The Catholic Church on Thursday complained that the Boko Haram insurgents have taken over the parish rectory of its church and other houses of Christians in last week's attack on Madagali in Adamawa state, Northeast Nigeria.
The church laid this complaint in an electronic press statement by the Director Catholic Social Communications in-charge of the Maiduguri Diocese, Rev. Fr. Gideon Obasogie who said that though the members of the outlawed sect has been known not to draw a line of demarcation on whom to or not to visit with mayhem but in recent time it seems that Christians and Christian institutions have been at the receiving end of the satanic group.
Obasogie said in Madagali, which is a local government that borders Borno and Adamawa states, and the closest town to Gwoza with a large number of Catholics, and members of other Christian denominations equally with a good number of Muslims, "the Whole town and the Parish rectory have been occupied by the terrorists, so many structures and items have been vandalized. Dozens killed and a lot of church structures have been burnt down."He decried that "Christians in the town are really in a terribly situation; a moment of great persecution.
"Christian men are caught and beheaded, the women are forced to become Muslim and are taken as wives to the terrorists. The houses of Christians that have fled are now occupied by the insurgents.
"Their cars are used by the terrorists. Some Muslim around identify Christian homes to be occupied and the Christians hiding were also identified and were killed. Strict Sharia Law had been promulgated, as observed by a woman who luckily escaped the death zone." He lamented that: "The situation as it is now has really and truly gone out of control. People are finding it really hard, citizens are been killed in their numbers."
He said it is hoped that Nigeria would be real in handling the dwindling state of insecurity that has enveloped the entire North east.
The clergyman said the Catholic Church was compelled to close down all the churches on the major road linking Maiduguri and Adamawa state because of acts of terrorism. (Source)
Also:
“As it is well known, the catholic diocese of Maiduguri covers the whole of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa States, the three states under strict emergency rule. Apart from the churches within Maiduguri that have great share of such attacks by the terrorists group, all the churches on the major road linking maiduguri and Adamawa state have been shut down due to activities of the insurgents.” The statement reads.
It further stated that, “St Timothy’s Bama has been under siege since last year. The Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Timothy Cosmas had long been relocated to a different Parish. At the early part of this year, St. Peter’s Pulka was badly attacked. Thanks to God that, Fr. James John was luckily unavailable. The terrorists searched and wanted to kill the holy Priest of God.
“Lately, precisely on Friday, Augustn 22, 2014, the dreaded group had moved steadily and yet more boldly into Gwoza which is in Borno state and the neighboring Madagali LGA in Adamawa State, declaring a caliphate.
“The assisting Priest of St. Denis Madagali, Fr. Aiden Ibrahim fled the Parish with some of his parishioners to the mountains, upon hearing serious fire battle from the terrorists.
“Since the curfew declared was dusk to dawn, they had to travel on foot through the mountains until they got to Michika, a neighboring LGA where movement was free. Since then, Madagali and Gwoza have been under siege and strictly controlled by the Boko Haram sects.” (Source)
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2. The Horror Never Ends in ISIS-controlled Syria and Iraq, as United States President dithers.
Hours after shocking world with desert execution of 300 Syrian soldiers, ISIS parade captured Kurds dressed in Guantanamo-style boiler suits and promise to kill them all unless USA pulls out of Iraq
...
The United States has launched humanitarian aid packages and scores of bombing attacks on Islamic State (IS) militants in northern Iraq in a bid to assist Kurdish and Iraqi forces in their fightback.
But discussion has now shifted to whether the strikes should extend into Syria, where the militants have a safe haven and recently executed 300 Syrian soldiers.
President Barack Obama at first seemed to largely rule out that option, a decision that came as little surprise, given his long opposition to plunging the U.S. military into Syria, a country ravaged by civil war.
But staying out of Syria got more complicated after the extremists announced last week that they had killed American journalist James Foley and threatened to kill additional U.S. hostages in Syria.
Joint Chief of Staff chairman Martin Dempsey has said unequivocally that the Islamic State can only be defeated if the U.S. were to go after the group in Syria as well as Iraq.
Obama said Thursday that he was weighing the prospect of military action in Syria, but yesterday tamped down any suggestion that such a move was imminent. And he said that even if he were ultimately to authorize strikes, they would have to come in conjunction with a broader regional strategy that addresses political turmoil in both Iraq and Syria.
