Beaucoup Harem

By Hugh Farnham

Almost as if on cue, the Administration is pushing another international distraction in the form of Boko Haram.  Who couldn't be pulled in with this storyline?  Innocent kidnapped girls, mean bearded Muslims bent on forced marriage, and the FLOTUS tweet hashtag.

Our National Interest

One of the basic principles in diplomacy or war is asking the question:  What is our national interest? 

A few years ago I was working Strategy Division at an Air Operations Center, or AOC.  Some members of the AFRICOM AOC came through for a tour; I cornered a Major in the group and asked him point-blank what was our overriding national interest in Africa - enough to justify AFRICOM?  He stammered, looked sheepish, and couldn't offer a cogent response.  

Imagine a Major on General Eisenhower's Air Staff who couldn't enunciate why we were in Europe during WWII!

The reason I believe this is a selected distraction has to do with Rwanda.  During the Clinton administration up to 1 million Tutsis died at the hands of the majority Hutus.  Nothing was done by Clinton - why not?  No national interest.

While it is natural for our hearts to go out to these innocent girls, we are talking about a government that upholds the murder of millions of our own children - many of whom are minorities.  Right on our own soil.  This same government then gets all self-righteous about 200 kidnapped foreign girls.

The basic assumption of why we have the "right" to interfere with some other nation's internal affairs needs to be deconstructed.  I'm not threatened by Boko Haram and neither should this nation or government.  

Is this just an excuse for another military adventure or a distraction for the Hilary Clinton - Benghazi hearings?  This media build-up reminds me of the drums of war for Yugoslavia, or Syria or... the enemy de jour.