by Eze Eluchie
Would CNN’s Nic
Robertson dare to ask United States soldiers in the 'battlefield' (who are not authorized to respond
to such issues) questions about their formation and military preparedness and
weaponry without the express approval of the commanding officers of such
soldiers? Actual approval for such interviews actually has to come from the Defense
Headquarters (Pentagon) in Washington DC. In the US, this CNN anchorman and those who cleared the interview session for broadcast would
actually be facing serious charges that will ensure they spend the remainder of their years behind bars.
Is there any
proof or confirmation that the person dressed in military uniform in the CNN
video clip attached below is actually a Nigerian soldier?
Coming so soon
after a well scripted documentary by Britain’s Sky News anchored by Alex
Crawford which sought to portray the Nigerian military as unable to do what
some its less endowed neighboring armies do with ease, and the regular taunts
from the British Broadcasting Service gives the impression that some well oiled
mechanisms is in place to use the media to undermine domestic efforts at
tackling terror in Nigeria. This external scourge quickly and easily permeates
into the domestic realm with some media outlets, out to score cheap political
goals, gleefully rebroadcasting, as ‘news’, the jaundiced and unprofessional
vomits from abroad.
The irony of
the reportage of Nigeria’s efforts at tackling terror is further brought to the
fore by noise of ‘war crimes’ and ‘crimes against humanity’ which fills the
air, from these same media outlets, when ever Nigerian troops attain any
measure of success against terrorist elements.
The contrast
is mind-boggling. And its effect on the soldiers who are saddled with
confronting the terror behemoth in the field will surely not be uplifting.
The reality
is that fighting an insurgency on one’s home soil against an amorphous entity
which thrives in mass murders and has access to seemingly inexhaustible stockpile
of weapons through international terror networks is a challenge even the
strongest of fighting forces will find stressful. Worse still if you have well coordinated hawks
ever ready to trumpet setbacks.
The Nigerian
military will do best what it has to do. Let no one however be mistaken as to
the wider implications of terror establishing a foothold in Nigeria or worse
still succeeding in destabilizing our northern regions. As we often times fail
to remember, extremist Islamist terror knows no borders and with their flair
for cooperation and sharing information and assets amongst
themselves, the Nigerian State and its peoples will certainly not be the only victims - in due course all will experience victimhood.
Video: Nic
Robertson’s piece on CNN http://bit.ly/1whEZh5
Picture: Nigerian
troops in a door-to-door mop-up operation after liberating a town from
terrorists
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