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In liberty,
Senator Rand Paul
Peter Martori: USARAF trains Nigerian Ranger Battalion
for full spectrum operations
By Mindy Anderson,
U.S. Army Africa Public Affairs
For the first time, U.S. Army personnel
will travel to Africa to train a Nigerian Ranger Battalion for decisive
action, meaning the training they receive will help the Nigerian Army counter
a real threat within their country.
Normally, USARAF partners and trains
battalions to go on peace keeping missions for the UN, but at the request of
the Nigerian government, they along with a mix of Special Forces and general
purpose forces from the National Guard and active duty are all coming
together to provide full-spectrum operational training for the 650-man ranger
battalion.
'What we're doing with the Nigerian Army
is helping them take a ranger battalion that already exists and provide
infantry skills to enable them to go counter a threat within their country,
and it is not peacekeeping -- it is every bit of what we call decisive action,
meaning those soldiers will go in harm's way to conduct counter insurgency
operations in their country to defeat a known threat, and it's all purely
funded by the Nigerians,' said Col. John D. Ruffing, chief of USARAF's
Security Cooperation Division. 'So, they asked us for assistance, and we
tailored a package that we agreed on and they influenced and help us put in
parameters to work with.'
In September 2013, Maj. Liam Connor,
West Africa Desk Officer escorted the Nigerian Directorate of Training to the
U.S. Army Ranger School at Fort Benning, Ga.
'Following the visit, the Nigerian Army
came back to us with a Ranger Training/Advanced Infantry Training request,'
Connor said. 'We worked for several months to come up with a program of
instruction that stayed within the limitations of the almost $400,000 the
Nigerian Army would provide us. This training was specifically requested to
take them out of a peacekeeping mission set putting them more in a decisive
action set to defeat and counter terrorist Boko Haram.
There are six military-to-military
events currently taking place in Nigeria to assess and understand how the
unit works.
'It is a formed unit, but is a newly
formed unit within the past few months,' Connor said. 'Our team's on the
continent trying to understand their current level of operations, their daily
battle rhythm, and overall capabilities. Then, beginning in two weeks we will
have a team of 12 individuals go to the continent for 35 days to train them
on basic and advanced infantry tactics.'
The military-to-military events are not
training events, they are purely familiarization practices, said. Maj. Albert
Conley III, SCD Staff Officer.
'We're showing them our ethics program
and letting them revisit their own ethics program so they can conduct a range
and show us how they can conduct a range,' Conley said. 'Right now with the
engagements we've already done, we have learned they are very receptive to
everything that we're discussing with them; they are very good at land
navigation; they are a very competent unit with all the basic skills; and we
are helping them sharpen their skills. For example, we have discussed with
them our system of having an arms room so every soldier can be assigned their
own weapon vice just going in on a daily basis and grabbing a new weapon that
is not tailored to the individual. '
Additionally, the Nigerian Army has
allocated 40 of its officers and noncommissioned officers to serve as cadre.
'This is a huge benefit that we're able
to produce not only a battalion but also produce the Nigerian capacity to
help with training themselves,' said LTC Vinnie Garbarino, USARAF's
International Military Engagements Officer. 'I think this is going to be the
first of a couple of battalion training efforts that the Nigerians are going to
undertake, so training their own trainers is huge because it offsets the
student to instructor ratio. Our 12 guys don't go very far, but when you add
40 competent Nigerian cadre members to the equation -- they are doing quite a
bit of the heavy lifting. A lot of the military-to-military familiarization
currently going on is with the cadre at that battalion so when we do get into
the training portion, none of the concepts and tasks will be new.'
A lot of the tasks are modeled off of
the tasks from the U.S. Ranger School since that's what the Nigerians saw at
Fort Benning.
'We will provide fundamentals of
patrolling, small unit tactics, ambush/raid attack, movements of contact,
night operations as opposed to the more traditional UN focused peace keeping
tasks like patrolling, cordon and search, and establish checkpoints,'
Garbarino said. 'We want these soldiers to take the fight to Boko Haram in
the restricted terrain and really eliminate the threat within their borders
so they can get back to peacekeeping operations.'
This battalion is being trained at the
Nigerian Army Training Center.
'We're looking at future opportunities
with this training center because they're looking at roughly 7,000 Nigerian
soldiers between now and September rotating through,' Garbarino said.
'Training a battalion at a time is great, but if we can hit the institutional
piece there we increase the aperture of how many Nigerians we are able to
influence in a shorter period.
In addition to the pre-deployment
training provided, Connor said the Nigerian Army's Training Center also
conducts regular courses on counter terrorism that looks very much like
advanced infantry training courses.
'These POIs run anywhere from a two- to
six-week course, and is another way for us to engage and interact more with a
larger population of Nigerian forces rather than just one battalion,' Connor
said.
What USARAF is doing with the Nigerian
Ranger Battalion is one small piece of a greater effort with multiple
activities that are linked together to achieve a shared vision.
'We're helping Nigeria and its neighbors
to develop Boko Haram strategy, so when getting permission from the
Department of State, part of our measures of effectiveness had to be
explained to them,' Conley said. 'Measures of effectiveness with the Nigerian
rangers that are in sync with what's going on regionally such as a reduction
of suspected human rights violations; increased engagement with Boko Haram by
the Nigerian Military; and increased cross border coordination between
Nigeria and partners are the end state of where we want to be.'
'The Nigerian Army, Conley said, is one
piece of that; increasing the cadre at the Nigerian Training Center is
another piece of that so it's building a capability and at some point
building a staff capability and a cross-border capability for Nigeria and its
neighbors to help facilitate everything.' 'The key is they have to create the
strategy. It can't be a U.S.-directed strategy so we are helping them
facilitate the creation of strategy, development of a strategy, and then once
they do that, help modify that strategy to make sure it's hitting the end
states everyone wants.
