₦airaland Forum

In an interview Wednesday, Meehan told The Daily Beast that if Clinton had placed Boko Haram on the terrorism list in 2011, U.S. law enforcement agencies now being deployed to Nigeria to help search for the girls might have been in a better position.

“We lost two years of increased scrutiny. The kind of support that is taking place now would have been in place two years ago,” he said. The designation would have “enhanced the capacity of our agencies to do the work that was necessary. We were very frustrated, it was a long delay.”

Moreover, Meehan and others believe that the Clinton State Department underestimated the pace of Boko Haram’s growth and the group’s intention to plan operations that could harm U.S. critical interests abroad.

“At the time, the sentiment that was expressed by the administration was this was a local grievance and therefore not a threat to the United States or its interests,” he said. “They were saying al Qaeda was on the run and our argument was contrary to that. It has metastasized and it is actually in many ways a growing threat and this is a stark example of that.”

The State Department’s refusal to designate Boko Haram as a terrorist organization prevented U.S. law enforcement agencies from fully addressing the growing Boko Haram threat in those crucial two years, multiple GOP lawmakers told The Daily Beast.

“The one thing she could have done, the one tool she had at her disposal, she didn’t use. And nobody can say she wasn’t urged to do it. It’s gross hypocrisy.”
“For years, Boko Haram has terrorized Nigeria and Western interests in the region with few consequences,” Sen. James Risch told The Daily Beast on Wednesday. “The U.S. government should have moved more quickly to list them as a terrorist organization and brought U.S. resources to track and disrupt their activities. The failure to act swiftly has had consequences.”

Risch and seven other GOP senators introduced legislation in early 2013 that would have forced Clinton to designate the group or explain why she thought it was a bad idea. The State Department lobbied against the legislation at the time, according to internal State Department emails obtained by The Daily Beast.

In the House, leading intelligence-minded lawmakers wrote letter after letter to Clinton urging her to designate Boko Haram as terrorists. The effort in the House was led by then-Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King and Patrick Meehan, chairman of the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence.

Meehan and his Democratic counterpart Jackie Speier put out a lengthy report in 2011 laying out the evidentiary basis for naming Boko Haram a terrorist organization, including the group’s ties to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and to Somalia’s al-Shabab terrorist organization.

In May 2012, then-Justice Department official Lisa Monaco (now at the White House) wrote to the State Department to urge Clinton to designate Boko Haram as a terrorist organization. The following month, Gen. Carter Ham, the chief of U.S. Africa Command, said that Boko Haram “are likely sharing funds, training, and explosive materials” with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. And yet, Hillary Clinton’s State Department still declined to place Boko Haram on its official terrorist roster.

Secretary of State John Kerry eventually added Boko Haram and its splinter group Ansaru to the list of foreign terrorist organizations in November 2013, following a spate of church bombings and other acts that demonstrated the group’s escalating abilities to wreak havoc.

‪Being placed on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations allows U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies to use certain tools and authorities, including several found in the Patriot Act. The designation makes it illegal for any U.S. entities to do business with the group in question. It cuts off access to the U.S. financial system for the organization and anyone associating with it. And the designation also serves to stigmatize and isolate foreign organizations by encouraging other nations to take similar measures.

On Wednesday, Clinton said that the abduction of the girls by Boko Haram was “abominable, it’s criminal, it’s an act of terrorism and it really merits the fullest response possible, first and foremost from the government of Nigeria.” Clinton said that as Secretary of State she had numerous meetings with Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and had urged the Nigerian government to do more on counterterrorism.

What Clinton didn’t mention was that her own State Department refused to place Boko Haram on the list of foreign terrorist organizations in 2011, after the group bombed the U.N. headquarters in Abuja. The refusal came despite the urging of the Justice Department, the FBI, the CIA, and over a dozen senators and congressmen.

“The one thing she could have done, the one tool she had at her disposal, she didn’t use. And nobody can say she wasn’t urged to do it. It’s gross hypocrisy,” said a former senior U.S. official who was involved in the debate. “The FBI, the CIA, and the Justice Department really wanted Boko Haram designated, they wanted the authorities that would provide to go after them, and they voiced that repeatedly to elected officials.”

The State Department under Hillary Clinton fought hard against placing the al Qaeda-linked militant group Boko Haram on its official list of foreign terrorist organizations for two years. And now, lawmakers and former U.S. officials are saying that the decision may have hampered the American government’s ability to confront the Nigerian group that shocked the world by abducting hundreds of innocent girls.

In the past week, Clinton, who made protecting women and girls a key pillar of her tenure at the State Department, has been a vocal advocate for the 200 Nigerian girls kidnapped by Boko Haram, the loosely organized group of militants terrorizing northern Nigeria. Her May 4 tweet about the girls, using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, was cited across the media and widely credited for raising awareness of their plight.

importexpert:
The title is going to china n the article is coming to nairaland

The article is unfolding gradually. What I know about the average Nairalander is that they abhor long posts. That is why it is disjointed and short!

