MUST READ: Confessions of a Boko Haram member

Salisu nestles under a baobab tree which is at the centre of Kagua village, Bize in Borno state, Nigeria. It is a sunless afternoon. The humming wind cruises right about him, and dry leaves touchdown as if betokening the grave and sad atmosphere. Crestfallen and utterly devastated, Salisu ponders on his life which now seems worthless and the calamity that has befallen him. He has lost his whole family in one day- his mother, father, two sisters and a brother. Death has taken them all in a fatal motor accident. It would have been better if he was taken too in the same gruesome manner. This awful soliloquy he repeats to himself.
Many thoughts race through is sombre mind. Suicide is at the top of them. Perhaps, it is the easiest way out of this cruel world where nothing is certain, and things precious always lost. Before he makes up his mind to take his own life, the muezzin of the village mosque from the tower blares out, “Allahuu wakubarr!”(God is a great). It is a call to prayer.
“Perfect time, let me say my last prayers, and set off for the journey to yonder place where my family will be waiting for me”, he snaps.
After the customary prayers, the Imam, Aliyu announces that there will be a session on the deep spiritual themes of life and death. This interests Salisu, and he puts his cowardly suicide idea on hold. The Imam stirs his mind, imagination and thoughts with “truths” from the Quran. He says, “Life is to live as a Jihadist, and death is to live as an infidel”. Redemption for the soul is through Jihad, all other means likezakatis secondary. He goes further by reeling off the pleasures of paradise for those who die “serving” Allah.
The teachings of Aliyu strike Salisu in a most scintillating way. He muses that redemption is what he needs for himself and even for his late family. He believes his own redemption can rescue his family from Shaitan as they were never practising Muslims. He must find redemption and the path to pleasing God.
Salisu, a sixteen year old, one hundred level student of History, the University of Maiduguri, Borno state, Nigeria, drops out of school as it becomes difficult for him to continue owing to the reason that he has no benefactor. More importantly his soul longs for ethereal things now. It seeks redemption. And it wants to please God. The loss of his family has left a great yearning for things spiritual in him.
Life has no meaning to him anymore, and that which is worth living and dying for is what he must pursue. Aliyu seems to bear answers to his questions and knows the path to pleasing God. He will seek close interactions with him and feed his starving soul of sacred truths.
Aliyu’s house, two buildings away from the mosque, becomes Salisu’s haunt. There he meets other boys who have come for similar reasons- finding answers to spiritual truths regarding the essence of life and the path to knowing and pleasing God. They are taught from the Quran andfatwasof Islamic scholars.They learn that as Muslim faithful they must wage Jihads always to appease God and cleanse the land of evil. That is the way to salvation, and the way to nirvana.
The idea of Jihad fascinates Salisu. He does not understand Jihad in real and concrete terms. In his view, Jihad means holy persuasion and converting unbelievers using superior spiritual arguments. Perhaps, Aliyu has never revealed the bare imperatives of Jihad to him. He becomes engrossed with the teachings of Aliyu, and so are the other boys.
Aliyu gets word that government soldiers are on his trail for radicalising Muslim youths. He calls out to his loyal adherents that the infidels are after him, and the time to prove that Allah reigns has come. Salisu wonders why government soldiers are after such a holy and noble man. Maybe, they want him for no offence, but to thank him for setting young minds on the spiritual and righteous path.
Aliyu, Salisu along with other adherents retreat to the far-flung and forgotten Borno forest to meet Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram. Salisu thinks Shekau a spiritual master from whom his knowledge of Islam will be increased and his purpose achieved.
At Osman Camp in the forest, Salisu is thought how to use different weapons. This troubles him as it is a deviation from his original agenda. Aliyu calms his troubled mind him by telling him that it is all in preparation for a Jihad, and that soon the enemies of Allah will be shamed. The enemies of Allah must be wicked invaders then, since it is a fight of flesh and blood, and not of prayer and fasting. He surmises.
On Sunday, 24thDecember, 2011, Salisu is psyched up and wired up by Shekau for a holy strike at the heart of the infidels. He is on his first Jihadist mission, and there is a heightened sense of things. He has mixed feelings about confronting “those” ruthless invaders- enemies of Allah. He wonders what they look like.
As the truck he is on pulls up behind a church, he is ordered by a superior to get down, get into the church and shoot the worshippers there; they are the infidels, the enemies of Allah. He is alarmed. This cannot be true! He gets into the church. He is petrified. He cannot do it. He is ordered again to shoot the infidels. “They are humans like me, I cannot shoot them”, he answers in trepidation. “Shoot or be shot” his superior thunders back. Salisu as if stricken by a fit, squeezes the trigger and let off a volley of bullets. After the day’s horrendous adventure, he returns to the camp despondent, tearful and remorseful.
Salisu participates albeit unwillingly in other heinous missions. His scruples never left him. It has become a Scylla and Charybdis for him at Boko Haram’s den. It is either he does the evil bidding of Shekau or he is killed. Sympathisers of infidels are infidels themselves. That is the Boko Haram canon. He becomes blood-soaked in guilt.
There is a shout of Allah wakbarr (God is great) at the camp. This time it is not a call to prayer, but a cry of joy for killing innocent, harmless and hapless people. To Salisu, the cry of Allah wakbarr has become a mantra for killing. He does not make sense of it. On his last mission before he finally gives up, he is compelled by threat of death to slit the throats of innocent children who are returning from school. He capitulates, but that becomes his breaking point. He finds a way. Although not an easy one, he deserts. He has shed enough blood to buy redemption and please God if truly Jihad is the way to redemption and pleasing God. There is no redemption, guilt is all there is.
Confused and feeling hopeless, Salisu returns to the baobab tree. This time he is not nestling under it, he is standing like a Trojan. It is crepuscular. The wind is not blowing and dry leaves are not falling. Everything seems to be in a hush. He has searched his soul. There is nothing left. He has been a coward for not taking his own life initially. This time he will not make the same mistake. He will end it!
Salisu called me on April, 30th, 2012. He said it was important, and that he had a package for me. Driven by the uncanny nature of the call, I travelled to Maiduguri on May 1st, 2012. After settling in at a guest house at Bize, I made straight for the Ndanusa home, Salisu’s family house. I called him, but I could not get through to him. I became pensive because I had thought he would be ready to receive me given the fact that I had called him a day earlier to inform him of my coming to Maiduguri. I got to the house, the gates were surprisingly open. I found my way into the living room. I have been there before. I called out for him. But he did not answer. Perplexed now, I made for the boys’ room. I opened the door, alas! Salisu was dangling from a ceiling.
It was very much after his funeral that I was able to get out of my grief garment to read a note and a diary he had left for me. It happened that he had been keeping record of all the happenings in his life. In the note, he wrote “If you read this know that I have found redemption. Death has redeemed me”. In his diary, with the bold title, “My Life”, were his story and confessions laced in a fine but teenage narrative of how he ignorantly and helplessly became a member of the dreaded Boko Haram sect. Salisu Ndanusa died an unfortunate Boko Haram militant seeking redemption and the path to knowing and pleasing God.
To Salisu Ndanusa and all the souls taken by Boko Haram. Rest in peace.
by Fredrick Nwabufo

NEVER FORGET,The Speech Given By Willie Lynch A Slave Owner 300 Years Ago

I thought this was the most appropriate time for all  of us to re-read, remember and NEVER FORGET, the speech given by Willie Lynch a slave owner who over 300 years ago devised a plan to help keep Black people divided...
                               

