All Things Soldier: Why Bother Fighting Boko Haram?

On October 14th the White House announced that 300 troops as well as some specialized drones were being deployed to Cameroon to help in the fight against Boko Haram. For those of you who have not heard of this dreadful group before, here is a brief breakdown of who they are and what they do:

• They have identified themselves as being part of Isis, and are intent upon enforcing Shariah law in Africa. Additionally, when Osama Bin Laden’s headquarters were breached, letters from the leadership of Boko Haram were found in his office.
• They fund their attacks in part by robbing banks, and also receive a great deal of money from Islamist sympathizers who by their own admission hate the West, and want to create a caliphate.
• They employ the use of suicide bombers, including women. On October 11th, two Boko Haram female suicide bombers killed 9 people in the town of Mora.
• They kidnap girls, using them as sex slaves. They are also violently opposed to the education of women.
• They target Christians and kill them.
• They target students of both genders and kill them, so that they are not corrupted by education and therefore resistant to Shariah law.
• Their death squads target resistant men in towns they try to control, and have killed thousands of men who have dared to stand up to them. They also kill whole families who resist.

The official statements regarding our official response include the following:
“These forces are equipped with weapons for the purpose of providing their own force protection and security, and they will remain in Cameroon until their support is no longer needed.”

“The results of these ISR flights will better enable African partners to secure their borders against violent/illegal activities disrupting our common desire for stability in the region.”

“Most importantly, all information collected by US unarmed remotely piloted aircraft is used to support international counter-violent extremist organisation operations.”

White House spokesman Josh Earnest continued with the following set of statements:

“This deployment will be part of an effort to conduct airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations in the region.” And later, Earnest added, “This is obviously a unique capacity that the United States has to bring to bear to this effort and it will be used in support of the ongoing regional counter-extremist efforts that are ongoing there.” The British and the French are also involved, and while I can only guess as to their reasons for being so, I think the fact that they are under attack from jihadists, and have had people die in the Isles as well as on the Continent, they are understandably wanting to keep the fight out of their own countries.
Three hundred guys and some drones can do a great deal of good or damage, depending upon one’s perspective, and I for one am relieved that our government sees the threat as being severe enough to do something. However, either one sees Shariah as completely hostile to the Constitution, or not, and my hope is that our government will do everything it can to keep the conflict in Cameroon. I know our guys will.
By: Ali Elizabeth Turner