Garbarino said another part of what
USARAF is doing is identifying capabilities and requirements of Nigeria and
its neighbors to combat Boko Haram threats.
'For example, helping them develop an
intel picture so they can see forward to conduct operations in the right
place at the right time to get at the threat,' Garbarino said. 'Showing them
how to share that information regionally so they're not just chasing threats
out of Cameroon and creating a worse situation in Chad or Nigeria will allow
for complimentary effects regionally through what we're doing with the
individual countries.'
As the capabilities continue to grow in
Nigeria they can see to it, sustain it, and share that information with their
partners to get at the containment piece then they are postured to defeat the
threat.
'And this is more difficult than it
sounds,' Conley said. 'It sounds easy but there's a lot of coordination. It's
hard enough for a country to share intelligence within itself because it's
hard to disseminate intelligence on a national level. What we're trying to
help them do is not only share information with themselves, but share
information with their neighbors. And not only are we asking them to
disseminate information with their neighbors, we're asking them to do it near
real time so it has to be responsive and immediate so they can action on it
-- it's a difficult thing and requires a lot of preparation.
PETER MARTORI: While you sleep...
Islamic Attacks on Christian
Freedom and Democracies : people wake up!!!!
Ulises Larramendi <While you sleep...
Islamic
Attacks on Christian Freedom and Democracies : people wake up!!!!
May we talk rationally about Islamic
extremism now?
See also
May 9, 2014
Well, we can officially add Boko
Haram as
a terrorist organization.
The reluctance to add Boko Haram by the
world community and the United States as a terrorist organization has allowed
the extremists to operate under the radar. It is difficult to focus on a
specific reason why Boko Haram has so quickly emerged as such a huge threat
in Africa, but they have passed all others in violence and chaos the last
couple of years.
This minority terror cell with dotted
ties to al-Qaida has leap frogged over all other groups that can pose such a
destabilizing force in Africa. The sheer magnitude of the atrocities being
now committed in Nigeria is proof positive that things are quickly spiraling
out of control.
Violence against Christian interests has
long been a problem in Africa as the nation of Sudan is a prime example.
Other countries as Uganda and Central African Republic have seen increases of
Islamic extremists becoming more aggressive in their radical philosophy.
Since Christmas there has been a
tremendous upsurge in violence by Islamic fundamentalists wanting to
implement Sharia law as a goal for the violence.
Islamic extremists known as Seleka at
the beginning of last year overthrew a majority Christian government and
began a systematic carnage against Christians in the Central African
Republic. There was not that much condemnation of Seleka strong arm action
that placed this violent Islamic minority in control of a Christian majority
in the CAR. Ugly things were bound to happen and it did.
What happened in the CAR could happen in
any African country. The way Seleka was able to usurp control is a dire
warning to the rest of the world.
Boko Haram is connected economically,
ideologically, and militarily to other violent groups supporting terrorism.
This terror network had better be dealt with quickly.
Africa has historically been a location
of deadly violence, some ethnically inspired, some political, and some
religious.
The rise of Boko Haram’s ability to
forcefully implement a rouge government in the CAR was not handled firmly at
all last year. Even when atrocities against Christians were clearly taking
place, the international community with America included really showed little
interest in doing anything.
As with any other bullying, this lack of
resolve encouraged Boko Haram to use its terrorist arm back into Nigeria,
another Christian majority nation that Boko Haram believes it could intimidate
into becoming a Sharia dominated country. The radicals have only increased
their organization and sophistication, perhaps in an effort to emulate
al-Qaida.
One can wager that the goal of Boko
Haram will enter also into Cameroon and extend their violence there.
The military weaponry of Boko Haram has
become a major concern as this renegade group has assembled an arsenal that
can rival some of the local armies.
Boko Haram was founded by Mohammed Yusuf
in 2002 with a goal of establishing a “pure” Islamic state ruled by Sharia
law in Nigeria. “Westernization” of Nigeria is the reason for the resistance
as the group is known for attacking Christians, government targets, bombing
churches, school, police stations, and kidnapping western tourists.
Violence attributed to Boko Haram has
resulted in the deaths of over 10,000 people between 2002 and 2013.
Failing to designate Boko Haram as a
terrorist organization by the United States fulfilled a strategy not to make
Boko Haram a magnet for other Islamic fundamentalists. America ‘s reluctance
to even use the term Islamic terrorists in its communications appears to be
more of a hopeful than realistic approach to dealing with Islamic
terrorism.
The United States in not alone. The
world community has taken practically a conciliatory stand involving Islamic
terrorism and being able to tell the difference among moderate or radical
brands of Islam.
While our State Department labeled the
Muslim Brotherhood “moderates”, hundreds of the Muslim Brotherhood are
currently facing executions in Egypt for high treason. It appears the
American government has difficulty being able to tell the difference from a
moderate and radical.
There are fundamentalists of Islam
looking to install Sharia law by violence if necessary. What America and the
world need to recognize is what brand of Islam they are really dealing with
and not go by their own perceptions established in the western culture.
There are distinctions among secular
Muslims, liberal Muslims, moderate Muslims, fundamentalist Muslims or radical
Muslims.
‘They
Are Slaughtering Us Like Chickens’
As happens at Christmas every year throughout the
Muslim world, Christians and their churches were especially targeted—from
jihadi terror strikes killing worshippers, to measures by Muslim authorities
restricting Christmas celebrations.
Some incidents follow:
Iraq: “Militants” reported the Associated
Press, “targeted Christians in three separate Christmas Day bombings in
Baghdad, killing
at least 37 people,
officials saidWednesday.