Gentlemen:

I greet you here on the bank of the James River in the year of our lord, one thousand seven hundred and twelve. First , I shall thank you, the gentlemen of the of the colony of Virginia, for bringing me here. I am here to help you solve some of your problems with slaves. Your invitation reached me in my modest plantation in the West Indies where I have experimented with some of the newest and still the oldest method for control of slaves. Ancient Rome would envy us if my program is implemented. As our boat sailed south on the James River, named for our illustrious KING JAMES, whose BIBLE we CHERISH, I saw enough to know that our problem is not unique. While Rome used cords or wood as crosses for standing human bodies along the old highways in great numbers, you are here using the tree and the rope on occasion.

I caught the whiff of a dead slave hanging from a tree a couple of miles back. You are losing valuable stock by hangings, you are having uprisings, slaves are running away, your crops are sometimes left in the fields too long for maximum profit, you suffer occasional fires, your animals are killed, Gentleman,...You know what your problems are; I do not need to elaborate. I am not here to enumerate your problems, I am here to introduce you to a method of solving them.

In my bag, I have a fool proof method for controlling your slaves. I guarantee everyone of you that if installed it will control the slaves for at least three hundred years. My method is simple, any member of your family or any OVERSEER can use it.

I have outlined a number of differences among the slaves, and I take these differences and make them bigger. I use FEAR, DISTRUST, and ENVY for control purposes. These methods have worked on my modest plantation in the West Indies, and it will work throughout the SOUTH. Take this simple little list of differences and think about them. On the top of my list is "AGE" but it is only there because it starts with an "A"; The second is"COLOR" or shade; there is INTELLIGENCE, SIZE, SEX, SIZE OF PLANTATION, ATTITUDE of owner, whether the slaves live in the valley, on a hill, east or west, north, south, have fine or coarse hair, or is tall or short. Now that you have a list of differences, I shall give you an outline of action- but before that, I shall assure you that DISTRUST IS STRONGER THAN TRUST, AND ENVY IS STRONGER THAN ADULATION, RESPECT OR ADMIRATION.

The black slave, after receiving this indoctrination, shall carry on and will become self-refueling and self-generating for hundreds of years, maybe thousands.

Don't forget you must pitch the old black VS. the young black males, and the young black male against the old black male. You must use the dark skinned slaves VS. the light skin slaves. You must use the female VS the male, and the male VS, the female. You must always have your servants and OVERSEERS distrust all blacks, but it is necessary that your slaves trust and depend on us.

Gentlemen, these kits are your keys to control, use them. Never miss an opportunity. My plan is guaranteed, and the good thing about this plan is that if used intensely for one year the slave will remain perpetually distrustful.

-WILLIAM LYNCH-1772
The letter above is one of the major problems of the African-American / Caribbean race today. And with this knowledge we as a race can and will over come. So with this letter still in your mind I ask that you enlighten someone else and send this letter to as many brothers and sisters. We as a race must start somewhere in learning our problems what better place than the document that started the destruction of our MOST POWERFUL RACE!!!

More than 1,100 women are raped every day

More than 1,100 women are raped every day in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), making sexual violence against women 26 times more common than previously thought, a study concluded Tuesday. More than 400,000 women and girls between the ages of 15 to 49 were raped in the vast, war-ravaged country in central Africa during a 12-month period in 2006 and 2007, according to the study published in the American Journal of Public Health. That is 26 times more than the 15,000 women that the United Nations has reported were raped there during the same 12 months. More than 1,100 women are raped every day in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), making sexual violence against women 26 times more common than previously thought, a study concluded Tuesday. More than 400,000 women and girls between the ages of 15 to 49 were raped in the vast, war-ravaged country in central Africa during a 12-month period in 2006 and 2007, according to the study published in the American Journal of Public Health. That is 26 times more than the 15,000 women that the United Nations has reported were raped there during the same 12 months. "Our results confirm that previous estimates of rape and sexual violence are severe underestimates of the true prevalence of sexual violence occurring in the DRC," said Amber Peterman, lead author of the study. "Even these new, much higher figures still represent a conservative estimate of the true prevalence of sexual violence because of chronic underreporting due to stigma, shame, perceived impunity, and exclusion of younger and older age groups as well as men," she said. The study, which gathered data from 2007, did not capture sexual violence among girls younger than 15 years or women older than 49 years and did not include sexual violence among boys and men. "Although the burden of sexual violence among these groups is uncertain, a review of the records of 4,133 women attending Panzi Hospital in Sud Kivu showed that six percent were younger than 16 years and 10 percent were older than 65 years," said the study. "In addition, Human Rights Watch reported that sexual violence in 2009 doubled in comparison with 2008. If this assessment is accurate, then the current prevalence of sexual violence is likely to be even higher than our estimates suggest." Commenting on the study, Michael VanRooyen, director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, said that "rape in the DRC has metastasized amid a climate of impunity, and has emerged as one of the great human crises of our time."

Mexico: 13 police officers arrested in bust of kidnapping gang

More than half of the suspects Mexican authorities arrested in the bust of an alleged kidnapping gang were active-duty federal police officers, a top official said Tuesday.

"It is unfortunate that among those who have the high honor of serving citizens, some commit acts of treason against the citizens who they swore to protect," government security spokesman Eduardo Sanchez told reporters.

The 18 suspects arrested, including 13 federal police officers, are connected with at least seven homicides and four kidnappings in Guerrero state, Sanchez said.

If convicted, he said, the federal police officers could face sentences of up to 70 years in prison for each alleged kidnapping offense.

Sanchez said the arrests showed the government's commitment to cracking down on any corruption within its ranks.

Mexico: As dangerous -- and safe -- as ever

But the bust was the latest public relations blow for the port of Acapulco, where Sanchez said the alleged crimes had been committed.

The Pacific resort city and surrounding towns were battered by Tropical Storm Manuel last month and made global headlines with the alleged rape of six Spanish tourists there earlier this year.

Sanchez said a citizen's tip helped authorities uncover the criminal group and arrest the suspects in an operation earlier this month.

He declined to provide details about the victims and said authorities were still investigating to determine whether the suspects were connected to crimes in other parts of Mexico.

Since President Enrique Peña Nieto took office in December, 81 federal police officers have been accused of committing crimes, Sanchez said.

"So the message is very clear," he said. "We are not going to tolerate any act of corruption from any public servant."

