11, 2001, gave a new dimension and perspective to the concept of terrorism and gave credence to the fact that the world is indeed at war with itself.

    Prior to the September 11 attacks, which caused a devastating twin destruction on the World Trade Centre in New York City and the headquarters of the United States Department of Defence known as The Pentagon, the world had handled the issue of terrorism with kid gloves. With the attack however, countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded the powers of intelligence agencies to prevent terrorist attacks. Personnel were trained and sent on courses on how best to detect and nip terrorism in the bud. Despite these actions, terrorism grew in leaps and bounds with religious extremism as the basis for such which run contrary to the tenets of morality and dignity of the human person.

    Presently, terrorism is probably the greatest challenge besetting the human race as terror groups now use sophisticated and cutting edge technologies to perpetrate their inhuman activities.

    Nigeria, the giant of Africa and world’s most populous black nation has, since 2002, experienced an upsurge in terror activities, no thanks to the increased activities of the deadly Islamic sect, Boko Haram which has now gained global prominence as one of the deadliest terror groups in the world. Terrorism which was a little known before 2002 has become a vicious problem in Nigeria. It thrives because it is financed by those who have access to public funds as they now get foreign support from groups that share the same vision and mission statement.

    Particularly, the Boko Haram sect is said to be financed by major trans-border terrorist groups in Somalia, South Sudan, Egypt, Al-Qaeda, ISIS and Al-Shabaab as well as wealthy individuals within and outside the country.

    These increased funding of the Boko Haram sect has led to increased sophisticated weaponry at their disposal such that they are now well able to compete and sometimes defeat gallant soldiers.

    The activities of the sect took a new dimension with the bombing of the United Nations building in Abuja in August 2010, killing 23 people in the process. The effrontery with which they attacked the UN house was a clear indication of a group that was ready to go all out to achieve its aims and send message to the international community that they are a force to reckon with.

    Through to it, the activities of the sect has become a night mare for successive governments in Nigeria as the group has expanded it horizon to neighbouring countries of Cameroun, Chad and Niger and have covered more grounds than one would have imagined.

    It is estimated that the sect killed and maimed over 17,000 people since 2009 including over 10 people in 2014 alone. The rate at which the number of those killed increases has made Nigeria to be branded among the top five most terrorized nations of the world in recent rankings.

    From the foregoing, there can be no doubt about the fact that drastic measures must be taken to checkmate the excesses of this sect that is threatening our peaceful co-existence as a united country.

    With increased activities of the sect, government has had to allocate more resources to combat the menace and with retrogressive consequences on economic growth and national development.

    Perhaps the low level of education in the Northern part of the country could be attributed to be a contributory factor to the growth of the sect over the years as the terrorist group preys on the disillusioned Muslims of the north who are jobless and with little opportunities.

    The challenges posed by the Boko Haram sect are beyond the ordinary eyes and the solutions are scarce. Successive governments have tried. Their efforts have failed to yield any positive outcome.

    It is high time we looked away from militarism alone. Military force and power have proven to aggravate rather than alleviate or eliminate the danger. Hundreds of billions of tax payers’ monies have gone down the drain in the fight against the sect and rather than see positive results in the form of reducing their activities, more deaths and deadly attacks are recorded. Hence, there is the need to change the manner of approach.

    The giant stride of this new administration at nipping in the bud the activities of the sect is commendable. Team work rather than individualism is one of the ways at which the war against terror can be won. Hence liaising with neighbouring countries facing the same threat from the sect and the international community is a step in the right direction. Help from the international community must not be focused on military assistance alone. The sect seems to be enjoying the media attention that it presently receives. Efforts must be made at ensuring basic primary education and the ability to read and write for people to understand some basic things themselves and halt their evil education in the north.

    It is unfortunate that 14 years after the world’s biggest act of terrorism, the trend of terror seem to be on the increase. As we look back to the events of that day and to many of the events in the country that have claimed the lives of fellow country men and women and as we eagerly pray and hope that those being held captive especially the Chibok girls would be released soon, it behoves on us not to lose faith that the war on terror in Nigeria and indeed the world at large is a war that can be won with the right mentality.

    The world is sick but it is the occupant of the world that made the world to be sick. So if we can cure ourselves of our sickness and embrace peace and tolerance for one another, the sickness of the world would be cured and their lies our solution

     

    • Philip, a youth advocate and social commentator, writes from Delta State

  • 9/11, Nigeria and global security

    Yesterday  was the fourteenth anniversary of the bombing  of the Twin Towers  of New  York by  Al  Quada on September 11 2001,  in the first  year  of  President  George Bush the 43rd  President of the US  who  later launched the invasion of Iraq in 2003 to  oust Saddam Hussein the Iraqi president then on the false premise of his possessing  weapons  of  mass destruction. Since then a lot of water, bloody one at that   too,  has passed under the delicate and much disturbed bridge  of world peace . Quite  simply  and in  an almost  unbelievable way 9/11  has shaped the way  and manner of  world peace  and global  politics in a rather ominous manner not  the least of which are the twin problems of migration to Europe from  the Middle  East and  Africa and the rise  of  ISIS  and  Boko  Haram the deadliest terrorist  groups  of our age and time.

    It  is possible  for the world  to want to forget the horror of 9/11  since  the Americans  eventually captured and killed its engineer Bin Ladin the Saudi  contractor and  perhaps to want to  think  of the event as a closed  chapter. But  then history  is made of such  memories no matter how painful. The  fact  that the 200 Chibok  girls in Nigeria have  not been found and the daily throng of refugees fleeing to Europe on satellite TV, as  well as  the horrific and shattered spectacle of the bombing of Damascus, the ancient capital  of Syria show clearly  the scars of 9/11 as well as the fact that those at  the helm of world politics and diplomacy have not been able to keep a clean sheet on such  horrible events in the world  we live in today  .That  actually  is a tragedy  and an avoidable on at that as  I intend  to show  quite clearly  today.