In one attack, a car bomb went off
near a church in the capital’s southern Dora neighborhood, killing at least
26 people and wounding 38, a police officer said. Earlier, two bombs ripped
through a nearby outdoor market simultaneously in the Christian section of
Athorien, killing 11 people and wounding 21.”
Iran: Five Muslim converts to
Christianity were arrested from a house-church during a Christmas
celebration. Plain clothes Iranian security authorities raided a house where,
according to Mohabat News, “a group of Christians had gathered to celebrate
Christmas on Tuesday, December 24.” Before
arresting the five apostates, authorities “insulted and searched those in
attendance, and seized all Christian books, CDs, and laptops they found. They
also took the Satellite TV receiver.” The original report received by Mohabat
stated: “These Christians had gathered to worship
and celebrate [the] birth of Jesus.”
Aceh is the “only province in
predominantly Muslim Indonesia that is allowed to implement a version of
Islamic Shariah law.”
Kenya: “Youths,” reported Reuters, “threw
petrol bombs at two Kenyan churches on Christmas day … in the latest bout of violence
against Christians on the country’s predominantly Muslim coast.” The attacks
occurred “in the early hours of December 25after churchgoers held
services to usher in Christmas.” The churches were located in Muslim-majority
regions. One church was “completely destroyed.”
Somalia: The more “moderate” government—as it is
often portrayed in comparison to Al Shabaab (“The Youth”) opposition—banned
Christmas celebrations. Hours before Christmas Day, the Ministry of
Justice and Religious Affairs released a directive banning any Christian
festivities from being held in the east African nation. In the words of one
ministry official: “We alert fellow Muslims in Somalia that some festivities
to mark Christian Days will take place around the world in this week. It is
prohibited to celebrate those days in this country.” All security and law
enforcement agencies were instructed to quash any Christian celebrations.
Pakistan: During Christmas Eve services, “Heavy contingents of
police were deployed around the churches to
thwart any untoward incident.” In some regions, “prayer service at major
churches focused on remembering the Pakistani Christians who lost their lives
in terror attacks.”
For example, three months earlier,
Islamic suicide bombers entered the All Saints Church compound in Peshawar
following Sunday mass and blew
themselves up in
the midst of some 550 congregants, killing some 130 worshippers, including
manySunday school children, women, and choir members, and injuring
nearly 200 people.
Even in Western nations like Denmark, Christmas Eve witnessed Islamic
demonstrations and cries of “Allahu Akbar” (or “Allah is greater”).
Also in December, Syria’s Greek-Catholic Church declared
that it had three
“true martyrs”—men
from the small town of Ma’loula, an ancient Christian site where the
inhabitants still spoke the language of Christ.
According to Asia News,
“When the town fell [in September, to
al-Qaeda linked rebels], a climate of fear was imposed… When three men
refused to repudiate their religion, they were summarily executed in public,
and six more were taken hostage. This was followed by a failed attempt by
Syrian government forces to retake the town.”
In the words of Patriarch Gregorios III
to Pope Francis in a meeting: “Holy Father, they are true martyrs. Ordered to
give up their faith, they proudly refused.
Three others however gave in and were
forced to declare themselves Muslim, but later returned to the faith of their
ancestors.”
According to the families who fled
from Ma’loula, “some of their Muslim neighbors took
part in the attack that devastated this historic village where people still
speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Muslims are
approximately one third of the population of the village…”
The rest of December’s roundup of Muslim
persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to)
the following accounts, listed by theme and country in alphabetical order,
not necessarily according to severity.
Islamic Attacks
on Christian Places of Worship.
Egypt:
After a Coptic Christian priest from the
village of Tarshoub, Upper Egypt, left to service a new location and a new
priest was sent to Tarshoub,
The Christian Post reported that
Christian villagers were “getting close to the New Year celebrations and
Christmas, and yet they are not able to open the church…. security
authorities have not arrested the aggressors, while Copts were forced to
close the church for fear of more attacks, especially in light of continued
incitement by the Muslim Brotherhood.”
Indonesia:
leaving thousands of Christians without
a place of worship.
First, claiming that the existence of a
Protestant church in North Sumatra was illegal, hundreds of Muslims belonging
to the Islamic Defenders Frontattacked and disrupted
its Sunday services, creating so much havoc that police had to
escort Christians home.
Then, two new churches—one in West Java,
the other in South Sulawesi—were sealed off.
The Sulawesi church was subsequently
demolished by authorities.
A few days later, two more churches near
Jakarta were forced to stop holding services.
According to International Christian Concern,
“The reason behind this month’s
rash of church closures, especially after seven months of relative quietness,
is not exactly clear.
It may be that the coming
Christmas holiday has ignited always simmering anti-Christian sentiment among
radical groups.
In 2000,
16 were killed by bomb attacks on
churches over the Christmas holiday.”
Russia:
in a Muslim-majority republic in Russia,
according to Asia News:
“Churches burned, attacks foiled
and increased pressure on Christians to convert to Islam.
In Tatarstan —
autonomous republic of the Russian
Federation, with a Muslim majority—
the extremism alarm is
increasing.”
Although the culprits setting fire to
churches are “unidentified extremists,” Father Dmitri Sizov, pastor of
Pestrechinsky, said that “the whole community knows that it is the work of the Wahhabis [Islamic literalists]”who “roam, inviting the faithful to convert
to Islam.”
But “the priests remain silent
because they are afraid of being accused of
incitement to religious hatred,” added Fr. Dmitri.
Syria:
Islamic rebel forces fired multiple
mortar shells on a church in the southern province
of Daraa, killing
12 people and injuring many others, including
church volunteers who were there distributing charity aid to the locals.
Separately, five young children were killed when rebels fired two rockets at
a Christian school.
According to the Patriarch of the
Church of Antioch, more than 450,000 Christian Syrians have been displaced from the conflict, and more than a thousand have
been killed.