For years Guerrero state, which includes Acapulco, has ranked among the Mexican states with the highest homicide rates, a crime statistic regularly used by officials and analysts when discussing the overall security situation.

Figures released by Mexico's National Statistics and Geography Institute last week painted a grim picture of kidnapping throughout the country.

A survey revealed that there were more than 105,000 kidnappings nationwide last year, the institute said, but only about 1,300 of them were reported to authorities.

Vanishing victims: The 'open wounds' of Mexico's drug war

8 Amazing Benefits Of Pawpaw Fruit You Should Know!!!

You may often eat pawpaw because it is unique, it’s cheap and readily available. But you also may not know that by eating pawpaw unconsciously, you have also nourished your body. Health benefits include

1. Increase the body’s immunity

Eating papaya fruit is believed to increase your body’s immunity against disease. That is because the content of vitamin A and vitamin B are needed to improve the immunity contained in pawpaw. Thus, diseases caused by decreased immunity such as coughs, colds, flu and infections can be prevented by eating pawpaw fruit.

2. Protects against free radicals

Pawpaw fruit also contains vitamin C, vitamin E, panthotenic acid, folic acid, flavonoids, magnesium, minerals, fiber and potassium, which act as antioxidants. As is known, serves as a protective antioxidant the body from free radicals.

3. Assist wound healing

Pawpaw fruit can assist the body in the healing process of wounds, especially burns, because it contains the enzyme papain and chymopapain enzyme that is useful to reduce inflammation and get rid of dead skin tissue from the injured skin. In addition, several other diseases also can be more severe when the body becomes inflamed. For this reason, pawpaw fruit is also recommended to be consumed by people who are sick.

4. Preventing cancer

One of the important properties of pawpaw fruit for the body is able to prevent cancer, especially colon cancer. This is possible because the pawpaw contain antioxidants and fiber which is pretty much so that it can help those who are experiencing difficulty in bowel movements.

5. Enhance male virility

Pawpaw is able to increase virility because they contain an enzyme called arginine. In the medical world, arginine is known as a substance that can increase blood flow in the man-hood of men. This substance also serves to increase the nitric acid in the body that relaxes the muscles around blood vessels that supply the private parts. Thus, these blood vessels will dilate and blood flow to the man-hood will increase.

6. Preventing lung disease

Pawpaw fruit is very useful for people who have weak lungs because they contain vitamin A in a considerable degree. Thus, eating papaya will make their bodies more resistant to transmission of diseases such as bronchitis caused by weak lungs was.

7. Controlling premature aging

Pawpaw fruit is believed by experts to control premature aging by helping the body to digest food properly. When the body properly digests all the nutrients needed by the body, then the body will be healthier and organ functions will run smoothly.

8. Prevent stroke and heart disease

Pawpaw fruit contains lots of fiber and antioxidants, which can help prevent the oxidation of cholesterol in the liver and lower levels automatically. With lower levels of cholesterol in the blood, then you will also avoid the risk of stroke and heart disease.

Chinese police in crackdown on 'online jihad'

Police in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang have arrested 139 people for spreading religious extremism online, officials and state media said, amid a wider crackdown on internet rumors.

A spokesman for the Xinjiang government, Luo Fuyong, said that local police had gathered around 900 pieces of evidence of online rumor spreading and arrested at least 256 people.

Of those, he said 139 had spread rumors about jihad, or Muslim holy war, mainly through posting videos that showed violent terrorist attacks or taught viewers how to create bombs and explosive devices.

"Jihad and terrorists are the enemy of all human races," Luo said.

The report did not say whether those arrested were Han Chinese or Uyghurs, a Turkic-speaking predominantly Muslim ethnic group.

The arrests were made from June 26 to August 31 following an outbreak of violence in the remote township, about 250 kilometers southeast of the regional capital Urumqi, that left 35 people dead.

Frequent outbreaks of unrest have hit Xinjiang, a resource-rich region where the arrival of waves of Han Chinese people over the decades has fueled tensions with the Uyghurs.

They complain of discrimination and harsh treatment by security forces, despite official promises of equal rights and ethnic harmony.

Beijing has found it useful to portray such tensions as the result of outside interference, attempting to cast separatists as part of a global terror network since the 2001 World Trade Center attacks, said Nicholas Dynon, a researcher at Macquarie University in Australia.

This strategy undermines sympathies at home and abroad for legitimate grievances of the Uyghurs, he added.

"Conflating international terrorism with domestic separatism is way for Chinese authorities to leverage support for their own issues."

The arrests in Xinjiang come amid a nationwide crackdown on online rumors that critics have said is a way for the government to squash dissent.

Official: Navy SEAL team pulled out when it couldn't capture suspect alive

U.S. Navy SEAL Team Six pulled out during a raid in Somalia to capture suspected Al-Shabaab leader Ikrima when it became clear that he couldn't be taken alive, a senior U.S. official told CNN.

"Their mission was to capture him. Once it became clear we were not going to (be) able to take him, the Navy commander made the decision to withdraw," said the official, who has direct knowledge of the entire Somalia operation but declined to be identified publicly.

The official said the SEALs faced heavy opposition and an intense firefight broke out, leading to the withdrawal.

The mission's aim -- to capture Ikrima -- is the reason the team went in rather than using a drone to attack the heavily guarded seaside villa, the official said.

Another U.S. official told CNN the Navy SEALs reported seeing children at the compound, part of the reason the mission was stopped during the firefight.

Amid questions about the aborted mission, the Pentagon is disputing the suggestion that Al-Shabaab drove out the SEALs.

"That's not how it happened," Pentagon spokesman George Little insisted to CNN. "There was a firefight, absolutely, and they took every step to avoid civilian casualties in this case, and that's what our military personnel do. They weigh these kinds of decisions and they made a prudent decision on the ground to depart. It was their decision."

Little said earlier that the United States will continue to work with Somalia's government to confront Al-Shabaab.

"While the operation did not result in Ikrima's capture, U.S. military personnel conducted the operation with unparalleled precision and demonstrated that the United States can put direct pressure on Al-Shabaab leadership at any time of our choosing," he said.

Somalia welcomed the U.S. raid, Somali Deputy Prime Minister Fawzia Yusuf Adam told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Monday.

"We are welcoming more if this will help us ... get rid of al Qaeda and Al-Shabaab," said Adam, who is also the country's foreign minister.

It was one of two U.S. military operations in Africa over the weekend targeting what officials called high-value terrorism suspects.

In the other raid, members of the elite U.S. Army Delta Force captured Abu Anas al Libi, an al Qaeda operative wanted for his alleged role in the deadly 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa.

Next stop, New York?

The special operations forces took al Libi to a U.S. Navy warship after his capture, a U.S. official said.

The Pentagon said the U.S. military was holding al Libi in a "secure location" outside Libya. There, a team of officials from the FBI, the CIA and other intelligence agencies are grilling him for intelligence on al Qaeda.

His next stop could be the United States, where authorities have long wanted al Libi to stand trial in an American court for his alleged role in the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania that left over 200 dead and thousands wounded.

