I have had several short discussions with friends and relatives about the terrorist attacks in France last Saturday. I have also deliberately avoided updating myself on the aftermath of the attacks, and my reason is simple.
After the 9/11 attacks in the United States, there was a lot of tough talking and eventually, America went to war. France has already intensified attacks on ISIS targets along with her allies, so they have not wasted any time in going to war. It is obvious both countries and their allies are hell bent on ignoring the evidence that so glaringly stares them in the face; but what can one expect from politicians who are only concerned with 'popular' opinions and winning elections? In the UK, there are plans to invest billions of pounds sterling in the fight against terror, but they are still ignoring the problem, and this is exactly why my discussions have been short: I am not sorry that the attacks happened. My interlocutors have all misinterpreted this to mean that I am happy that all those people died in such a horrible manner; of course I am not. I have lost a brother and have nearly lost a son. I understand what losing someone is all about, and I understand exactly what the relatives of those who lost their lives are going through right now. I understand the agony, the anger and the anguish. My brother was not the victim of a terror attack, but his death was no less painful, and he spent 19 agonizing days in hospital before he passed away. So I understand.
After the 9/11 attacks in the United States, there was a lot of tough talking and eventually, America went to war. France has already intensified attacks on ISIS targets along with her allies, so they have not wasted any time in going to war. It is obvious both countries and their allies are hell bent on ignoring the evidence that so glaringly stares them in the face; but what can one expect from politicians who are only concerned with 'popular' opinions and winning elections? In the UK, there are plans to invest billions of pounds sterling in the fight against terror, but they are still ignoring the problem, and this is exactly why my discussions have been short: I am not sorry that the attacks happened. My interlocutors have all misinterpreted this to mean that I am happy that all those people died in such a horrible manner; of course I am not. I have lost a brother and have nearly lost a son. I understand what losing someone is all about, and I understand exactly what the relatives of those who lost their lives are going through right now. I understand the agony, the anger and the anguish. My brother was not the victim of a terror attack, but his death was no less painful, and he spent 19 agonizing days in hospital before he passed away. So I understand.
The Paris tragedy, just like the Charlie Hebdo killings in January, should have been seen as an opportunity, not to go to war, or flex some military muscle, but to push our thinking about islam forward by at least a few years. Islam espouses some of the most dangerous and malignant ideas, and it is spreading at blinding speeds among some of the most vulnerable groups in our world today. How would bombing a few targets in Syria and Iraq stop such ideas from spreading? This is a problem that can no longer be ignored, and it reminds me of an Igbo proverb about the man who is busy chasing rats while his house is engulfed in flames and about to be burned to the ground.
Boko Haram killed 32 people in a suicide attack in Nigeria 2 days ago. Another 15 were killed in a separate suicide attack on the same day. Both attacks had at least 60 persons seriously wounded. Last month, Boko Haram attacks killed at least 100 persons, and have caused tens of thousands to become refugees in their own country. Terror attacks will continue to happen, and bombing suspected terrorist hideouts and training camps will not stop them; the terrorists will simply learn to adapt, which is reminiscent of another Igbo proverb in which a bird says that since hunters have learnt to shoot without missing, it will learn to fly without perching.
I have always maintained that terrorism is one of the symptoms of the fatal disease that is islam, and we have been attacking the symptoms without even making a dent. After Osama bin Laden was killed, there was widespread jubilation. Many discerning people did not jump on the bandwagon. They knew bin Laden had done his job, which was sowing the seeds of the superiority of islam and how it must be spread at all costs. Many of his followers are still alive today, and are 'doing their bit' in spreading the deadly virus that is their beliefs. The USA and her allies were only bent on revenge and salvaging their pride. By eliminating Osama bin Laden, they only succeeded in temporarily subduing a symptom of the disease, but the problem still remains.
Boko Haram killed 32 people in a suicide attack in Nigeria 2 days ago. Another 15 were killed in a separate suicide attack on the same day. Both attacks had at least 60 persons seriously wounded. Last month, Boko Haram attacks killed at least 100 persons, and have caused tens of thousands to become refugees in their own country. Terror attacks will continue to happen, and bombing suspected terrorist hideouts and training camps will not stop them; the terrorists will simply learn to adapt, which is reminiscent of another Igbo proverb in which a bird says that since hunters have learnt to shoot without missing, it will learn to fly without perching.
I have always maintained that terrorism is one of the symptoms of the fatal disease that is islam, and we have been attacking the symptoms without even making a dent. After Osama bin Laden was killed, there was widespread jubilation. Many discerning people did not jump on the bandwagon. They knew bin Laden had done his job, which was sowing the seeds of the superiority of islam and how it must be spread at all costs. Many of his followers are still alive today, and are 'doing their bit' in spreading the deadly virus that is their beliefs. The USA and her allies were only bent on revenge and salvaging their pride. By eliminating Osama bin Laden, they only succeeded in temporarily subduing a symptom of the disease, but the problem still remains.
The sooner these hypocritical and bumbling politicians accept the reason for all these carnage, the sooner they can get on the path to finding a permanent solution. These terrorists want nothing but to send us hurtling back to the stone age and keep us there. Have we ever thought about what will happen if one of these religious nuts got their hands on a nuke? I am afraid that one day, sooner, rather than later, they will come to possess this capability, and they will not hesitate to deploy it, because that is what they do - they want to cause as much damage as possible and kill as many people as possible, in as gruesome a manner as possible...
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