Islamic Attacks on Christian Freedom
and Democracies :
Apostasy, Proselytism, and
Dhimmitude
Cameroon:
David Dina Mataware, a Christian
missionary, was slaughtered by neighboring
Nigeria’s Islamic group Boko Haram.
On the same day and in the same area
that the missionary’s murder took place, a French priest, Father Georges
Vandenbusch, was also kidnapped.
Egypt:
“The nation’s most well-known convert
from Islam” to Christianity was arrested, including for allegedly inciting
“sectarian strife,” and “is
likely being tortured,” reported Morning News.
Bishoy Armia Boulous, 31—popularly known
by his former Muslim name, Muhammad Hegazy—was arrested while in a café.
Authorities claim that he was working with a Coptic satellite station to
create a “false image” of violence against Christians in Minya, Upper Egypt,
where attack on Copts are most common.
However, human rights activists close to
Bishoy say “his arrest had nothing to do with any reporting work but
constituted retaliation for becoming a Christian” and possibly for
evangelizing to Muslims.
Iran:
According to a source assisting the
family with advocacy, “They confiscated her laptop computer and Christian
materials…
While the secret police were in
her home they were yelling at her and doing their best to scare her.
This really frightened the children,
Rebekah and Adriel” and was apparently meant to create enough “fear to
silence them.”
The raid came after the imprisoned
evangelical leader—and former Muslim—was told by a court to remain behind
bars because he “did not change.”
Syria:
The anti-Christian strictures of Sharia,
or Islamic law, continued to be applied onto Christians by Islamic rebels.
According to Agenzia Fides,
“Kanaye [a Christian region] has been invaded by Islamist militants that terrorize the population, threaten
a massacre and
have imposed the Islamic law… This has become a pattern that repeats itself
and that in recent weeks has focused on a number of Christian villages: armed
guerrillas penetrate into the village, terrorize civilians, commit
kidnappings, kill, sow destruction.”& Father George Louis of the village
of Qara, which has been devastated and burned, explained: Maalula [the
aforementioned Ma’loula], Sednaya, Sadad, Qara and Deir Atieh, Nebek: armed
jihadists target a village, they invade it, kill people, burn and devastate
it.”
Turkmenistan: Police and Secret Service
agents in Dashoguz, a northern city,
An official of the Department of
Religious Affairs, who is also an imam at the local mosque, went on to inform
the pastor that his faith “is wrong” and warned him to convert to Islam,
adding “Christianity is a mistake … it’s not a religion, but a myth.”
Moreover, Christians practicing hymns for Sunday service were told
by officers that “the songs of praise to God are banned here.” Adds Asia
News: “Meanwhile, an increasing number of people are being incarcerated for
crimes of opinion and defense of religious freedom.”
Carnage
of Christians
Central African Republic:
In just two days of violence, at least
1,000 people were killed in Bangui, CAR’s capital, following the chaos that
has engulfed the nation afterSeleka,
a coalition of Muslim militia, whose members include many foreigners, ousted the Christian president
—the nation is Christian-majority with a
significant Muslim-minority— and installed a Muslim ruler.
Because some Christians tried to
resist with violence, killing some 60 Muslim males in combat, the Islamic
group “retaliated on a larger scale against Christians in the wake of the
attack, killing
nearly 1,000 men
over a two-day period and systematically looting civilian homes.
A small number of women and children
were also killed,” reported Amnesty.
Tens of thousands of Christians fled from
machete-wielding Muslims, many now living
in desperate conditions around churches
and bishoprics.
“We have had enough of Seleka
killing, raping and stealing,”
said another, adding that he was not
sure whether he could ever go back and live among Muslims.
“We are angry,” he said.
“The Muslims should go back where they
came from.”
Nigeria:
Islamic Fulani herdsmen killed
at least 205 Christian farmers in the latter half of 2013,
while ten thousand more Christians were displaced and many of their churches
destroyed or closed.
As for motive, Christian
leaders, “had no doubt the Muslim assailants
aimed to demoralize and destroy Christians,” said Morning Star News.
Several of the attackers appear to be mercenaries from outside the area, explaining how the Fulani
farmers became so heavily armed. “Life has become unbearable for
our church members who have survived
these attacks, and they are making worship services impossible,” said a Roman
Catholic bishop.
Another area Christian leader said
that “Many of our Christian brethren have been killed.
The Muslim gunmen that are
attacking our Christian communities are numerous;
they are so many that we can’t count
them. They are spread across all the communities and unleashing terror
on our people without any security resistance.”
About this Series
The persecution of Christians in the
Islamic world is on its way to reaching pandemic
proportions. Accordingly, “Muslim
Persecution of Christians” was developed to
collate some—by no means all—of the
instances of persecution that surface each month. It serves two purposes:
1) To document that
which the mainstream media does not:
the
habitual, if not chronic, persecution of Christians.
2) To show that such
persecution is not “random,” but systematic
and interrelated —that
it is rooted in a calculated and strategical agenda plotted in
the mosques with the objective of conquering and dominating -- by all
means -- the most of humans on this planet their goal is also to impose
worldwide the Sharia archaic and retrograde
"law"
Accordingly,
whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits
under
a specific theme, including :
hatred
for churches and other Christian symbols;
sexual
abuse of Christian women;
forced
conversions to Islam;
apostasy
and blasphemy laws that criminalize and punish with death those who “offend”
Islam;
commit
thefts and plunder in lieu of jizya (financial tribute
expected
from non-Muslims);
overall
expectations for Christians to behave like cowed dhimmis, or
second-class, “tolerated” citizens;
use
ofviolence and murder.
Sometimes
it is a combination of both ...
