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Boko Haram pledges allegiance to Daesh

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by basso, Mar 7, 2015.

  1. basso

    basso Contributing Member
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    [​IMG]

    an axis of evil.

    [rquoter]One of the deadliest terrorist organizations in Africa has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, according to a message posted online Saturday. If confirmed, the pledge would make the group, Boko Haram, which is believed to have as many as 6,000 fighters, the largest extremist group to date to agree to fight under the Islamic State banner, analysts said.

    In the message published on his Twitter account, Abubakr Shekau, Boko Haram’s leader, announced that he had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

    Terrorism experts say that the pledge, or “bayat,” is a spiritually binding oath, and that it indicates that Boko Haram’s leader agrees to be under the authority of the Islamic State group. But as with such pledges from other groups elsewhere in the world, including in Libya, it remains unclear how much direct control the Islamic State leaders have over their distant proxies.

    If confirmed, the agreement with Boko Haram would mirror the steps taken by ISIS affiliates in Libya, Algeria, Egypt, Afghanistan and beyond. In each case, a group’s leaders swore allegiance in a public message posted online. Weeks later, the oath was formally accepted by ISIS in a statement issued by the group’s official spokesman.

    “It’s quite clear that since at least mid-January, the Islamic State has had some level of connection with Boko Haram,” said Aaron Y. Zelin, a fellow at the Washington Institute who tracks propaganda by Islamic extremists. “The key question is whether the Islamic State dispatched individuals from Syria or Iraq or else from Libya, down to northern Nigeria to help out with operations on the ground, or else with methodology, or in terms of governance activities.”

    With an estimated 6,000 fighters and with at least some level of control over approximately 20,000 square kilometers of northeastern Nigeria, Boko Haram is believed to be the largest jihadi group to pledge fidelity to the Islamic State, according to Ryan Cummings, chief analyst Africa for red24, a crisis management group based in Britain, who has been following the Nigerian terrorist organization since 2011. But Mr. Cummings raised questions about what kind of command-and-control structure could exist between the two entities.

    “It seems at the moment that this is a statement that is akin to saying, ‘We are on the same page,’ ” he said. “But the biggest issue with Boko Haram is that it’s not a homogeneous group and it behaves as different factions. So it’s too early to tell for sure if Boko Haram will fall directly under ISIS command, and to what extent they will act as an ISIS proxy.”

    For roughly 18 months, there have been growing signs of a link between the organizations, as well as suggestions that ISIS has been grooming Boko Haram for entry into its network. Last year, the Nigerian group’s leader declared his support for ISIS’ commander and began using the ISIS battle hymn as the soundtrack for videos documenting his atrocities.

    Analysts have also noted a growing professionalism in Boko Haram’s videos, which had previously been shot with hand-held cameras and posted haphazardly on YouTube. The new videos were noticeably more polished and used images that mimicked the visual vocabulary of the Islamic State.

    After ISIS released footage of a convoy of cars flying its black flag, Boko Haram released a similar clip of its own convoy moving through the deserts of northern Nigeria. After ISIS posted yet another one of its gruesome videos showing the execution of a captive, Boko Haram released a video of its own showing the decapitation of some of its captives.

    In January, Boko Haram created its first Twitter account, and it recently released a beheading video that virtually copied the sound effects of the Islamic State videos, including the sound of a beating heart and of a victim’s labored breathing in the moments before the decapitation.[/rquoter]

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/08/w....html?partner=socialflow&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0
     
  2. Northside Storm

    Northside Storm Contributing Member

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  3. HamJam

    HamJam Contributing Member

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    First of all, thank you for referring to them as Daesh. Secondly, I don't think there is much to debate here-I mean, I am sure no one here would support either of these most wretched organizations.
     
  4. Northside Storm

    Northside Storm Contributing Member

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    lest we forget the last time there was an "axis of evil" and policy designed to stop it created a new "axis of evil" and a Middle East in flames.

    two wrongs never make a right. there is something to debate in that.
     
  5. AroundTheWorld

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    No.

    The Middle East is in flames because of fanatical followers of a totalitarian ideology called political Islam.

    Your desperate attempts to pin this solely on the West are pathetic.
     
  6. HamJam

    HamJam Contributing Member

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    Ah, I didn't realize this was a debate about what to do about these groups.

    For Daesh, I think the people leading the Rojava revolution have the right idea. I know much less about the situation in Nigeria though. I hope there is the potential for something similar as Rojava though, because Good Luck Jonathan and the Nigerian government's incompetence is exceeded only by their corruption.
     
  7. Northside Storm

    Northside Storm Contributing Member

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    Are you pinning it solely on political Islam?

    where does your spectrum lie, I'm curious.

    Trust me, I am no fan of political Islam. But how it has been "dealt with"--well as I say. Two wrongs don't make a right.

    I do point more fingers at Western policy because I assume no active supporters of da caliphate are around here but seeing as you've made a fun and games reaction of calling everyone who disagrees with you a terrorist, I think it'd be fun to see how your reaction and the collective reaction of people who think like you shape policy (and by fun I mean terrifying)
     
  8. HamJam

    HamJam Contributing Member

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    I would hope my hatred for Daesh and other militant Islamic fascists is clear, however, the west, in particular the U.S., bear responsibility for making the issues worse - and it is important to aacknowledge this and avoid doing so again.