The Libyan interim government called the U.S. capture a kidnapping and wants an explanation from Washington, the country's state news agency reported Sunday. There's no extradition treaty between Libya and the United States.

Opinion: Good thing U.S. terrorist hunters weren't furloughed

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry disputes that. He described al Libi as a key al Qaeda figure who is a "legal and an appropriate target."

Kerry said Monday that al Libi "will now have an opportunity to defend himself and to be appropriately brought to justice in a court of law."

A federal grand jury in New York has already indicted al Libi for the embassy attacks.

State Department rules out Guantanamo

But trying terrorism suspects on American soil has been a controversial topic in the past.

In 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder said five Guantanamo Bay detainees with alleged ties to the 9/11 attacks would be transferred to New York for trial in civilian court. Later Holder reversed course, announcing that accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others would be tried in a military commission at Guantanamo instead.

Could al Libi face a similar fate?

State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said Monday that there's no chance he could end up at Guantanamo.

"The administration's position on Guantanamo is clear. Our goal is not to add to the population, it's to reduce it, which we've done. ... Our policy is not to send any new detainees to Guantanamo," she said.

Opinion: Has U.S. learned from past counter-terrorism mistakes in Africa?

Concern grows over terrorism in region

The weekend attacks come as concern over terrorism in the region is on the rise after last month's deadly shopping mall attack in Kenya's capital.

Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack, which left at least 67 people dead.

A U.S. official said Monday that the U.S. government is concerned about the al Qaeda-linked militant group's growing focus on external operations -- including the possibility of striking U.S. interests in the region.

The Somalia operation was planned before the mall attack, the official said.

Another source underlined that the raid was not in response to the mall attack, adding that the United States has been going after Al-Shabaab for some time, with SEALs and with drones.

President Bashar al-Assad recently gave an interview to Syrian al-Thawra daily. In the interview, President Assad talks about the ongoing conflict in his country as well as the political instability in Egypt. Assad blames both extreme Islam and extreme following of western culture as ideologies that threaten Arab identity.

The following is an excerpt from President Bashar al-Assad of Syria recent interview:

Interviewer: During this difficult time of crisis, it has often been said that Syria can accommodate everyone, but in reality it has not embraced all of its citizens. What has led us to this point?

President al-Assad: First of all, I would like to welcome you in my office. I am particularly pleased that this interview coincides with the 50th anniversary of Al-Thawra newspaper. This is a momentous occasion for every patriotic Syrian irrespective of their political affiliation.

We often view nations as a group of people occupying a certain territory; whereas in fact a nation is about a sense of belonging and of culture which both ultimately form a collective identity. With a strong sense of belonging, we can ensure a united country that includes everyone. When the colonial powers left Syria, it was not to liberate the country but to reoccupy it through other means.

One of their core strategies was to divide and conquer. By division, I do not mean redrawing national borders but rather fragmentation of identity, which is far more dangerous.

When we live in the same territory but have different identities, we are already a divided country because each group isolates itself from the rest. When this happens, it is right to say that the country does not accommodate everyone.

In this context colonialism has been successful in creating separatist groups that consider their ideologies and values as solely and legitimately representing the country and hence rejecting all other groups. This success has not happened overnight, but rather during several stages.

The first of which was the Omayyad dynasty, where identities were tampered with, chasms created and many common elements destroyed resulting in fragmentation and ultimately the collapse of the Omayyad State. The same also applies for the Abbasid caliphate in ancient history and the fall of Palestine in modern history.

The rifts we have witnessed in modern history have come with the emergence of the Muslim Brotherhood and the negative role they have played after the independence of many Arab countries like Syria. They created the first split between Pan-Arabism and Islam, working hard to form a country for Islamists and another for nationalists. These attempts continued when colonist powers in Lebanon attempted to create a country for Muslims and another for Christians. The implications of the Muslim Brotherhood have transpired, the most dangerous of which is the presence of Al Qaeda which was generously supported by the West on the back of the Islamic revolution in Iran. After this revolution, Iran emerged as a firm supporter of the Palestinian cause, the essence of Arab identity. They attempted to incite sectarian strife between Sunnis and Shiites and to damage the relationship between Arabs and Persians. After the 9/11 events and the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, these rifts were extended between the takfiris and all other Muslim sects.

The more schism in a country, the less it is able to accommodate its entire people. On the contrary, Syria is still accommodating to all Syrians due to people’s ability to grasp these realities and reject this strife hence preventing it from materializing. Syria remains for all Syrians as long as we can prevent these pockets of extremisms from spreading.

Interviewer: Mr. President today is the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of Al-Thawra Newspaper. You first stated that what is happening in Syria is not a revolution; certainly you had a conceptual foundation behind these statements. Here let me reference the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, during his first meeting with the opposition delegation in Moscow when they introduced themselves as revolutionaries; he asked them, “If you are revolutionaries representing a revolution, why do you need the outside world?” There is a historical saying: no state in the world can endure a popular revolution. I personally entirely subscribe to this theory. What made you say that it was not a revolution from the inception?

President al-Assad: From a historical perspective, any genuine revolution is purely internal and cannot be linked externally by any means, as manifested by the Russian, French and even the Iranian revolutions. Real revolutions are intrinsic, spontaneous, and are led by intellectual and ideological elites. What occurred in Syria since the outset of the crisis was flagrant external interference. There were attempts to hide this, but it has become absolutely clear. This is evident by the fact that we continuously hear external extrinsic statements regarding what should and should not be done in Syria.

Secondly, the real revolution of 1963 – which your newspaper is named after – was a revolution that empowered the country, society and human values. It promoted science and knowledge by building thousands of schools, it brought light to the Urban and rural areas of Syria by building electricity lines and networks, it strengthened the economy by providing job opportunities according to competencies. It supported the wider foundations of society including farmers, labourers and skilled-workers. The revolution at the time built an army indoctrinated in national values that fought the fiercest of battles, it stood unwavering in those difficult circumstances and it won in the 1973 war. We are now perhaps enduring the most challenging circumstances in which the army has shown that its revolutionary foundations and ideological values are as strong as ever.

Revolutions are about building countries and societies, not about destroying them; so how can we call what is happening in Syria a revolution? Attempts to package the events on the ground as a part of a revolution have been futile from the beginning.
U.S. Navy SEAL Team Six pulled out during a raid in Somalia to capture suspected Al-Shabaab leader Ikrima when it became clear that he couldn't be taken alive, a senior U.S. official told CNN.

"Their mission was to capture him. Once it became clear we were not going to (be) able to take him, the Navy commander made the decision to withdraw," said the official, who has direct knowledge of the entire Somalia operation but declined to be identified publicly.

The official said the SEALs faced heavy opposition and an intense firefight broke out, leading to the withdrawal.

The mission's aim -- to capture Ikrima -- is the reason the team went in rather than using a drone to attack the heavily guarded seaside villa, the official said.