Because
of these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities,
languages,
and locales—from Morocco in the West, to India in the
East — it should be clear
that one thing alone binds them:
the
fake or pseudo religion Islam — whether the strict
application
of Islamic
Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it.
>
May we talk rationally about Islamic
extremism now?
See also
May 9, 2014
Well, we can officially add Boko
Haram as
a terrorist organization.
The reluctance to add Boko Haram by the
world community and the United States as a terrorist organization has allowed
the extremists to operate under the radar. It is difficult to focus on a
specific reason why Boko Haram has so quickly emerged as such a huge threat
in Africa, but they have passed all others in violence and chaos the last
couple of years.
This minority terror cell with dotted
ties to al-Qaida has leap frogged over all other groups that can pose such a
destabilizing force in Africa. The sheer magnitude of the atrocities being
now committed in Nigeria is proof positive that things are quickly spiraling
out of control.
Violence against Christian interests has
long been a problem in Africa as the nation of Sudan is a prime example.
Other countries as Uganda and Central African Republic have seen increases of
Islamic extremists becoming more aggressive in their radical philosophy.
Since Christmas there has been a
tremendous upsurge in violence by Islamic fundamentalists wanting to
implement Sharia law as a goal for the violence.
Islamic extremists known as Seleka at
the beginning of last year overthrew a majority Christian government and
began a systematic carnage against Christians in the Central African
Republic. There was not that much condemnation of Seleka strong arm action
that placed this violent Islamic minority in control of a Christian majority
in the CAR. Ugly things were bound to happen and it did.
What happened in the CAR could happen in
any African country. The way Seleka was able to usurp control is a dire
warning to the rest of the world.
Boko Haram is connected economically,
ideologically, and militarily to other violent groups supporting terrorism.
This terror network had better be dealt with quickly.
Africa has historically been a location
of deadly violence, some ethnically inspired, some political, and some
religious.
The rise of Boko Haram’s ability to
forcefully implement a rouge government in the CAR was not handled firmly at
all last year. Even when atrocities against Christians were clearly taking
place, the international community with America included really showed little
interest in doing anything.
As with any other bullying, this lack of
resolve encouraged Boko Haram to use its terrorist arm back into Nigeria,
another Christian majority nation that Boko Haram believes it could intimidate
into becoming a Sharia dominated country. The radicals have only increased
their organization and sophistication, perhaps in an effort to emulate
al-Qaida.
One can wager that the goal of Boko
Haram will enter also into Cameroon and extend their violence there.
The military weaponry of Boko Haram has
become a major concern as this renegade group has assembled an arsenal that
can rival some of the local armies.
Boko Haram was founded by Mohammed Yusuf
in 2002 with a goal of establishing a “pure” Islamic state ruled by Sharia
law in Nigeria. “Westernization” of Nigeria is the reason for the resistance
as the group is known for attacking Christians, government targets, bombing
churches, school, police stations, and kidnapping western tourists.
Violence attributed to Boko Haram has
resulted in the deaths of over 10,000 people between 2002 and 2013.
Failing to designate Boko Haram as a
terrorist organization by the United States fulfilled a strategy not to make
Boko Haram a magnet for other Islamic fundamentalists. America ‘s reluctance
to even use the term Islamic terrorists in its communications appears to be
more of a hopeful than realistic approach to dealing with Islamic
terrorism.
The United States in not alone. The
world community has taken practically a conciliatory stand involving Islamic
terrorism and being able to tell the difference among moderate or radical
brands of Islam.
While our State Department labeled the
Muslim Brotherhood “moderates”, hundreds of the Muslim Brotherhood are
currently facing executions in Egypt for high treason. It appears the
American government has difficulty being able to tell the difference from a
moderate and radical.
There are fundamentalists of Islam
looking to install Sharia law by violence if necessary. What America and the
world need to recognize is what brand of Islam they are really dealing with
and not go by their own perceptions established in the western culture.
There are distinctions among secular
Muslims, liberal Muslims, moderate Muslims, fundamentalist Muslims or radical
Muslims.
‘They
Are Slaughtering Us Like Chickens’
As happens at Christmas every year throughout the
Muslim world, Christians and their churches were especially targeted—from
jihadi terror strikes killing worshippers, to measures by Muslim authorities
restricting Christmas celebrations.
Some incidents follow:
Iraq: “Militants” reported the Associated
Press, “targeted Christians in three separate Christmas Day bombings in
Baghdad, killing
at least 37 people,
officials saidWednesday.
In one attack, a car bomb went off
near a church in the capital’s southern Dora neighborhood, killing at least
26 people and wounding 38, a police officer said. Earlier, two bombs ripped
through a nearby outdoor market simultaneously in the Christian section of
Athorien, killing 11 people and wounding 21.”
Iran: Five Muslim converts to
Christianity were arrested from a house-church during a Christmas
celebration. Plain clothes Iranian security authorities raided a house where,
according to Mohabat News, “a group of Christians had gathered to celebrate
Christmas on Tuesday, December 24.” Before
arresting the five apostates, authorities “insulted and searched those in
attendance, and seized all Christian books, CDs, and laptops they found. They
also took the Satellite TV receiver.” The original report received by Mohabat
stated: “These Christians had gathered to worship
and celebrate [the] birth of Jesus.”
Aceh is the “only province in
predominantly Muslim Indonesia that is allowed to implement a version of
Islamic Shariah law.”
Kenya: “Youths,” reported Reuters, “threw
petrol bombs at two Kenyan churches on Christmas day … in the latest bout of violence
against Christians on the country’s predominantly Muslim coast.” The attacks
occurred “in the early hours of December 25after churchgoers held
services to usher in Christmas.” The churches were located in Muslim-majority
regions. One church was “completely destroyed.”