So when after leaving office, Hilary Clinton saw no shame in picking up the hashtag rubbish campaign

https://femmesdetunisie.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/bring-back-our-girls-hilary-clinton-tweet.png

Bill Clinton's appearance fees spiked when his wife Hilary Clinton was appointed Secretary of State. Bill Clinton got paid to appear during the commissioning of Eko Atlantic, a project jointly owned and financed by Chagoury and Tinubu.

https://thecitizenng.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Jonathan-Clinton-Upbeat.jpg

Hilary Clinton, after more financial contributions from Chagoury into the Clinton foundation will later refuse to designate Boko Haram as a foreign terrorist organization.

If you haven't read Clinton Cash by Peter Schweizer then you ought to. The book details a fraudulent administration which demands bribes for White House Policy decisions spanning across the globe.

https://www.clintoncashbook.com/u/2015/04/asdf.jpg

In one of many sleezy scenarios recanted by Peter Schweizer in his book, we see how Clinton backed down on reeling out economic sanctions on the Abacha administration after Gilbert Chagoury made a handsome donation to the Clinton foundation.

Chagoury was a permanent fixture in Aso Rock during the days of Sani Abacha, with Chagoury helping Abacha launder most of his stolen loot.

“I think it’s another red flag. You’ve got a guy, for example, like Gilbert Chagoury in Nigeria, who has been convicted in Geneva, Switzerland, for money laundering and aid and abetting a criminal enterprise. What he was basically doing was helping the Nigerian dictator [Sani] Abacha take billions of dollars out of the country and put them into Swiss bank accounts,” said Schweizer.
( http://www.wnd.com/2015/05/clinton-cash-author-waves-subpoena-in-front-of-hillary/#2AcZEkK7Mps5pkBp.99 )

Today, Gilbert Chagoury is a close associate of no other than Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

They are stup1d enough to accept posting to Katsina so they should accept any brutal punishment by the Boko Army

ramdris:
Na wa for nairaland oo! Op how una know say na BH member, shey dem c ID card for him body ni?

why so foolish?

You are a retardd

EbolaParasite:
Times have changed. They don't need to know how many states we have. It is irrelevant and a non issue. If you need the answer, simply ask IFA aka Google or SIRI. The so-called generation that we keep lambasting are actually smarter than us. Keyword is SMART. The Awolowo and Azikiwe doctrines that you cite no longer apply in todays world. We are in a world were a 2yr old fully knows how to use an IPAD. Sure they have distractions like MTV, Africa Magic etc but the reasoning capability has improved. We the old timers keep criticizing them simply because they don't do things the way we did them yet this "SUPPOSEDLY DUMB" generation keeps innovating everyday. Irrelevant issues like knowing the number of states and who designed Nigeria's flag are no longer important. All that information is readily available nowadays via apps, phones etc.

As an example, Awolowo advocated free education all through. A modern day Nigerian (the ones you feel sorry for) will be opposed to that simply because they know better. Free Education in todays world is simply killing the educational system.

ocelot2006:
Riiiiiiiiiiiiight......but GEJ was still able to get over 25% votes in APC states and even clinched 2 states in the SW. Yet you see yourselves as the "game changers"? Hehehehehe I laugh in Korean

No mind those foul chested people who like giving themselves unneccessary credit.

This is how they claimed it was their doing that saw GEJ become acting president not knowing it was down to the ND militants threats and the Bala Mohammed led northern group in the Senate.

They are just trying to save face here even though it is explicitly clear what Shamsudean Usman stated that it was the north and not SW that produced a buhari win!

LubricatingOil:
You still have 4 years to cry, you never start. Tinubu kicked out Jonathan and nothing you cowards can do.

Another empty chest beating

Have you not seen the latest news from your slave masters up north? Yoruba votes where insignificant, it was the north according to the north that produced Buhari's win.

They are already telling you that it is their govt and not "our" govt.

Buhari will rather appease the ND to secure the oil revenue than waste time with you parasitic ingratious betrayals.

And if you must know, your vote no longer counts as from May 29 since with the last election rigging the north has told you that the census figures that make Kano more populous than Lagos can not be debated and since you saw nothing in child voters get ready to see goats and cows get a pvc as well!

So in future you will surel miss Jonathan and curse your gross stup1dity

LubricatingOil:
Why don't concentrate your energy on those shameless and useless red cap wearing fools that won't allow Buhari rest?

Sore losers!

At the end of the day, Buhari will have to appoint ministers from every section but what will not be in doubt is that the north will dominate key appointments and positions and the SS, SE and SW will be reduced to the same level within the Buhari regime. I can bet that Information minister will go to an Igbo man. Soget ready to have an Igbo man brief you about Buhari's govt.

But where you will lose out more is when you eventually return to your aluta role of opposition after Tinubu pulls out from the APC. The ND and SE will simply support Buhari to spite you more!


Get ready to occupy obalende, eat rice, chant we no go gree and dance to fuji music because that is all you can do!

Sai Baba
Change dole!

Tinubu is now clamouring for regional autonomy.

Biafraqueen leave these apc zombies heren it will only become official when Tinubu and Wole Soyinka begin crying!