    It was a mistake to overthrow the democratic government in Iran and back the Shah. It was a mistake to arm Bin Laden and the mujahideen in Afghanistan, to give military aid to Saddam, to try to keep Iraq as a single state after the war, to trust the Iraqis with advanced weaponry that thet let fall into the hands of Daesh and allowed Daesh to blitzkrieg the Levant.

    So, while Islamic fascism needs to be called out and fought, I think U.S. forign policy does also.
     
  9. Sweet Lou 4 2

    Sweet Lou 4 2 Contributing Member
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    I wonder at times whether or not the global community is not taking this threat seriously enough.
     
  10. Dairy Ashford

    Dairy Ashford Member

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    I don't think anyone expects an African cabal to be funded or well organized enough to infiltrate or attack abroad, honestly to most it probably just looks like raw, instinctive violence with a thin veneer of political or philosophical pretext; not particularly unique for Sub-Saharan Africa, and certainly on the low end in terms of historical body counts down there.
     
  11. basso

    basso Contributing Member
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    so, i'm not sure what Rojava refers to; a little googling suggest kurdistan, but perhaps there's apolitical element that i'm not aware of.

    and for the record, i support an independent Kurdistan, which ideally would include parts of what today are Iraq Syria, and (most controversially) Turkey.

    shouda been done long ago. /neilyoung

    in very long hindsight, yes, it was probably a mistake to back the shah, but arming the mujahedeen is a different case, and in any case, you're talking about three disparate, and vastly different, cultures an geographies: Mesopotamia, Persia, and Afghanistan.

    there is one thing they have in common, but geography is not it.
     
  12. Buck Turgidson

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    The Canadian Be Polite, Eh? Act of 1872
     
  13. HamJam

    HamJam Contributing Member

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    Let me get a clarification from you on this. Are you saying that arming and funding the mujahideen was not a mistake or are you saying that it is geographically and culturally separate from what is going on in Syria and Iraq?

    Because, if you are saying it was not a mistake, I completely disagree. The Mujahideen that we armed ended up becoming the Taliban who would later use those arms against us. And the rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan, along with the money we gave Bin Ladin when he was a Mujahideen leader, allowed Al Qaeda to gain their power and influence.

    Now, if you are just saying it is a separate issue -- I actually wasn't trying to say otherwise. I didn't mention it as a cause of the rise of Daesh, only as an example of the U.S. blundering their involvement in the region and making things worse instead of better. But, now that you mention it, since the arming of the Mujahideen was such a integral part of the rise of Al Qaeda, and, since Daesh is just a branching off of Al Qaeda, perhaps the arming of the Mujahideen is indeed more than tangentially related.

    Again though, my point is not to blame the U.S. for the rise of Daesh, but to point out that the involvement of the U.S. is not a panacea by any means. This is why I like the air support they are providing in the region, but I don't want them giving arms to questionable groups like the Free Syrian Army or Syria -- because we may end up being shot at by those very weapons if we aren't careful.

    Rojava refers to the predominantly Kurdish regions of Syria (such as Kobane). The Rojava revolution is the secular, democratic confederalist and libertarian socialist movement in this area. Their YPG forces (of both men and women) have been leading the charge that is pushing Daesh back right now. Their goal is to create a secular autonomous region in their area, one based on ideals like feminism, democracy and liberty.
     
  14. rocketsjudoka

    rocketsjudoka Contributing Member
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    I don't know if this really changes much. Unless Boko Haram can use this to leverage support, which I suspect this is all about, I don't think this will empower either organization except rhetorically.

    Both of these organizations have to be destroyed that was true the day before and is still true now.
     
  15. Sweet Lou 4 2

    Sweet Lou 4 2 Contributing Member
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    I don't think the threat is today - with these guys launching some sort of attack.

    The threat is longer term. That they will slowly continue to build control groups that take more and more territory and eventually expand into an empire. They are so ruthless and the other countries around them are not that powerful. These guys are not looking to attack the U.S. today or tomorrow necessarily (although they are already inspiring attacks in Europe and potentially the U.S.) but spread across the region.

    I think we should move to destroy them now before they get stronger.
     
  16. Sweet Lou 4 2

    Sweet Lou 4 2 Contributing Member
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    you have got to be joking.

    If we could go back in time and fix one thing, that would be it - do not get involved in Afghanistan and let the Soviets have had it.

    Just think - no Taliban, no Al Qaeda, no 9/11, no ISIS. You think all that was worth being a pain in the Soviet's side???
     
  17. CometsWin

    CometsWin Breaker Breaker One Nine

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    Odd how going after the first axis of evil has set up the new axis of evil. It's like a boomerang of evil. I'm comfortable hanging up the world policeman badge and sitting this one out.
     
  18. bobrek

    bobrek Politics belong in the D & D

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  19. AroundTheWorld

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    I am not surprised that you are comfortable watching Islamists rape, enslave and murder scores of innocent people, including children - while you scream bloody murder when Israel, our only true ally in the region, defends itself against Islamist terror.

    Your stance is utterly disgusting - but not surprising.
     
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  20. AroundTheWorld

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    I have not called a single person on here a terrorist. So...there goes your whole little stupid post.
     

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