Somalia: The more “moderate” government—as it is
often portrayed in comparison to Al Shabaab (“The Youth”) opposition—banned
Christmas celebrations. Hours before Christmas Day, the Ministry of
Justice and Religious Affairs released a directive banning any Christian
festivities from being held in the east African nation. In the words of one
ministry official: “We alert fellow Muslims in Somalia that some festivities
to mark Christian Days will take place around the world in this week. It is
prohibited to celebrate those days in this country.” All security and law
enforcement agencies were instructed to quash any Christian celebrations.
Pakistan: During Christmas Eve services, “Heavy contingents of
police were deployed around the churches to
thwart any untoward incident.” In some regions, “prayer service at major
churches focused on remembering the Pakistani Christians who lost their lives
in terror attacks.”
For example, three months earlier,
Islamic suicide bombers entered the All Saints Church compound in Peshawar
following Sunday mass and blew
themselves up in
the midst of some 550 congregants, killing some 130 worshippers, including
manySunday school children, women, and choir members, and injuring
nearly 200 people.
Even in Western nations like Denmark, Christmas Eve witnessed Islamic
demonstrations and cries of “Allahu Akbar” (or “Allah is greater”).
Also in December, Syria’s Greek-Catholic Church declared
that it had three
“true martyrs”—men
from the small town of Ma’loula, an ancient Christian site where the
inhabitants still spoke the language of Christ.
According to Asia News,
“When the town fell [in September, to
al-Qaeda linked rebels], a climate of fear was imposed… When three men
refused to repudiate their religion, they were summarily executed in public,
and six more were taken hostage. This was followed by a failed attempt by
Syrian government forces to retake the town.”
In the words of Patriarch Gregorios III
to Pope Francis in a meeting: “Holy Father, they are true martyrs. Ordered to
give up their faith, they proudly refused.
Three others however gave in and were
forced to declare themselves Muslim, but later returned to the faith of their
ancestors.”
According to the families who fled
from Ma’loula, “some of their Muslim neighbors took
part in the attack that devastated this historic village where people still
speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Muslims are
approximately one third of the population of the village…”
The rest of December’s roundup of Muslim
persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to)
the following accounts, listed by theme and country in alphabetical order,
not necessarily according to severity.
Islamic Attacks
on Christian Places of Worship.
Egypt:
After a Coptic Christian priest from the
village of Tarshoub, Upper Egypt, left to service a new location and a new
priest was sent to Tarshoub,
The Christian Post reported that
Christian villagers were “getting close to the New Year celebrations and
Christmas, and yet they are not able to open the church…. security
authorities have not arrested the aggressors, while Copts were forced to
close the church for fear of more attacks, especially in light of continued
incitement by the Muslim Brotherhood.”
Indonesia:
leaving thousands of Christians without
a place of worship.
First, claiming that the existence of a
Protestant church in North Sumatra was illegal, hundreds of Muslims belonging
to the Islamic Defenders Frontattacked and disrupted
its Sunday services, creating so much havoc that police had to
escort Christians home.
Then, two new churches—one in West Java,
the other in South Sulawesi—were sealed off.
The Sulawesi church was subsequently
demolished by authorities.
A few days later, two more churches near
Jakarta were forced to stop holding services.
According to International Christian Concern,
“The reason behind this month’s
rash of church closures, especially after seven months of relative quietness,
is not exactly clear.
It may be that the coming
Christmas holiday has ignited always simmering anti-Christian sentiment among
radical groups.
In 2000,
16 were killed by bomb attacks on
churches over the Christmas holiday.”
Russia:
in a Muslim-majority republic in Russia,
according to Asia News:
“Churches burned, attacks foiled
and increased pressure on Christians to convert to Islam.
In Tatarstan —
autonomous republic of the Russian
Federation, with a Muslim majority—
the extremism alarm is
increasing.”
Although the culprits setting fire to
churches are “unidentified extremists,” Father Dmitri Sizov, pastor of
Pestrechinsky, said that “the whole community knows that it is the work of the Wahhabis [Islamic literalists]”who “roam, inviting the faithful to convert
to Islam.”
But “the priests remain silent
because they are afraid of being accused of
incitement to religious hatred,” added Fr. Dmitri.
Syria:
Islamic rebel forces fired multiple
mortar shells on a church in the southern province
of Daraa, killing
12 people and injuring many others, including
church volunteers who were there distributing charity aid to the locals.
Separately, five young children were killed when rebels fired two rockets at
a Christian school.
According to the Patriarch of the
Church of Antioch, more than 450,000 Christian Syrians have been displaced from the conflict, and more than a thousand have
been killed.
Islamic Attacks on Christian Freedom
and Democracies :
Apostasy, Proselytism, and
Dhimmitude
Cameroon:
David Dina Mataware, a Christian
missionary, was slaughtered by neighboring
Nigeria’s Islamic group Boko Haram.
On the same day and in the same area
that the missionary’s murder took place, a French priest, Father Georges
Vandenbusch, was also kidnapped.
Egypt:
“The nation’s most well-known convert
from Islam” to Christianity was arrested, including for allegedly inciting
“sectarian strife,” and “is
likely being tortured,” reported Morning News.
Bishoy Armia Boulous, 31—popularly known
by his former Muslim name, Muhammad Hegazy—was arrested while in a café.
Authorities claim that he was working with a Coptic satellite station to
create a “false image” of violence against Christians in Minya, Upper Egypt,
where attack on Copts are most common.
However, human rights activists close to
Bishoy say “his arrest had nothing to do with any reporting work but
constituted retaliation for becoming a Christian” and possibly for
evangelizing to Muslims.
Iran:
According to a source assisting the
family with advocacy, “They confiscated her laptop computer and Christian
materials…
While the secret police were in
her home they were yelling at her and doing their best to scare her.