Another U.S. official told CNN the Navy SEALs reported seeing children at the compound, part of the reason the mission was stopped during the firefight.U.S. Navy SEAL Team Six pulled out during a raid in Somalia to capture suspected Al-Shabaab leader Ikrima when it became clear that he couldn't be taken alive, a senior U.S. official told CNN.

"Their mission was to capture him. Once it became clear we were not going to (be) able to take him, the Navy commander made the decision to withdraw," said the official, who has direct knowledge of the entire Somalia operation but declined to be identified publicly.

The official said the SEALs faced heavy opposition and an intense firefight broke out, leading to the withdrawal.

The mission's aim -- to capture Ikrima -- is the reason the team went in rather than using a drone to attack the heavily guarded seaside villa, the official said.

Another U.S. official told CNN the Navy SEALs reported seeing children at the compound, part of the reason the mission was stopped during the firefight.

By Emma Amaize, Regional Editor, South-South
MORE than meet the eyes:  When Delta kidnap kingpin, Kelvin Oniarah, who was wanted then by both the police and army, stormed his country home, Kokori in Ethiope East Local Government Area on Tuesday, September 17, to issue his 60-day ultimatum to government, it is obvious that what transpired was a serious security breach.
Many people suspected that such impunity could not have occurred without the collusion of security operatives on ground, particularly as Kelvin’s new group, Movement for the Liberation of Urhobo People, LIMUP, allegedly fired up to 50 gun shots intermittently into the air.
Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, who doubted the bravado after he was told by the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, in the area, said that nothing like that happened, now knows better. Vanguard gathered on good authority that the DPO had been redeployed after the state Command discovered that he misled his boss. Unmistakably, there is more than meet the eyes in the affair as detachment of soldiers and policemen were said to be on ground in the area.
- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/10/confusion-security-circle-kelvins-camp/#sthash.YAxSi8A3.dpufBy Emma Amaize, Regional Editor, South-South
MORE than meet the eyes:  When Delta kidnap kingpin, Kelvin Oniarah, who was wanted then by both the police and army, stormed his country home, Kokori in Ethiope East Local Government Area on Tuesday, September 17, to issue his 60-day ultimatum to government, it is obvious that what transpired was a serious security breach.

Many people suspected that such impunity could not have occurred without the collusion of security operatives on ground, particularly as Kelvin’s new group, Movement for the Liberation of Urhobo People, LIMUP, allegedly fired up to 50 gun shots intermittently into the air.

Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, who doubted the bravado after he was told by the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, in the area, said that nothing like that happened, now knows better. Vanguard gathered on good authority that the DPO had been redeployed after the state Command discovered that he misled his boss. Unmistakably, there is more than meet the eyes in the affair as detachment of soldiers and policemen were said to be on ground in the area.

180 Boko-haram Insurgents Killed By Camerounian Soldiers

A fierce gunfight launched by the fundamentalist Islamist group, Boko Haram, against the Camerounian soldiers has led to the killing of no fewer than 180 insurgents and two gendarmes around a Nigerian border with Cameroun.

 

It was gathered that during the battle which took place on Tuesday evening, many of the wounded insurgents were also arrested.

About 200 rifles, 70 machine guns and heavy military hardware were said to have been recovered from the insurgents by the soldiers.

 

A reliable military source confirmed the development to our correspondent shortly after the the Nigerian Army in Kano State disclosed that it had foiled a plot to bomb Kano during the forthcoming Sallah festival by uncovering a bomb factory in Gezawa Local Government Area.
It was gathered that the Camerounian authorities directed the soldiers to launch the attack against the Nigerian gunmen, who had earlier on Tuesday, ambushed and killed two gendarmes on patrol in the border community. Our source said the soldiers, while pursuing the insurgents, sent a signal to their Nigerian counterparts, to be on the alert to avoid the escape of the fleeing insurgents.
According to the source, the number of those killed, the arrests and the recovered arms indicated that many Boko Haram members, who were forced out of Nigeria through military operations, had already “settled comfortably” in Cameroun.
He said, “The Camerounian troops have been involved in a serious confrontation with the insurgents. They have killed over 180 of them.
“Almost 200 rifles and 70 machine guns were recovered from them by Camerounian soldiers.
“What led to this operation was that the insurgents killed two gendarmes on patrol around the border with Nigeria on Tuesday. I think this angered them to order a comprehensive raid of the hideouts of the insurgents.
“You can see from the casualty figure and the level of seizures that they were already comfortable in that part of Cameroun until this incident.
“Ironically, the Camerounians who had been reluctant in spite of complaints by Nigeria at the diplomatic level are the ones now reaching out to us to ensure that the fleeing insurgents are not allowed to escape. So, I can tell you that the heat is on them.”
It was also gathered that Nigerien soldiers in the Multinational Joint Task Force killed an unspecified number of Boko Haram members on some island communities near Lake Chad on Sunday.
Investigations revealed that the Nigerien component of the MNJTF went after the insurgents on learning of the killing of one of them.

Our source said the intensified military action against the insurgents had made the nation’s northern border rather too hot for them.
When our correspondent contacted the Director of Defence Information, Brig.-Gen Chris Olukolade, he said, “Our neighbouring countries, either through the instrumentality of the Multi National Joint Task Force or through their security instruments, are involved in operations to complement what we are doing against terrorism.
“I am aware that the MNJTF and Nigerian security agencies are combing everywhere for any strange movement in our territory,” Olukolade said.
Also in Abuja on Wednesday, the Commander ‘3’ Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Brig. Gen Illiyasu Abba, said that operatives raided a house in Gunduwawa, Gezawa LGA and discovered a bomb factory.
He told journalists at a press briefing in Kano that bomb making items recovered from the factory were meant to carry out attacks in Kano during the Sallah and other festivals this year.
A young man suspected to be a child of the owner of the house rented out to the suspected terrorists was shot dead.
Abba said, “At about 2 am on October 8, a combined team of the JTF troops and Department of State Services raided two Boko Haram terrorists’ hideouts at Gunduwawa village in the Gezawa Local Government Area.
“The raid, which was conducted following a lead on intelligence reports, made no arrests as the terrorists fled the village on the approach of the JTF troops and DSS personnel.
“The weapons and other dangerous materials were meant to wreak havoc on Kano during the Eid-el-Kabir and other festivities before the end of the year.’’
He listed Improvised Explosive Devices, ‘two AK 58 with 193 rounds of 5.56 mm ammunition, one AK 47 magazine with 107 rounds of 5.56 millimeter ammunition, bows and arrows as some of the recovered items.
Three primed cylinders of IEDs, one primed explosive suicide back pack, 18 empty IED cylinders, 24 detonators, a small bag of fertiliser, IED timers cortex wires, three remote control devices, five Motorola hand held radios, four communicators, six alarm clocks, two cartons of nine -volt batteries, a scale, one external hard drive and one heavy duty charger/battery were also recovered from the house.

