The problem with getiing involved in these civil wars in third world countries is that in most cases both sides are the bad guys. Do we get American soldiers killed to help the dictator or the radical muslim rebels. Its a lose-lose situation. Now if we could terminate the bad guys on both sides though covert action by special forces teams I would be all for it
Rwanda was one of the places I was talking about in my post. It's not enough IMO, to say "women and children were macheted to death. We need to put the number down so the world understands the reality. "During the Rwandan Genocide the violence took a gender specific form, when over the course of 100 days, in an act of genocidal rape, up to half a million women were raped, sexually mutilated or murdered. " "Margot Wallström dubbed eastern Congo the "most dangerous place on earth to be a woman" and it is said that rape is simply a fact of life in the DRC. In October 2004 the human rights group Amnesty International said that 40,000 cases of rape had been reported over the previous six years, the majority occurring in South Kivu. This is an incomplete count, as the humanitarian and international organizations compiling the figures do not have access to much of the conflict area; only women who have reported for treatment are included. It is estimated that there are as many as 200,000 surviving rape victims living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo today. A 2011 report recorded that 1,000 women had been raped daily" They aren't going to solve it themselves. There is also a self-perpetuating issue in that children are born out of some of the rapes and more starvation occurs as a result. I really don't know the answer but our country and others have taken action for less. Eliminate the leader and their immediate soldiers. Cut off their money supply. Cut off their ability to communicate with the outside world. The fear element is now in their hands, not ours. Big mistake. The nation, IMO, is not split in terms of true desire but out of fear and access to basic needs. The most recent video shows the kidnapped girls dressed in muslin outfits and reciting muslim prayers. They were Christian just a month ago. Do you really think they converted because the spirit of allah moved them?
After some reading today, apparently this is exactly the issue. This group has been around for about five years. During that time, Nigerian officials have probably butchered as many innocent people as Boko Haram. In a situation such as this, we would normally support the government, but that's not going to be any better for the people of Nigeria the way government officials use their police and military forces to brutally enforce their will upon people in an indiscriminate fashion. Now, Al Qaeda is distancing itself from this group after the latest turn of events. You know you're off the deep end when the members of Al Qaeda say, "Whoa, these guys are crazy. We don't want to associate ourselves with their brand of radical thinking."
Also, every time I see the words "Boko Harem" I reflexively start humming "a whiter... shade of pale..."
