OP/ED BYTES: May 12, 2014: Boko Haram, an al Qaeda knock-off based in Nigeria,
is picking on children. In search of headlines to frighten, Abubakar
Shekau leads his terrorist band to attack schools, killing boys and
kidnapping girls to sell as wives and slaves. Education, they say, is
not for girls, and Western learning, which teaches women and girls to
think for themselves, is regarded as the worst kind of education,
because it’s rooted in Judeo-Christianity and it deprives men of
compliant servants................Michelle Obama
was photographed last week holding up a Twitter sign reading “Bring
back our girls.” Though they’re not actually “our girls,” her sentiment
is spot on — the kidnappings in Nigeria are an affront to human decency. When the misogynist practices of Islam in Africa was to be the subject of Somalia-born
Ayaan Ali Hirsi’s speech at Brandeis University the other day, the
school’s administration bowed to the liberal left and disinvited her. On
that occasion Mrs. Obama showed no interest in standing up for women, lest she offend an Islamist..............The terrorism of Boko Haram
is rooted in a radical interpretation of Islam that calls for a
worldwide caliphate. Naive Western liberals refuse to acknowledge the
danger of this virulent ideology. Instead, they take every opportunity
to appease the Islamists as a show of their tolerance. The abuse of
women often goes unremarked, and the first lady conducts America’s
foreign policy by holding up a sign like a panhandler. Tweets and
“raising awareness” won’t save the kidnapped girls in Nigeria.
Attention is precisely what the kidnappers seek..............When
Thomas Jefferson was faced with the question of what to do about Muslim
extremists taking Americans hostage on the coast of Africa, his
answer was the creation of the U.S. Navy. Overwhelming force exacted a
peace. At some point, there will be an incident demanding an effective
American answer, and Mr. Obama will have to realize appeasement
doesn’t work, and he’ll have to prepare the fleet.
(SOURCE: Washington Times: "EDITORIAL: Obama’s diplomacy by Twitter")
