War on terror: The implications of underreporting

Also published in Daily Trust

Though, ordinarily and for obvious tactical and strategic reasons, not every development on the battlefield is publicly disseminated, and despite the relative improvement of the credibility of the reports emanating from the Nigerian military about the developments on the war fronts against Boko Haram terrorists, the absence of regular presence of reporters from independent media outlets in the closest proximity possible to the war fronts has rendered the war grossly underreported.

This explains the unmistakable inconsistency between the extent of the victories that the military claims to be achieving and the persistent recurrence of deadly bomb attacks in public places, raids and other terror activities by the terrorists. It also means that the military still, albeit to a lesser extent compared to what obtained until recently, deliberately exaggerates its victories and underreports many important developments that are usually disseminated in warfare. It could be recalled that, towards the end of former President Jonathan’s presidency, the military had claimed to have launched an intensified military campaign purportedly to subdue and rout the terrorists.

The Saudis’ real ‘sin’ (lll)

Also published in Daily Trust

Though the background information that dominated the previous parts of this piece might have amounted to an unnecessary digression, as some readers insinuated, I humbly insist, that it was indispensable anyway as it was intended to put the issue in its right context, which remains necessary in order to understand what Iran is actually hell-bent on achieving by politicizing the Hajj stampede tragedy.

In any case, obviously, Iran’s demand for a role in the management of Hajj affairs is simply hypocritical, to say the least, because according to Shia doctrine, which is its official religious ideology, Makkah is inferior to Karbala in terms of holiness, and that Hajj is equally inferior to paying homage to the supposed grave of Imam Hussein in Karbala, as I quoted from some of their major religious books, in part two of this piece. By the way, no wonder its apologists want Hajj to be organized and managed the same way FIFA organizes and manages the world cup event.

The Saudis’ real ‘sin’ (ll)

Also published in Daily Trust

To understand the intricate politics surrounding Iran’s politicization of Mina deadly stampede, one has to know the historical, religious and ideological dynamics that collectively define Iranians’ attitudes and influence their policies and strategies towards Hajj, the status of Makkah, Madina and the other Islamic holy sites.

Historically, since the second rightly guided Caliph, Umar Ibn Al-Khattab-led Islamic conquest of the tyrannical Persian Empire, which was one of the two most powerful empires in the world then, and even though the Persians overwhelmingly and willingly accepted Islam, there remained some Persian supremacist elements who refused to come to terms with the collapse of their empire at the hands of Muslims, and in fact Arabs for that matter, who they had disdainfully looked down on and indeed dominated for centuries.

The Saudis’ real ‘sin’ {l}

Also published in Daily Trust

Considering the sheer amount of criticism against the Saudi Arabian government by its critics, and the passionate defence in its favour by its supporters over the deadly stampede at the holy site of Mina during the recently concluded Hajj where more than seven hundred pilgrims lost their lives, an unbiased observer would definitely find it difficult to arrive at a reasonable conclusion about the alleged responsibility or otherwise of the Saudi Arabian authorities for the tragedy.

This is because the assertions and counter-assertions by both the critics and the supporters are largely devoid of specific facts about the cause(s) of the catastrophe, which means that their purported arguments and counter-arguments are simply too unreasonable to constitute reasonable reasons to straightaway blame or exonerate the Saudi government. After all, while  its critics are largely motivated by sheer hatred that rendered them too blindfolded to see anything positive about the country, its supporters are largely too opinionated to find anything negative about it.