US military should rescue schoolgirls, even without Nigeria's permission – McCain
Published time: May 13, 2014 22:58
The
US military should rescue the 200 schoolgirls abducted in Nigeria by
Islamist militant group Boko Haram, even if the Nigerian government
disapproves, Sen. John McCain says. Meanwhile, negotiations on a
prisoner-hostage exchange appear to be advancing.
The longtime US senator and two-time presidential candidate told
The Daily Beast that the US should feel no compunction to withhold
sending special operations forces to find the kidnapped girls –
especially in a country led by “some guy named Goodluck Jonathan.” “If
they knew where they were, I certainly would send in US troops to
rescue them, in a New York minute I would, without permission of the
host country,” McCain said on Tuesday. “I wouldn’t be waiting for some kind of permission from some guy named Goodluck Jonathan,” he declared, in reference to Nigeria’s president.
As
he suggested last week in a CNN interview, McCain insisted that if he
were US president, his administration would have prepared special forces
ready to enter Nigeria if a rescue opportunity was apparent. His
rationale for military intervention rests with the United Nations
charter, he said, since the mass abduction was akin to “crimes against humanity.” “The
United Nations Charter recognized crimes against humanity, this fits
into the category of crimes against humanity, and that gives any nation
the license if they can to stop a crime against humanity, the same
reason we should have if we could have freed the people at Dachau or
Auschwitz,” McCain said.
Yet, as The Daily Beast points out, the UN Charter “does not explicitly mention crimes against humanity.”
But the news website found that the Rome Statute of the International
Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum does, indicating that crimes
against humanity “are particularly odious offenses in that they
constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a
degradation of human beings.”
| AP
FILE: This file image made available from Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2012,
taken from video posted by Boko Haram sympathizers shows the leader of
the radical Islamist sect Imam Abubakar Shekau. The leader of an Islamic
uprising in northeastern Nigeria boasts in a new video of a daring
attack on military bases in a provincial capital and threatens to attack
the United States next, it has been reported on Thursday, Dec. 12,
2013. Few believe the Boko Haram terrorist network has such capability
though there are fears its insurgency could spread to neighboring
states. In his first statement since Washington designated Boko Haram a
terrorist network last month, Abubakar Shekau swore at the United
States, calling it a prostitute nation of infidels and liars. The United
States in July posted a reward of $7 million for information leading to
Shekau’s arrest. (AP Photo, File ) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT
INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS
MATERIAL
Kano
(Nigeria) (AFP) - Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said in a video
released Sunday that he led an October 24 attack in which 35 people
found in military uniform were killed in the Nigerian city of Damaturu.
"Look
at what happened in Damaturu (capital of northeastern Yobe state)," the
head of the Islamist group said in the video obtained by AFP through
the same intermediary as previous clips.
"Since we killed them
with our hands -- in fact I was the commander of the operation -- so,
you cannot say I'm making conjecture," he said.
The authenticity
of the video clip -- in which Shekau spoke for about 11 minutes in
Arabic, Hausa and Kanuri -- could not be independently confirmed.
"This
is a brief message to the world. We carried out the Damaturu attacks
with Allah's help, with Allah's might, with Allah's glory and with
victory from Allah, the Creator," he said.
The video was titled "Battle of Damaturu" in Arabic.
Thirty-five
bodies in military uniform were brought to a morgue in Nigeria's
restive northeast after a coordinated assault by Boko Haram targeting
the security forces, a hospital source had said.
The attack in
Damaturu was the first significant raid in a major urban centre in
several weeks by the insurgent group waging a four-year Islamist
uprising.
Police and residents said large numbers of Boko Haram fighters, some in vehicles and some on foot, stormed Damaturu after dark.
Armed
with guns and explosives, they attacked and torched four police
buildings, sparking a fierce, hours-long gun battle with the security
forces.
Contacted by AFP on October 28, Yobe state military
spokesman Lazarus Eli did not deny reports that dozens of soldiers were
killed during the clash.
Islamic Extremist Leader Boasts of Nigerian Attack
Dec 12, 2013
Associated Press| by Michelle Paul
LAGOS,
Nigeria - The leader of an Islamic uprising in northeastern Nigeria
boasts in a new video of a daring attack on military bases in a
provincial capital and threatens to attack the United States next.
Few
believe the Boko Haram terrorist network has such capability though
there are fears its insurgency could spread to neighboring states.
Officials have said that fighters from Chad, Niger and Cameroon are
fighting alongside the Nigerian insurgents. Boko Haram members have been
identified fighting in the Islamic rebellion in northern Mali and it
has said some of its fighters trained alongside al-Shabab in Somalia.