No be Nigeria we dey? No be the same northerners that told us in the SouthSouth that they own our coast?

It will only hit these fools when the entire SW traditional stools are sacked and an Emir appointed for the whole Odua.

Leave these people. Their jealous for ND progress and igbo representation in key positions in the GEJ cabinet made them sell themselves to slavery! They have nothing to negotiate with and the north knows them as confirmed cowards.

All we go do is siddon look. No state in SW is richer than any in the SS in terms of GDP. They will suffer for the next 400yrs in slavery to the north!

Operation 12 monkeys will be a peaceful seccession

Another june 12

Yorubas voted against Jonathan because they saw his govt as Igbo dominated.

Now what do they have but a ceremonial vP puppet leased from Tinubu to serve Tinubu's interest only!

We where warning you day and night about not repeating the same foolishness you did to the Shagari regime by spreading your malicious lies on the pages of newspapaers which gave Buhari the audacity to do a coup based on fighting koworption

You plebs swarmed the streets in jubilation welcoming a buhari regime which you lot suffered most under!

Now Buhari has returned and all those trekkers from the north are heading to Abuja to get their share of govt. So in a nutshell you voted the north inspite of their role in inciting and sponsoring violent riots and insurgegencies which targets a southerner like you.

The only way una go get sense is when the Nd and SE pulls out and you are declared minorities and your weath exploited to keep your one nigeria going

Make we dey sidlook

realjoker:
baba obj was there just to make mockery of uncle-J, i see nothing else.

Which mockery?

Obasanjo's political relevance died with PDP's loss.

Do not for one second think this gerriatic adultrous man will be given a voice or say in this coming dispensation.

Obasanjo is a typical bad belle yoruba man. He does not build but destroys. Buhari will do well to avoid him.

The begining of Obj's grumpy ways began when he could not seek his 3rd term and also after he was edged out of the BOT chairmanship of the PDP.


You may want to recall that Tony Annenih was the PDP BOT chairman during Obj's tenure. Obj seeking to remain politically relevant after leaving office eased out Annenih claiming that Annenih could not deliver his own state, Edo and so should not occupy the sit of BOT chairman this is despite the fact that every single contested sit in Ogun down to LG ward councillors went to other parties. After seeing that the BOT chairmanship does not compare to that of the President, Obj had no choice than to resign. In short Obj killed the BOTchairmanship because PDP members shunned it's advisories on the sole reason that all prounoncements from the board where seen as Obasanjo's desperate ploys to control the party.

With Jonathan, Obj simply showed us which of the 2 women in the story of Solomon and the baby he was. Obj wanted to destroy the PD because he felt he had no control over it.

Aremu is a despotic old fool

i See as you get sense plenty

sammyj:
Story for the gods coming from a clueless minister !!!

Obasanj attended for the sole purpose of seeing Buhari who he has been denied access to since Buhari won the elections.

Obasanjo desperetly reached out to Emir Sanusi in London early this week to arrange a meeting with Buhari. Buhari simply declined.

Obasanjo should never be given access to Aso Rock again! Yaradua placed him well, Jonathan made the mistake of seeking his council early on and see how that turned out!

Obasanjo should be advised to invest in full-scap papers and biros because the only way Buhari will hear him is from one of his soon to be written open letters.

A shameless man who even his own children reject should never be allowed to speak on national issues. He lacks moral conviction and his hypocrisy and corrupt ways has seriously degenerated the exalted office he once occupied!

Buhari should scrap this meeting for sake of obj

owobokiri:
Obasanjo is just a grumpy hatefilled old man whose love for power is unrivalled. He seems so excited to have 'hurt' Jonathan but if the truth must be told, Jonathans mindset is far differrent from that of Obasanjo. To Obasanjo , it is a "do or die" affair, for Jonathan, it was a masterfull display of how civil engagement with politics should play out. He must have been there to rub it in, hoping to find ways to do some kind of "ntooõr" at Jonathan. But take a look at the picture, if there is anyone far more at peace with himself amongst them, it is jonathan. . A crude Obasanjo will never understand why Jonathan is not 'pained', remember he angled for a third term. . Petty minds won't. Compared to Obasanjo, jonathan operates on a higher level. .

No where in this useless article where we told why Obasanjo decided to attend,


Well if you ask me, Aremu attended for the sole purpose of sneaking in on a conversation with Buhari.


Since declared winner and president elect, Buhari has been taken out of general circulation and the highest protocol second only to Jonathan extended to him.

Obj has been desperately seeking a meeting with Buhari since Buhari was declared winner. He came late because he was informed last minute that Buhari will be attending for the first time since 1999.

Obasanjo is nothing but a shamelesss tout

Fraudulent inlaws deserve to be divorced asap!

Lol

modskiller:
[size=20pt]is it the same kabiru that wanted to sell my land and house , so he later got arrested with the money bah. That boy na bastard[/size]

SHARIAREPORTERS:
May we never regret voting oga jona out of power
I hope and pray Buhari performs

You still dey blame Jonah?

Jonathan's administration will be appreciated by future Nigerians