Anchor: Let’s bring in retired general Carter Ham, the former commander US Africa command. General, the United States military team has been sent in to advice the Nigerian government on how to handle this, there are US drones in the air and other intelligence resources. What would you need to know before green lighting a rescue mission?
Ham: Well Jake, (referring to the CNN anchor)the first thing you need to know is that this is primarily the responsibility of the Nigerian government and perhaps now the responsibility of neighbouring countries, if indeed some of the girls has been moved to those countries through the very porous borders. The US government has long been guided by an appropriate principle that says, “We seek African solutions to African problems, and the US to help in a way that we can.” I think that is what we have seen playing out in Nigeria today.
Anchor: Well that is fair enough, but Amnesty International did report that they warned the Nigerian government before the raids something like four hours ahead of time but the Nigerian government was not able to do anything or was not willing to do anything about it. So I think there is a reason to question whether the Nigerian government is able to do any rescue operation like this. Is that fair?
Ham: Well, I certainly understand that there are those who question that and certainly about the allegation made about the pre-knowledge about the attack are worthy of investigation. But right now, the Nigerian government I believe, the United States and other countries assisting the Nigerian government are fully focused on the first problem, which is find the girls and that got to remain the urgent priority.
Anchor: let’s assume that the girls were found and let’s assume that the Nigerian government would have asked the US government-I am going to give you a lot of assumption now and let’s assume that President Barrack Obama and the US public were all willing to do this. I guess one of the biggest question now is, would the US special force be able to go and rescue these girls without Boko Haram just turning around and slaughtering the girls are the first sight of a US soldier.
Ham: Well Jake you have asked a multiplicity of ifs strong together. The United States have extraordinarily accomplished special operation forces that can accomplish and have demonstrated actually that they can accomplish these kind of very sensitive missions. This one is significantly complicated by the lack of infrastructure in the region and by what I suspect the dispersing of these girls into multiple locations, probably into multiple countries. It is highly a complex issue. But again, it begin with the intelligence work to find where these girls are being held.
Anchor: One soldier I spoke that I spoke to said, “He will smoke these guys in their hearth beat, but he does not see any national security reason to do so. What do you think?
Ham: Well I think Boko Haram in my view has been a problem in Nigeria an important partner of the United States and secondly that have become increasingly violent and now broadcast on the international stage how horrifically violent they have become. They are a destabilising influence in an important region of Nigeria and increasingly more broadly across West and Central Africa. So if left unaddressed, the problem just gets lager. Again in my view I think Boko Haram leaders have stated that they aspire to attack the United States, its persons and interest. I don’t think they yet have the capabilities to strike the home land, but they are certainly a destabilising influence in the region and that is not in our national interest..
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