In
his first statement since the United States designated Boko Haram a
terrorist network last month, Abubakar Shekau swore at the United
States, calling it a prostitute nation of infidels and liars. The United
States in July posted a reward of $7 million for information leading to
Shekau's arrest.
He suggests that the U.S., which could not defend itself against the September 2011 terrorist attacks, cannot hurt his movement.
"If
you had the capability, you would have done it in your own country.
Where were you when your World Trade Center was bombed, including your
Pentagon, when you were faced on your own turf?" he asks.
Shekau,
eyes glaring with an anger not exhibited in previous videos,
gesticulates wildly as he vows: "By Allah, we will never stop. Don't
think we will stop in Maiduguri. Tomorrow you will see us in America
itself. Our operation is not confined to Nigeria, it is for the whole
world."
A Nigerian unrelated to Boko Haram, Umar Farouk, sewed a
bomb into his underwear to try to blow up a U.S. airliner heading from
Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009. He is serving a life
sentence.
Farouk, like Boko Haram, has spoken against the massive
corruption in oil-rich Nigeria that allows many politicians and
businessmen to live in opulence while the majority of Nigerians struggle
to put food on the table. The northeast has the worst rates for
poverty, literacy and health care.
In the video, Shekau, in
military camouflage and cradling an assault rifle, criticizes democracy
and says he will fight until Islamic law brings purity to all Nigeria, a
country of more than 160 million almost equally divided between
Christians and Muslims.
Shekau's video includes footage said to be
of the Dec. 2 attack on the air force base outside Maiduguri, capital
of Borno state, showing night shots of blazing buildings as explosions
blasted, fighters yelled "Allahu akhbar," (God is great in Arabic), and
victims screamed. As the sky lightens after daybreak, the video shows
the extremists wandering freely over the base, apparently abandoned by
the military, setting ablaze three fighter jets and two helicopters. Air
force officials have refused to allow journalists onto the base since
the attack. Read More Here
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Islamic Extremist Leader Boasts of Nigerian Attack
LAGOS, Nigeria December 12, 2013 (AP)
By MICHELLE FAUL Associated Press
Share
The
leader of an Islamic extremist group in northeastern Nigeria boasts in a
new video of a daring attack on military bases in a provincial capital
and threatens to attack the United States next.
Few
believe the Boko Haram terrorist network currently has the capability
for such complex attacks, although some officials fear its insurgency
could spread to neighboring states.
In his
first statement since the United States designated Boko Haram a
terrorist network last month, Abubakar Shekau swore at the U.S., calling
it a prostitute nation of infidels and liars. The U.S. government in
July posted a reward of $7 million for information leading to Shekau's
arrest.
He claims the U.S. cannot hurt his movement, citing the Sept. 2011 terrorist attacks as evidence.
"If
you had the capability, you would have done it in your own country.
Where were you when your World Trade Center was bombed, including your
Pentagon, when you were confronted on your own turf?" he asks.
The
authenticity of the video could not be independently verified. However,
the video was distributed through the same channels the group has used
before.
Eyes glaring with anger, Shekau is
seen gesticulating wildly in the video as he vows: "By Allah, we will
never stop. Don't think we will stop in Maiduguri. Tomorrow you will see
us in America itself."
A Nigerian
unrelated to Boko Haram, Umar Farouk, sewed a bomb into his underwear to
try to blow up a U.S. airliner heading from Amsterdam to Detroit on
Christmas Day 2009. He is serving a life sentence.
President
of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan, left, and Sudanese President Omar
al-Bashir right, shake hands before an African Union summit on health
focusing on HIV and AIDS.
By Henry Austin, NBC News contributor
The
president of Sudan has been allowed to leave a conference in Nigeria,
despite the International Criminal Court calling for his "immediate
arrest" on charges of genocide and war crimes, officials said Tuesday.
Omar
al-Bashir is accused of five counts of crimes against humanity, two
counts of war crimes and three counts of genocide against the Fur,
Masalit and Zagawa tribes in Darfur, where the U.N. estimates 200,000
people have been killed.
Two arrest warrants have been issued for
the former army brigadier, who came to power in 1989 after leading a
bloodless military coup.
But while many African countries -
including South Africa, Kenya and Malawi - have threatened to act on the
warrant, Nigeria allowed him to attend Monday's one-day African Union
HIV/Aids summit.
This was in keeping with 2009 vote by African Union states not to
cooperate with ICC indictments, a Nigerian official told Reuters.
African
enthusiasm for the court has waned over the years, partly owing to a
perception that prosecutors disproportionately target African leaders -
an accusation the ICC denies.
