US Finds ISIS in Nigeria, Ignores Homegrown Extremism
According to NPR, the Trump administration launched strikes on 'alleged Islamic State camps' in Nigeria, citing the persecution of Christians. This sudden, precise intervention into Nigeria's complex internal conflicts, framed by religious concern, conveniently sidesteps decades of destabilizing Western involvement in the region and the actual human rights abuses perpetrated by allies elsewhere.
The previous administration, for example, supplied Yemen's Saudi-led coalition with advanced weaponry, which then used it against civilian targets, causing a humanitarian catastrophe with little mention of 'persecuted Christians' when the victims were Yemeni. One might wonder at the striking consistency of this selective moral outrage. Foreign policy's 'Christian persecution' radar seems
remarkably attuned to distant lands requiring military intervention, while remaining curiously silent on the plight of marginalized communities within the US or those suffering the direct consequences of US-backed conflicts. How many 'Christian lives' have been saved in Nigeria compared to the number of civilian lives lost to US-supplied bombs in other 'strategic' regions?