It seems like ten seconds, not ten years, have passed since our nation was attacked on September, 11, 2001. The horrific images of that fateful day (the plane smashing into the iconic skyscraper, people jumping to their death from the towering inferno, the collapse of both towers) haven’t been dimmed by time, they remain sharp and clear in our minds.
Where there was once smoldering ruins at Ground Zero, there is now a National September 11 Memorial, and the new Freedom Tower has begun its ascent to the heavens. Violence and hatred has never quashed the human spirit, and that hallowed ground on lower Manhattan will soon be bolder, and more magnificent than ever.
“Closure” is a cruel myth, the families of the victims of 9/11 will carry their emotional scars to their graves. But Americans are resilient, and many of those most impacted by 9/11 made a U Turn after that evil day and dedicated the rest of their lives in service to their communities.
It’s often repeated that the terrorists won because in the aftermath of 9/11, we got entangled in two interminable wars, spent billions on security measures, and passed the Patriot Act which tramples on our civil liberties.
While it’s true that going to war against Iraq was a colossal mistake, and we should have pulled our troops out of Afghanistan years ago, al Qaeda didn’t win. We emerged from the fires of 9/11, a stronger and more unified nation. We learned that the strength of our nation isn’t in its towers that touch the heavens, but in the indomitable spirit of the American people.
The terrorists will never win, terrorism will never destroy us. Only we can destroy ourselves, if we fail to realize that we are still one people, indivisible. In the days and weeks immediately following 9/11 we weren’t blue states and red states, but the UNITED States of American. Today bipartisanship is a dirty word in Congress, and we have let our political differences divide us.
Let’s come together as a nation once again. Instead of letting politics divide us, let us celebrate the wonderful freedom that we enjoy to express our political views. Nothing will enrage and confuse our enemies more than witnessing an America that is unbowed, united and undeterred from advancing the cause of liberty.
As the nation prepares to mark the ninth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, numerous media figures have propagated anti-Muslim rhetoric, often smearing Muslims as “terrorists,” “jihadists,” and “extremists,” and dismissing Islam altogether as a “militant” and “anti-Semitic” faith. [ READ MORE ]
In this posting, I stated that FaceBook blogger Sarah Palin, is an intellectual midget — nowhere near president Obama. Since her disastrous “NEO-KLAN LYNCH-MOB” campaign with John McSAME in 2008, all we have gotten from her — are death-panel lies, imbecilic posturing, demagoguery and other despicable “Taliban” behavior.
Palin is nothing but a racistdimwit-moonbat, savvy enough to extract the most vile emotions from her homicidal and racist constituency, while pocketing their hard-earned money.
The “Star of The GOP” recently screeched at the “Boston Tea Party,” to a loving crowd consisting of some of the worst Republican/Tea party terrorists — frothing in the mouth, and plotting to “Take Back Their Country,” and to “Retard” America back to the 1800′s — per “their” constitution!
Extremism in Africa: What is happening in Nigeria is taking place all over Africa. Not only are Islamic and Christian fundamentalism on the rise, but also traditionalist extremism. In Uganda, for example, child sacrifice has hit an alarming high. Ironically, it is fuelled not by poverty, but by development and prosperity. A security official told the BBC that as Ugandans grow wealthier, they resort more and more to witchcraft to secure their wealth and to build on it…
[ By: Charles Onyango-Obbo ] The Nigerian terrorist Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, who attempted to blow up an American aeroplane with a bomb built into his underwear, was somewhat unAfrican.
Though so-called Sub-Saharan Africa has its fair share of terrorists, AbdulMutallab is one of the very few who has offered himself up as a suicide bomber. From the days of the slave trade, life has been so grim in Africa that we seem to have developed a strong keep-alive ethos that makes suicide unfashionable.