APC Campaign Rally: We Never Intended To Disrepect Obi Of Onitsha – Ngige

 
 PART OF THE CROWD AT THE ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS (APC) ANAMBRA STATE CANDIDATE DR. CHRIS NGIGE’S CAMPAIGN LAUNCH IN ONITSHA…YESTERDAY. LEFT: APC LEADER ASIWAJU BOLA AHMED TINUBU SPEAKING AT THE RALLY… YESTERDAY. WITH HIM (FROM RIGHT) ARE: CHIEF TOM IKIMI, IMO STATE GOVERNOR ROCHAS OKOROCHA, SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE STATE OF OSUN ALHAJI MOSHOOD ADEOTI, APC INTERIM NATIONAL CHAIRMAN CHIEF BISI AKANDE, NGIGE, EKITI STATE GOVERNOR DR. KAYODE FAYEMI, EDO STATE GOVERNOR ADAMS OSHIOMHOLE, DR. OGBONNAYA ONU AND OTHERS (PHOTO CREDIT: THE NATION) 




 The All Progressives Congress (APC) flag bearer for the November 16 Anambra governorship election, Senator Chris Ngige has described as misleading, rumours that his campaign rally on Tuesday in the commercial city of Onitsha was held in a bid to disrupt the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe’s annual Ofala festival.
Debunking media reports that he was cursed by the monarch for flagging off his governorship rally on the day set aside for the Ofala festival inspite of one year of notice given for the traditional ceremony, Senator Ngige, representing Anambra Central, said he was not in any way trying to disrespect Igwe Achebe, whom he described as a role model to traditional institution in Igbo land and Nigeria in general.
 The senator said he received the nod of the Palace of the Obi of Onitsha concerning the rally, adding that his Campaign Organization even got the go-ahead to pay a courtesy call on the traditional ruler before proceeding to the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity, Onitsha, venue of the event.


He said what happened was that we received permission from the Palace, and the Palace Secretary even asked us to give him the protocol list of the governors and other dignitaries that will be coming, because we planned to pay a courtesy call on Obi of Onitsha.

“We were told at the middle of the rally because we could not pay a courtesy call on Obi of Onitsha, because our Director for Operation, Mr. Okonkwo Okom informed us on Tuesday morning that further communication will be after the Ofala some other time
“There was never a time we came to disrupt the Ofala festival and we never intended to disrespect the revered traditional ruler of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe and Onitsha culture and tradition, as we hold him in high esteem just like we do to other traditional rulers in Igbo land. There was a communication gap and if that resulted in any embarrassment to the Igwe, our party, APC and myself (sic) apologise for that” he said.
Senator Ngige also urged the Monarch to disregard all political gimmicks from the opposition aimed at driving a wedge between him, APC and the Onitsha traditional institution just as he pleaded with his supporters to remain calm as everything is under control.

MERS Kills Two Saudis As Pilgrims Arrive For Hajj

  


Two Saudis have died in Riyadh after they contracted the MERS virus, health authorities announced Thursday, as the kingdom prepares to host some two million Muslim pilgrims for the annual hajj.
The two men, aged 78 and 55, had also suffered from other chronic diseases, the ministry said on its website. It did not specify when the deaths occurred.
 Meanwhile, authorities recorded two more infections, bringing to 119 the number of people infected in the kingdom since the disease first appeared in Saudi Arabia in September 2012, the ministry said.

The MERS virus has so far claimed 58 lives worldwide, with the greatest number of deaths from the respiratory disease — 51 — in Saudi Arabia itself, including the latest two.
Local media on Thursday quoted Saudi Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabia as saying that authorities have not yet recorded any MERS cases among pilgrims arriving from all over the world ahead of the hajj that begins Sunday.
“So far, no case of any epidemic has been recorded among the pilgrims, especially the coronavirus,” Rabia said.

The hajj is one of the largest gatherings in the world, and there are fears that pilgrims, expected to reach two million this year, could be infected and return to their homelands carrying the virus.
The hajj takes place in the holy city of Mecca, located about 800 kilometres (494 miles) west of Riyadh.
However, the authorities have said they are optimistic that the hajj will pass off without any outbreak, given that Muslims also go on lower-level pilgrimages throughout the year and there has been no mass spread of MERS.
Riyadh has, however, urged the elderly and chronically ill to avoid the hajj as they seem to be more susceptible to contracting the disease. Authorities have also advised pilgrims to wear face masks.
Experts are struggling to understand MERS, for which there is no vaccine. So far, what researchers could describe as a breakthrough on work done was finding the coronavirus which causes MERS in bats. This they believe would lead to further breakthrough, but no further breakthrough has been reported.
Like SARS, MERS is believed to have jumped from animals to humans. It shares the former’s flu-like symptoms, but differs by also causing kidney failure.

LUXURY: Guess Who Owns This Incredible Mansion? (PHOTOS)

Pictures of a really expensive looking and luxurious mansion have appeared online. The mansion is breathtaking to say the least; with marble floors, swimming pool, glass elevator, amongst other luxurious features

According to speculations, some say the mansion is located in Nigeria and belongs to billionaire and Glo Boss, Mike Adenuga, but those are just speculations as nobody knows for sure who the owner of this mansion is.
See the pictures of the sophisticated mansion below.
Who do you think this incredible piece of real estate belongs to and where is it located?

Who do you think this incredible piece of real estate belongs to and where is it located?

Chicago woman accused of brutally murdering sleeping baby granddaughter using sledgehammer and carving knife

Polish-born Alreda Giedroj appears in court accused of first-degree murder

 

Polish-born Alreda Giedroj appeared in court earlier this week accused of the first-degree murder of her daughter’s baby Vivian Summers, and has been held without bond in Illinois’ Cook County Jail.
The 61-year-old is alleged to have killed her granddaughter while she babysat on Sunday morning. Prosecutors claim she removed the sleeping child from a sofa placed her on the floor and repeatedly hit her with a sledgehammer. They say she then took a carving knife from the kitchen and cut the baby’s throat.
Giedroj was left alone with baby Vivian while her husband Bill and son-in-law Joel Summers went to help another family member with repairs to a house.
Prosecutors claim that at some point during the next few hours, Giedroj went to a cupboard where she had left a sledgehammer the previous day and begun a brutal attack on the child.
On returning to the house at 11am, Bill Giedroj discovered the baby’s body and called the police. Officers arrived and, according to reports, were forced to deal with an “armed suspect” inside the property.
Vivian was pronounced dead at hospital later the same afternoon.
Speaking to the Chicago Tribune, Cook County Assistant State Attorney Michael Deno said: “The defendant then hit the victim repeatedly in the head and body with the sledgehammer. Since the victim was still crying and moving the defendant went into the kitchen and retrieved a large carving knife.”
He added: “The defendant then picked the victim up, held her, and then slit her throat with the knife
Giedroj’s defence team say she is a naturalised US citizen who has lived in the country since 1983, although she needed an interpreter for her court hearing.
According to the Chicago Tribune, police chief Mike Murray declined to speculate on Giedrocz’s potential motive for the alleged killing, or whether or not she had a history of mental illness.
The case continues.

