“Nigerian soldiers angry about the killing of an officer shot dead more than 30 civilians Monday in a northeastern city long under siege by a radical Islamist sect,” mercurynews.com reports. “An Associated Press reporter in Maiduguri counted the dead while on a tour of the still-smoldering neighborhood Monday afternoon. The journalist saw no weapons or evidence that the dead belonged to the sect. A soldier nearby, who did not identify himself, claimed the attack was a response to a bombing nearby earlier Monday that he said killed a lieutenant. ‘They killed our officer!’ the soldier shouted. ‘We had no options!'” If you’re looking for “good guys” in this conflict, neither do you . . .
The killing of civilians comes as Boko Haram continues its bloody guerrilla campaign against Nigeria’s weak central government. The sect, whose name means “Western education is sacrilege” in the Hausa language of Nigeria’s north, is blamed for killing more than 690 people in drive-by killings and bombings this year alone, according to an AP count. The sect has demanded the release of all its captive members and has called for strict Shariah law to be implemented across the entire country . . .
Diplomats and Western security officials say Boko Haram has loose links to African terror groups al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and al-Shabab of Somalia.
Time to send in U.S. troops! Yes, well, no. Separating the “good guys” from the “bad guys” in so-called developing countries is like choosing between drowning and asphyxiation. The key to creating any kind of stability in these “war torn” areas is . . . hell if I no. But the key to creating instability is civilian disarmament.
When individuals are left defenseless, evil men of all stripes are free to intimidate, extort, wound, rape, torture, murder and generally, viciously, relentlessly exploit the populace’s weakness. And the evil men know it. Which is why they disarm the populace.