This really frightened the children,
Rebekah and Adriel” and was apparently meant to create enough “fear to
silence them.”
The raid came after the imprisoned
evangelical leader—and former Muslim—was told by a court to remain behind
bars because he “did not change.”
Syria:
The anti-Christian strictures of Sharia,
or Islamic law, continued to be applied onto Christians by Islamic rebels.
According to Agenzia Fides,
“Kanaye [a Christian region] has been invaded by Islamist militants that terrorize the population, threaten
a massacre and
have imposed the Islamic law… This has become a pattern that repeats itself
and that in recent weeks has focused on a number of Christian villages: armed
guerrillas penetrate into the village, terrorize civilians, commit
kidnappings, kill, sow destruction.”& Father George Louis of the village
of Qara, which has been devastated and burned, explained: Maalula [the
aforementioned Ma’loula], Sednaya, Sadad, Qara and Deir Atieh, Nebek: armed
jihadists target a village, they invade it, kill people, burn and devastate
it.”
Turkmenistan: Police and Secret Service
agents in Dashoguz, a northern city,
An official of the Department of
Religious Affairs, who is also an imam at the local mosque, went on to inform
the pastor that his faith “is wrong” and warned him to convert to Islam,
adding “Christianity is a mistake … it’s not a religion, but a myth.”
Moreover, Christians practicing hymns for Sunday service were told
by officers that “the songs of praise to God are banned here.” Adds Asia
News: “Meanwhile, an increasing number of people are being incarcerated for
crimes of opinion and defense of religious freedom.”
Carnage
of Christians
Central African Republic:
In just two days of violence, at least
1,000 people were killed in Bangui, CAR’s capital, following the chaos that
has engulfed the nation afterSeleka,
a coalition of Muslim militia, whose members include many foreigners, ousted the Christian president
—the nation is Christian-majority with a
significant Muslim-minority— and installed a Muslim ruler.
Because some Christians tried to
resist with violence, killing some 60 Muslim males in combat, the Islamic
group “retaliated on a larger scale against Christians in the wake of the
attack, killing
nearly 1,000 men
over a two-day period and systematically looting civilian homes.
A small number of women and children
were also killed,” reported Amnesty.
Tens of thousands of Christians fled from
machete-wielding Muslims, many now living
in desperate conditions around churches
and bishoprics.
“We have had enough of Seleka
killing, raping and stealing,”
said another, adding that he was not
sure whether he could ever go back and live among Muslims.
“We are angry,” he said.
“The Muslims should go back where they
came from.”
Nigeria:
Islamic Fulani herdsmen killed
at least 205 Christian farmers in the latter half of 2013,
while ten thousand more Christians were displaced and many of their churches
destroyed or closed.
As for motive, Christian
leaders, “had no doubt the Muslim assailants
aimed to demoralize and destroy Christians,” said Morning Star News.
Several of the attackers appear to be mercenaries from outside the area, explaining how the Fulani
farmers became so heavily armed. “Life has become unbearable for
our church members who have survived
these attacks, and they are making worship services impossible,” said a Roman
Catholic bishop.
Another area Christian leader said
that “Many of our Christian brethren have been killed.
The Muslim gunmen that are
attacking our Christian communities are numerous;
they are so many that we can’t count
them. They are spread across all the communities and unleashing terror
on our people without any security resistance.”
About this Series
The persecution of Christians in the
Islamic world is on its way to reaching pandemic
proportions. Accordingly, “Muslim
Persecution of Christians” was developed to
collate some—by no means all—of the
instances of persecution that surface each month. It serves two purposes:
1) To document that
which the mainstream media does not:
the
habitual, if not chronic, persecution of Christians.
2) To show that such
persecution is not “random,” but systematic
and interrelated —that
it is rooted in a calculated and strategical agenda plotted in
the mosques with the objective of conquering and dominating -- by all
means -- the most of humans on this planet their goal is also to impose
worldwide the Sharia archaic and retrograde
"law"
Accordingly,
whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits
under
a specific theme, including :
hatred
for churches and other Christian symbols;
sexual
abuse of Christian women;
forced
conversions to Islam;
apostasy
and blasphemy laws that criminalize and punish with death those who “offend”
Islam;
commit
thefts and plunder in lieu of jizya (financial tribute
expected
from non-Muslims);
overall
expectations for Christians to behave like cowed dhimmis, or
second-class, “tolerated” citizens;
use
ofviolence and murder.
Sometimes
it is a combination of both ...
Because
of these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities,
languages,
and locales—from Morocco in the West, to India in the
East — it should be clear
that one thing alone binds them:
the
fake or pseudo religion Islam — whether the strict
application
of Islamic
Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it.
PEDRO MARTORI:
“LOS ESPIAS DE MIAMI EN CUBA… NO TENIA NI CUCHILLITAS DE AFEITAR”
Por, Aldo Rosado-Tuero
Mientras más investigamos más pruebas aparecen que
demuestran que la tan publicitada abortada invasión—de cuatro cubanos que
entraron por el aeropuerto y que no les ocuparon ni una cuchillita de
afeitar—ha sido un burdo invento a los que nos tienen acostumbrados los
propagandistas del régimen.
Nuevo Acción tiene ya en su poder los records de las
casas en que habitaban los detenidos y otras cosas que iremos investigando y
dando a la publicidad.
Por hoy nos basta con mostrar una de las mejores
pruebas que dicen bien a las claras que todo ha sido un montaje preparado con
antelación, para activarlo cuando la inteligencia y el aparato
propagandístico del raulato lo estimaran conveniente.
Ahora resulta que “la famosa y conocida” “Fuerza
Cubana de Liberación”, tenía desde octubre del 2009 un blog en la internet
(ver foto grande de arriba), pero que nadie nunca la visitó, que no se dio a
conocer, ni se publicó en él nada más que una pequeña nota explicando lo que
pretendían. Y ¡qué casualidad! Es la prensa amordazada de Cuba la que da a
conocer este blog ahora.