Yesterday it was also being reported that the first soldier fighting for the Lebanese Armed Forces in Syria has been beheaded by Islamic State. Photos on social media have been released by IS, allegedly showing the head of a Lebanese Shiite soldier. (Source - Beware of graphic images)
Chaldean Patriarch Sako had been mistakenly reported as saying that, "the US is behind ISIS," but he does not back off (rightly, of course) from claiming indirect US responsibility for all that is happening to Iraqi Christians:
The United States is indirectly responsible for the violence in Iraq that has seen more than half of the Christian population displaced, Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako said Thursday, after a media report quoted him saying "America is behind ISIS."
“The U.S. is indirectly responsible for what is going on in Iraq as it said it would ensure democracy and the well-being of the people, but 10 years have passed and on the contrary we have gone backward,” Sako told reporters at Beirut's airport.
He was responding to a question following remarks attributed to him in the local daily Ad-Diyar in which he accused the U.S. of supporting ISIS.
“ Iraq has been divided ... and the Americans left Iraq in the midst of a vacuum where there was no army to protect [the people] and ISIS and these jihadist groups have been present for four years,” he said, before boarding a plane to Iraq.
“There were about 1 million Christians in Iraq and more than half of them have been displaced. Only 400,000 are left while displacement is still rising,” Sako added. (Source)
And despite it all: "Obama confesses: ‘We don’t have a strategy yet’ for Islamic State."
And how did ISIS came about? This article explains it well: it is the logical consequence of the thinking, and of the direct action, of two wealthy Gulf monarchies, close "allies" (not really) of the United States.
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3. Largest Abuse Crisis Uncovered so far in Britain. Sikhs complain: "Can we Please Stop with this 'Asian' misnomer? Perpetrators are not 'Asians," they're Muslims, let's tackle this head on."
It’s not pretty to watch a news story blow the collected minds of an entire nation, especially when it’s our close friends in the United Kingdom. What happened in the town of Rotherham, South Yorkshire is almost beyond belief. ... To put it bluntly, pedophile gangs went on a 16-year rampage that claimed over 1400 victims, and the government strenuously resisted noticing, because most of the perpetrators were Pakistani Muslims, and officials didn’t want to appear insensitive. (Source)
Sikh community asks for precise identification - not 'Asians':
Ever since 9/11 and the term Islamophobia was invented, public bodies and the media in the UK have been reluctant to call a spade a spade. For reasons of excessive political correctness and possible claims of racism, the broader term “Asian” has been and continues to be incorrectly used although it is inappropriate. The report by Professor Alexis Jay on child sexual exploitation in Rotherham has made clear that the majority of known perpetrators were of Pakistani heritage. Yet the police and council workers downplayed the ethnic dimension, an approach that Professor Jay describes as ‘ill-judged’ and they failed to tackle such appalling crimes. Jahangir Akhtar, the former deputy leader of the council, has been accused in the report of naivety and potentially “ignoring a politically inconvenient truth” by insisting there was not a deep-rooted problem of Pakistani-heritage perpetrators. Jay states he was one of the elected members who said they thought the criminal convictions in 2010 were “a one-off, isolated case.” Police told the inquiry that some influential Pakistani Councilors in Rotherham acted as barriers to communication on grooming issues. Organizations like the Sikh Federation (UK) have been campaigning for the term “Asian” to be abandoned for over a decade. The Sikh campaign for proper “identification” initially came to the fore, following the cases of attacks on turban wearing Sikhs through what became popularly known as “mistaken identity” following 9/11. However, it has been frustrating for far too long for Sikhs and others who might be seen as “Asians” that virtually every time a negative story appeared in the press, often involving Muslims, the media and those in positions of authority preferred to use the term “Asian.” The widespread outrage following Professor Jay’s report has again highlighted the problem with the non-specific term Asian. Bhai Amrik Singh, Chair of the Sikh Federation (UK) said, “It is time for the media, police, local authorities and others to abandon political correctness and stop using the throwaway term “Asian.” If the ethnic/religious background is known to be a significant factor in any form of criminal activity or organised abuse it must be identified, exposed, and more importantly be tackled head on. Those in positions of responsibility must call a spade a spade if it means fewer children will be exploited and not fear being called Islamophobic or racist. The rights of the victims must come before the perpetrators.” (Source)
Is there a reason why time and again these massive abuse rings, which dwarf in scope, scale, and the criminal rapacity of the perpetrators anything ever seen before in Britain are always led by groups of members of the same religion? We were sent by a reader this strong, long and startling fact-based report whose readership we do not at all recommend to those of a more sensitive disposition: “Easy Meat” - Multiculturalism, Islam and Child Sex Slavery.