So how do we explain AbdulMutallab? One of the best attempts to shed light on why this young Nigerian, born into a rich middle class family and having received a very good education, became a would-be suicide bomber can be found on the Zeleza Post. The Zeleza Post is a high-minded blog on African affairs founded by Malawian historian, Dr Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, who is touted as the next big African intellectual.
A December 28 posting on the blog by Nigerian Pius Adesanni blames the AbdulMutallab phenomenon the lazy and parasitic “Feudo-Caliphal establishment in northern Nigeria,” which mass produces poverty and stokes radical Islam in order to maintain power.
However, it is not only Islamic extremism that is being pushed in Nigeria. Nigeria is also the epicentre of Christian extremism in Africa.
My favourite is the “Ministry of Sacrifice” led by Prophetess Felicia Okafor, which is dedicated to finishing the work that Adam and Eve left undone in the Garden of Eden. Members of the Ministry prayed naked, and husbands and wives were barred from having sex with one another. Instead, the church appointed a “brother” or “sister” for them. A female member of the Ministry found to be having sexual relations with her legitimate husband was considered to have committed adultery! By any standard of religious extremism, that was going way too far. Prophetess Okafor was busted after her flock couldn’t take it any more and squealed to the police.
What is happening in Nigeria is taking place all over Africa. Not only are Islamic and Christian fundamentalism on the rise, but also traditionalist extremism. In Uganda, for example, child sacrifice has hit an alarming high. Ironically, it is fuelled not by poverty, but by development and prosperity. A security official told the BBC that as Ugandans grow wealthier, they resort more and more to witchcraft to secure their wealth and to build on it…
In common, Islamic and Christian fundamentalism are growing because there is no competing secular cause. Public policy debate is dying in Africa, and what we have is homophobic fury in many countries. Political discourse has been replaced by ethnic hate rants.
We don’t need a great secular idea. Even an Africa-wide youth rebellion, demanding the right for young people to love, get high on marijuana, and party all night will unite the older folks to set them on the right path.
In the past, we united against imperialism, then against the IMF and World Bank. The biggest of them all was HIV-Aids. These issues were always much bigger than religion and superstition. Now the HIV-Aids has receded somewhat.
We need a new enemy; maybe a disease as fiery as HIV-Aids that will marginalise the merchants of religious extremism. If not, we should prepare for more AbdulMutallabs and child sacrifices.
About The Author: Charles Onyango-Obbo — is Uganda’s leading political commentator. He is Nation Media Group‘s managing editor for convergence and new products. Charles writes for The Monitor, Uganda’s only independent daily and most influential newspaper and The East African, a Nation-Media publication. Be sure to check out his Article Archive featuring hundreds of Charles’s greatest publications. More Articles By Mr. Onyango Obbo: [ CLICK HERE ]
West Africa has traditionally been associated with the international drug trade but Kenya now leads states in East Africa that have emerged as favourites for drug traffickers. Mainly because of the drastic situation in Somalia, East Africa is becoming a free economic zone for all sorts of trafficking — drugs, migrants, guns, hazardous wastes and natural resources
By David Ochami & Philip Mwakio (The Standard, Kenya)
Kenya is fast becoming a key hub for trafficking of drugs from Afghanistan to the rest of the world.
According to reports by the United Nations, “30 to 35 metric tonnes” of Afghan heroin pass through East Africa each year.
This is two-thirds the volume going through West Africa. The largest ever drug haul in Kenya, in December 2004, was 1.1 metric tonnes with a street value of over Sh13 billion.
The proceeds from the drugs are used to finance terrorism activities in Northern Africa and some other sub-Saharan states. It is also suspected that the illicit drug trade supports the unending conflict in neighbouring Somalia.
The Taliban, among whom the world’s most notorious terrorist Osama bin Laden hides, are reported to earn $100 million (Sh8 billion) a year from protecting the drug trade. Drug barons are rumoured to sit in Afghan government positions raking in billions more. The UN puts the potential export value of Afghan narcotics at about $3.4 billion (Sh270 billion) a year. So much is grown that destroying it all is impossible: With stockpiles of 10,000 metric tonnes awaiting export, the UN this year proposed creating a “flood of drugs” in the country to destroy the value of opium.