Y una nota más que recalca la burla: el único
seguidor de ese desconocido blog, que permaneció en la internet sin
actualizarse ni recibir visitas por más 4 años y 7 meses, es nada menos que
alguien que se identifica como Pánfilo, el que clamaba por “jama”.
¿Hacen falta más pruebas?
Pequeña nota agregada por el autor: Después que
hemos publicado este corto artículo se han incrementado las visitas al
sitio.
JORGE A VILLALON: “SI CAMINA COMO UN PATO, GRAZNA
COMO UN PATO Y LE GUSTA LO QUE HACE UN PATO… ENTONCES ES UN PATO” ]
SENSACIONAL:
EX TRADUCTOR DE YOANI SÁNCHEZ LA ACUSA DE FARSANTE SOLO INTERESADA EN EL
DINERO
“Yoani
Sánchez sólo piensa en dinero. En Cuba es libre de hacer lo que quiere”.
Gordiano Lupi traductor italiano de la bloguera
Nota
de “El Nuevo Acción”: Gordiano Lupi (foto de la izquierda) ha sido por
largo tiempo el traductor al italiano de la bloguera Yoani Sánchez y además
su amigo personal. A continuación fragmentos de su carta abierta a Yoani
Sánchez.
“Yoani
Sánchez ha finalizado el contrato con “La Stampa” y me ha hecho un hombre
libre, porque hasta ayer no pude decir lo que pensaba. Ahora que ya no tengo
ninguna relación y que los intereses de la bloguera más rica y
galardonada en todo el mundo son manejados por su agente, Érica Berla, puedo
quitarme las piedras de mis zapatos. Estaba haciendo un mal…”
Así
comienza la carta abierta que Gordiano Lupi, escritor y editor toscano, en la
que ataca a Yoani Sánchez, la famosa bloguera cubana “anticastrista”. Lupi
fue biógrafo y traductor de Italiano de la Sánchez; junto con ella
escribió dos libros. Ahora que no existe el contrato con La Stampa, ofrece a
sus lectores una descripción de la bloguera muy diferentes a la de un campeón
de la libertad. “Ella hace todo por dinero, en Cuba tiene gran libertad
de movimiento y hace todo lo que quiere.”
De
hecho siempre ha sido el propósito de Yoani Sánchez convertirse en rica y
famosa, escribe Lupi.
“Yo
he perdido el derecho a regresar a Cuba, mientras que la princesa
bloguera entra y sale como si se tratara de un moscone que tararea un poco,
en la pequeña Habana en Miami.
El
autor italiano, casado con una mujer cubana, dice que él está extremadamente
decepcionado de Yoani.
Le
dice en su carta a la bloguera: “Hemos viajado mucho juntos, estimado Yoani.
Ya es suficiente. Mi viaje continúa solo, lejos de la vista. Cuba también se
afecta, por supuesto, eso es parte de mi vida, aunque muchos cubanos me han
decepcionado. Voy a tratar de no pensar en ello, por respeto a mi esposa, que
es cubana y no tiene nada que ver con su arrogancia.”
Y
prosigue: “Estaba equivocado al creer en la lucha de Yoani Sánchez como una
lucha de David contra Goliat, una lucha que comenzó desde abajo para golpear
con energía, una idealista lucha por la libertad de Cuba. Tenía que ser
responsable – con esta amarga a decepción – esa oposición, Yoani fue desoída,
Comencé a dudar que Yoani era no un agente de la CIA, como como decían
los asalariados de la familia Castro, para poner una cortina de humo. Pero
incluso si no fuera nada de esto, el hecho fue que me di cuenta de que
tenía que lidiar con una persona que pone en primer lugar sus intereses
sobre el idealismo. Una bloguera que lleva su vida tranquila, que en Cuba
nadie conoce y nadie la molesta, que no está amenazada, encarcelada,
silenciada, que no tiene problemas para entrar y salir de su país.
Por
defenderla he dado la cara y he recibido amenazas y ofensas de los castristas
y comunistas italianos.
He
compartido una pelea que no existe, un sueño de libertad esperado por muchos,
pero que ciertamente no es el de ella… (Ella)(foto) piensa sólo
en dinero de premios y contratos.
En
este momento no sé si Yoani Sánchez es un agente de la CIA o de la revolución
cubana. No lo sé y no me importa saberlo tampoco. Sólo sé que no es la
persona que pensé.
Lupi
también narra un episodio que lo ha decepcionado sobre todo:
“Un
episodio sobre todo me ha hecho abrir los ojos a la realidad, hace más de un
año cuando envié a mi suegra a casa de Yoani para pedirle aclaraciones sobre
su viaje a Italia. Bueno, ella hizo esperan en las escaleras a mi suegra. Ni
a la sala la mandó a pasar. Comportamiento muy extraño para un cubano. Debí
haber creído a mi suegra que me dijo: “Esa gente no luchan por la
libertad de Cuba. Sólo se preocupan por sus bolsillos”. No lo hice y me
equivoqué. Yo creía en una pelea que no existía.
Luego
ayudé al nuevo proyecto editorial porque vi a los blogueros cubanos
involucrados:
Yoani
Sánchez abrirá un periódico embustero, como lo llamamos aquí en Italia.
Abrir un periódico (embustero), junto con sus compañeros, que nadie leerá en
Cuba, porque solo puede ser visto en línea. Pero, ¿qué le importa eso a
Yoani? Para ella es suficiente que alguien la financie, que la lean en Miami,
y en España, que la comunidad cubana siga esperando por
un campeón.
(Traducido
de la edición italiana de The Huffingtonpost)
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