President Donald Trump said Thursday he’d ordered a deadly strike on Islamic State terrorists in Nigeria, who he has accused of persecuting Christians in the country.In a post on social media, Trump said he’d directed a “powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria,” who he said had been killing innocent Christians.US Africa Command said it conducted the strikes in Sokoto state, which borders Niger to the north, “in coordination with Nigerian authorities.” AFRICOM’s initial assessment is that “multiple ISIS terrorists were killed in the ISIS camps,” according to a news release.
While it’s true that ISIS terrorists aren’t only targeting Christians in Nigeria (they’re also killing Muslim) the larger point is that Trump is following through on his promise to use the military to strike these groups. Predictably, anti-war critics will argue that he should have gone through Congress first, while others will try to frame the strikes in terms of race or identity to smear him. At the same time, Trump supporters and war hawks will celebrate the action and praise his leadership. For my part, I support taking down terrorists regardless of who their victims are, because protecting people and confronting threats like this is a president’s primary responsibility.
No comments:
Post a Comment