    Let  me start  with  some  statements  that may sound initially alarming and  perhaps  startling but which  are really provable and ultimately true.  The  first  is that President Barak  Obama  of the US got his mandate as president in 2009 on the platter  of gold or disenchantment of the US electorate with war  and the rash invasion of Iraq by George  Bush and his accomplice on that task Tony Blair UK, Prime  Minister then. The  second is that Nigeria’s new  President  Muhammadu  Buhari  too defeated his  predecessor  and incumbent then because  Nigerians  were  fed up with the rise and bloody terrorism  of the Boko  Haram and the seeming inability  of the government of the day to guarantee the security of lives and property  of Nigerians in addition to the loss and  cruel   disappearance of the 200 Chibok girls  in our North  East. The  third is that world peace and security has been overshadowed by  the  pursuit  of civil  rights  in the west at the expense of global security as  if  such rights were a sine qua  non for world peace even in times of war and in the face of mindless, inhuman terrorism such as  ISIS  and Boko  Haram.  Let  me now explain  my motive  for these charged  statements.

    Starting with US President Barak  Obama  it is obvious  that the clock has turned full circle  for him in terms of war  and peace.  He  got elected in an anti war  electoral  mood and  proceeded to bring US troops back home in fulfillment of his campaign promise. He  embarked  on a diplomatic policy of Engagement with Russia which ended in a fiasco with Russia ending up attacking Ukraine and taking a chunk of that nation on a bizarre historical  excuse  and in blatant disregard of international law. The Obama Administration in  2011  encouraged the street protests  that toppled the despotic leaders  of Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya but left those who  demonstrated for pluralistic  democracy  at the mercy  of lawless Islamic militants who created anarchies lacking the capability to monopolise  legitimate violence to maintain any  semblance  of law  and other in these  nations. Egypt especially played  into the hands of its crafty and politically savvy army which  sided with the protesters at  Tahrir Square  and allowed  the election of President  Mohammed  Morsi  only to later depose him   for  treason and sentence  him to death to   impose a dictatorship worse  than any   Egypt   had ever  seen, since the army took power by sending the Egyptian Pharaoh away  since 1952 under the late and charismatic Gamal  Abdel Nasser.

    On  top  of all these is the crisis in Syria and the fact that Russia has refused to support the much  needed effort to remove the Syrian President Bashar Assad  to bring peace  to that ravaged nation. This stems from Russia’s correct perception of the Obama Engagement  policy as one that flinches when the going gets tough, leaving its adherents and supporters in the lurch and at the mercy of pitiless tyrants and blood thirsty religious militants. The  failure  to have the expected air  strikes in Syria  led  to the infilteration of the rebels  fighting Assad in Syria  and the rise of ISIS  at  great  jeopardy   to both regional and world peace and  security.  The  end product  of all  these is the disturbing sight  of fleeing refugees from Syria and the billions of dollars  now being contributed by EU  nations to receive them even  in the face of a grim danger  to European security given the religion of these  migrants and the prospect  of their  radicalization by militants once they  settle in Europe.  As  at  now the statement  is very  true as I read somewhere  that Europe  has been penetrated  in terms of capital, religion, labor, talent and knowledge and  it needs  to change its diplomacy and relationship with the rest  of the world to avert what has been called a looming clash  of civilization. That really is the lesson  to learn on this 14th  anniversary  of the horror  of 9/11.

    In  Nigeria Boko  Haram and its murder of innocent Nigerians as  well  as the disappearance of the 200  Chibok  girls remain  our own daily 9/11. This  is not to say  that the anti  corruption war and the expected list  of  Ministers  are not important. Indeed  they are the main political gruel we are digesting and regurgi gating for now  and  undoubtedly the political  environment will  be more  vibrant and less suspenseful  once the president announces his cabinet or gives  out the names of treasury  looters  and thieves. But  then the president  has given regional diplomacy a boost  by visiting Ghana and Togo and  firming up security  matters especially  on how  to demolish  Boko  Haram. But  it would  appear that the president speaks more on   domestic issues on foreign  visits than when in Aso  Rock  or in the country. The  reverse  should  be the case so that we do  not wash our dirty linen in public in foreign  lands.  Again  long live  the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

  • Why we moved against Boko Haram, by US official

    •Washington unhappy at corruption in Nigeria

    THE decision of the United States government to designate the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, a foreign terrorist organisation was aimed at providing Washington “tools that will assist the Nigerian government in addressing these problems,” the Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, in the Department of State, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, has said.

    Speaking on Channels Television yesterday, Thomas-Greenfield said the USA is already assisting Nigeria with equipment such as non-lethal materials and vehicles.

    “The military is working with the government on the list of requirements. We are also assisting with coordination tools so that various elements of the government security sector coordinate better with each other,” she said.

    She said it is important for Nigeria’s various security agencies to connect well if they must win the fight against terrorism.

    “One of our major failures after 9/11 was the fact that our security agencies did not have communications that allowed them to communicate cross-agencies,” she said of the experience of her country.

    She was unhappy about the current level of corruption in the country, saying: “This is something that embarrasses all Nigerians, I know. Given the fact that corruption has been pervasive in Nigeria for so many years; I think additional political will is required to address the issue.”

    Current effort by government to deal with the problem, according to her “is not cutting it, and it is not cutting it in many places in Africa, not just in Nigeria, and it is a deterrent to investments coming into this country.”

    “I know that there are people who want to invest but they changed their minds because they get pushed in a different direction because of corruption.”

    She said that but for corruption Nigeria ought to be “the African tiger in terms of economic growth.”