Illegal ivory trade funds al-Shabaab's terrorist attacks

                                                                                                               



















 
Al-Shabaab, the Somali Islamist group that killed dozens of people last month in a bloody four-day siege of the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, is deriving funds for its terror campaigns from elephant poaching in Kenya and elsewhere, activists and conservationists claim.

The Elephant Action League (EAL), which has dubbed ivory the "white gold of jihad", said that elephant poaching and the trafficking of ivory is fuelling conflict in Africa by helping groups such as al-Shabaab to mount ever more deadly attacks.
The illicit ivory trade funds "up to 40 per cent of the cost [of al-Shabaab's] army of 5,000 people", according to Andrea Crosta, a director of EAL, and co-author of a 2011 report into the links between poaching and terror groups.
The spotlight on al-Shabaab's funding is more intense than ever after the most deadly terror attack on Kenyan soil since the 1998 US embassy bombings in Nairobi which killed more than 200 people. The Westgate siege has propelled the affiliate of al-Qa'ida to international attention. The group has warned that the slaughter, in which at least 67 people died, is just "the premiere of Act One" and continues to demand that Kenya pull its troops out of Somalia.
The poaching of elephants for their tusks has driven the animal in some countries – such as Sierra Leone and Senegal – to the point of extinction. More than 30,000 elephants were slaughtered in Africa last year alone, 382 of them in Kenya.
Armed with AK-47 machine guns, and with bows and arrows that are sometimes poisoned, poachers slip unnoticed past the few rangers who patrol the conservancies and track the elephants. Often, they target the calves first in the knowledge that the older elephants will bunch up to try to protect them. Then they kill the others. It takes several bullets to bring down such sizeable mammals, and the elephants usually die after immense suffering. The poachers hack off most of the elephant's head to get at the tusks.
Not since the slaughter of the 1980s, which prompted the introduction of an international ban on the commercial trade of ivory, has the situation been so desperate, say conservationists. In less than 30 years, Kenya's elephant population has plunged from 167,000 to only 35,000.
Armed gangs act with impunity, and officials are paid off all along the way. When poachers are caught and brought to justice, they escape with trivial fines or short custodial sentences. Rarely are the brains behind the organised crime syndicates that drive the illicit trade brought to justice.
In relative terms, the rewards for everyone involved are huge. The poachers, who run the biggest risks, earn $50-$100 per kilogram, and the price increases as the ivory moves up the chain. By the time it reaches its final market, which in most cases is China, it can fetch around $3,000 per kilo. Rhino horn is even more lucrative – although the small rhino population is much better protected – commanding up to $65,000 a kilo.
"Like any militias, they [al-Shabaab] are using whatever they can to get easy money," said Paula Kahumbu, executive director at the WildlifeDirect advocacy group. "The ivory trade is just the same as the previous [blood] diamond crisis in West Africa."
Al-Shabaab is not the only terror group to have tapped into the lucrative trade. The Janjaweed of Sudan and the Lord's Resistance Army, which has killed more than 3,000 and displaced thousands more in Central Africa, are both heavily involved in poaching.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently unveiled an $80m plan by conservation groups and African governments to fight poaching
Bringing a much-needed political focus to the issue of elephant poaching, the former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently unveiled an $80m plan by conservation groups and African governments to fight poaching, targeting the measures all the way from the poachers to a reduction in demand for ivory.
Her efforts come amid a growing realisation that profits from poaching that go to terror groups pose a direct threat to US interests. While not a new phenomenon, the growing demand for ivory has made the poaching industry a much more pivotal player in the financing of terror.
Conservationists claim it is difficult to assess just how much groups such as al-Shabaab derive from the ivory trade, and many believe the figures are greatly overstated. But in the case of the Somali group, it is one revenue stream among many.
"Al-Shabaab would be incredibly naive to ignore the ivory trade," said Ian Saunders, director of the Tsavo Trust. "In science, you have scientific analysis. In security, you have situation analysis where you never have all the pieces of the jigsaw. The evidence says they are involved, but it is an untraceable form of revenue."
In testimony to US Congress last year, Mr Saunders reeled off compelling figures, noting that the slaying of one elephant was enough to fund an attack on the scale of the 1998 embassy bombings, estimated to have cost $50,000, according to a 2010 report.
"Taking an average ivory tusk weight of 13.6kg (30lb), only 1.6 tusks would be required to fund a spectacular double attack on two US embassies in East Africa," he said. That calculation is based on last year's wholesale ivory prices of $2,357 per kilo; they are even higher now.
Kenya's long and porous border with Somalia makes it relatively easy for militants to hurry the ivory, poached in Kenya and elsewhere in Africa, across the frontier into a largely lawless state that has fostered militants, pirates and gunrunners. Kenya's offensive against al-Shabaab in 2011 pushed it away from the border areas and out of Kismayo, a smuggling hub and al-Shabaab stronghold in Somalia. But the group still controls two lesser ports, through which it smuggles contraband in and out of the country.
Corruption has also played a major role in facilitating the trade of ivory to countries such as Somalia, with officials willing to turn a blind eye for the right price. Some of them are personally involved: one Kenyan army officer was arrested recently for having ivory in his possession. Senior government officials have also been implicated in the trade, among them a county governor and a member of parliament. For reasons that are unclear, they have never been publicly named.
The Kenyan port of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania still remain the two largest exit points for illicit ivory. Experts say it is simple to smuggle out tusks even when officials are present, simply because they lack the manpower to search every container.
"At this moment, you can put ivory in your container, and the chances that somebody will pick it up are not very good," said Gerhard von Rooyen of the Nairobi branch of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
"Illicit trade has grown quite a lot in the past two or three years.... The only reason for this is because [the organised crime syndicates] are getting away with doing what they are doing."
He added that urgent measures were required, in particular the provision of the manpower and intelligence-gathering capacity required to search containers at the ports. There should be a shift away from targeting the poachers, who easily outgun underpaid and poorly equipped wardens, towards targeting the people involved at the top.
Ms Kahumbu warned that, as the illegal trade continues, the future for Kenya's elephants is approaching a catastrophic level. Official figures for the elephant population – including the number killed – were, she said, notoriously unreliable.
"You can double or triple the actual mortality rate. If you're losing only 382 elephants, there is no crisis. But there clearly is a crisis," she said.
"Unless something really [significant] happens, we will lose most of our elephants within 10 years."

   

Krokodil the flesh-eating drug spreads to Chicago suburbs with three cases in a week

Krokodil, which is considered more addictive that heroin, originated in Russia

 

 

  Use of a a flesh-eating heroin substitute that rots the skin of addicts has now spread to a Chicago suburb, according to local media reports.