Experts say the availability of drugs in Kenyan cities is fueling addiction and spread of HIV and Aids in towns like Mombasa and Nairobi.
The UN says that countries in East and West Africa, including Kenya, are no longer only consumers of drugs but are turning into processing hubs for hard drugs. Some states are “threatened” by the increasing clout of drug cartels.
Last evening, Judith Odhiambo who heads the Anti-Narcotics Unit of the Kenya Police acknowledged a surge in seizures of drug hauls but it was not clear whether that is a result of better law enforcement or an increase in trafficking through Kenya.
“Seizures are rising now,” she said in a brief interview. She did not, however, have definite figures of trends and added she needs to read the UN report first.
The UN says heroin is replacing cocaine whose supply has been going down. Last year 80 per cent of the world’s opium (used to make heroin) came from Afghanistan. Production is up over 239 per cent since 2003, according to US government estimates. Most states preferred by traffickers lack money to implement anti-narcotics strategies.
On November 24, a ministerial declaration supporting UN efforts against drugs and organised crime was signed in Kenya. Dated December 8, the report quotes Antonio Maria Costa, the Executive Director on the UN Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) as saying: “Drugs are enriching not only organized crime but also terrorists and other anti-Government forces,”
He describes the situation as a worrisome development.
“In East Africa…30 to 35 tonnes of Afghan heroin [are] trafficked each year causing a dramatic increase in heroin addiction and spreading of HIV and Aids in the slums of Nairobi and Mombasa.”
The official said the rise is also connected to state failure in Somalia.
“Mainly because of the drastic situation in Somalia, he said, East Africa was becoming a free economic zone for all sorts of trafficking — drugs, migrants, guns, hazardous wastes and natural resources.”
West Africa has traditionally been associated with the international drug trade but Kenya now leads states in East Africa that have emerged as favourites for drug traffickers.
A UN Security Council meeting on global cooperation in fighting international drug trafficking was told that narcotic laboratories are increasingly finding homes in Africa.
The UN bulletin, which reported on the meeting, says that such laboratories have already been found in countries such as Guinea-Bissau. The country’s Cabinet is so compromised, it is referred to as the world’s first “narco-state.”
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon told the meeting that international drug trade is fuelling brutal conflicts, corruption and other crimes besides undermining the rule of law.
The UN chief said in some poor nations proceeds of drug trade distort Gross Domestic Product and disclosed that global co-operation to fight the narcotics menace lags behind cooperation between or among criminal groups.
The CEO of the National Campaign Against Drug Abuse (Nacada) Jennifer Kimani says there is a rising consumption of heroin in Kenya owing to its availability and affordability on the market.
“There is a rise in demand for heroin because it is cheap and available,” she says and adds supply and abuse of the drug has risen lately beyond the traditional Coast province to Kenya’s hinterland.
The Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya According to the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya (CIPK) lack of goodwill from the government was derailing efforts to contain the menace.
“A good example is the Kenyan Coast which has seen the number of youths hooked to illegal drugs on the increase. It is religious leaders and to some extent provincial administration officials who are trying to eradicate drug use here,” Sheikh Mohamed Khalifa, CIPK organising secretary said.
He added that certain individuals known to be involved in drug trade are in good books with senior Government officials who act to protect them arrest.
But Sheikh Juma Ngao, a Nacada director, points an accusing finger at western nations which have reneged on their role to help stop supply of drugs to developing countries.
“There is need to have stiffer international laws in place that could deter transfer and or transportation of drugs to countries like Kenya in the first place,” Sheikh Ngao said.
The Nigerian terrorist Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, who attempted to blow up an American aeroplane with a bomb built into his underwear, was somewhat unAfrican.