Krokodil, which is considered more addictive that heroin, originated in Russia before cases were seen in Arizona last month.
The latest reports of three cases at the Presence St. Joseph Medical Center in the Joliet suburb of Chicago, is likely to spark further fears that use of the drug, which usually kills addicts within two years, is spreading in the US.
According to NBC Chicago Dr. Abhin Singla of Presence St. Joseph Medical Center said the treatment facility this week saw three patients who said they used the drug.
The substance, which is similar to morphine, is an ultra-cheap heroin substitute that counts crushed codeine pills, gasoline, cooking oil, iodine, paint thinner and lighter fluid among its toxic ingredients.
Users of krokodil or "crocodile" can suffer horrific effects including rotting sores, gangrene and abscesses. It acquired its name because of the reptilian scaly effect it causes on human skin.
“If you want to kill yourself, (using) this is the way to do it,” said Dr. Abhin Singla, director of addiction services in Joliet. 
“It’s about three times more potent than heroin, but the ‘high’ lasts only for a few hours,” Singla told the Chicago-Sun Times.
According to the newspaper a dose of crocodile costs about $8, while users pay $25 to $30 for heroin.
The average krokodil user has a life expectancy of just two to three years after they start taking the drug, and in that time they can expect their skin to turn green, scaly and fall-off as a kind of pre-death decomposition sets in.

 

 

 

 

'Hello mum, this is going to be hard for you to read ...'

At 19, Rifleman Cyrus Thatcher was one of the youngest victims of the Afghan war. These letters – given to The Independent by his family – reveal the excitement of a teenager sent to fulfil his dream, and his maturity in confronting the possibility that he might not make it home

 

Cyrus Thatcher as a rifleman. He was killed on 2 June 2009

JOHN LAWRENCE

 

 

  In the spring of this year, the 2nd Battalion, The Rifles deployed to Afghanistan. Halfway through the battalion's tour, it has lost nine soldiers, with dozens injured.

Of those to have given their lives, four were teenagers. Here Rifleman Cyrus Thatcher, who was 19 when he was killed by an explosion near Gereshk seven weeks ago, tells his own story, through letters home and the last letter he left behind to bid farewell to his family – his mother Helena, father Robin and brothers Zac, 21, and Steely, 17.
Following are the words of a proud soldier described by his officers as possessing "a rucksack full of potential", and by his friends as a rascal always cracking jokes and helping to keep morale high. Most of all, they are the words of a young son to his mum, dad and brothers.
Terri Judd
27 April 2009
Hello Mum
I've just got your bluey [letter] (the 1st one) yea you are right it does get fucking hot, I can't work out wether I'm tanned or just burnt to fuck!! I've spoke to you on the phone so you no what I've been doing. I'm well proud of you loosing all that weight. Suppose you've got a pretty good insentive. We'v had the same shit maybe a month now. Everyday a Monday out here. You kind of loose track of days. I cant quite work out if its going fast or slow. This pen is shit its doing my head in!!
Iv been thinking of loads of things and places to do, go and see. Me and Elliott are gonna go to Amsterdam after this. THINK WE MAY HAVE DESERVED IT!! It should be a good day (November 5th) [their homecoming parade]. On the 6th we can go Belfast Iv'e got loads of sad things I wanna buy ie Sky+ Big TV. Get the old man to help me rearange my room and help me fix my shelves. Im not the DIY type normally resort to celler tape or blue tack. HA HA HA. Hope everyones safe at home. Complete detox out here – water no drink. So my dance moves might involve a bit of stumbling when I return! Im coming home 2 weeks earlier now so that's kinda good, it might be worth Zac picking me up give me a bit of chill out time so I don't try stab a gobby civvi plus he's a good listener, sumtimes I wonder if he's listening or thinking of sumthing completely irrelivant.
Well pass this round the family so they can all admire my extream spelling (infantry eh!). Lots of love to all the nearest and dearest. Love Ya!! Xxxx

1 May 2009
Hey Mum + family
Ill always address my letters to you cuz I no your probley the only one who gets to the mail!! You'll have to let me no how quick these are getting you ill keep writing the date?? Everything is good up this way getting hotter, still moving at a million miles per hour (HA HA HA) I think Iv'e stopped burning Im slowly going brown and my hair is getting ridiculous just wait till I come home ill look like a fucking wooky?! I was gonna write to granny + grandad but to be honest with the few spare hours I get Id'e rather write home ey? BTW send my regards to Daphne, Joan, Brian etc. Let em no how Im doing?
Every so often we get old people and churches send us little gifts like baby wipes, razors, sweets and stuff so its quite a good bit of moral. Got some really good photos ill have to bring my camera back so we can get that Kosovo collage on the go, to bring back on the 5th of November. If you saw what and where Ive been sleeping you would be shocked!! So pictures will back me up!
Unfortunately 3 blokes died 2 days ago in an IED explosion in one of the FOBs [Forward Operating Bases] bout 2 kilometers away – we visited that FOB 2 days before the attack – fucking mental quite scary actually! We'v had a rest day so Im doing a bit of hand washing and fitness! God you'd be so proud Ha! Ha! Ha! We've still had spam, rice, beans and unflavoured noodles every day – promise me actually I promise you if I see spam in the house ill fucking destroy it!! Im getting pretty good at making flat bread and we bout a goat of a local for 200 dollars and we slaughtered it. I got a good video. Its either catch it, kill it, or make it out here or else you go hungry LOL!! The showers are also freezing whilst Im on the subject of moaning?? Id'e best go again BUT ill keep writing when I get the time + ill be home in a couple of months. Love you'zzz all don't worry bout me to much. Theres only 3 things that kill people over hear BULLETS, BOMBS + EGOS so I might go down with a bad case of swollen head!! Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. Love ya xxxxx


12 May 2009
Hello Mother
Yesterday was a massive day for moral an american chopper came in yesterday. I got 5 blueys one from Zac, Daphne, I think Sharpie sent one and Dad?? With some pictures that was great. I stared at them for about an hour I cant explain how good it is to get pictures and stuff you get grown men close to tears at the sight of there kid or a good night out its really strange how this place fucks with your head and emotions. A BIG ONE that I NEED you to try do (get started ill help when I get back) is appeal to local charitys, churches, major companys ie Zoo, Cadburys, boots you name it. Write to them and explain my whereabouts and they do send gifts, chocolate, sweets, magazines you name it trust me a lot of the lads parents did it and they've got clothes, the lot. Trust me Red bull, lucazade, fags AND SWEETS are wicked just keep sending them and URGE people to send photos they keep the moral SKY HIGH. I thought Steely and Zacs [poses] in the garden were quality. I can only prove how much a letter or small parcel means by finding time to right back – that's probley the most precious thing I have and Id'e trade hours for a letter.
On some much sadder news one of our rifleman died a few days back, we had a parade and a few minutes silence its so strange how many emotions you go through living in these conditions its like everything wants to beat you and rewin your day. Its about not letting it get to you and don't worry nothing fucking gets to me. Well Im off I love you all loads thanks for my parcels and letters. Lots of love xxx


14 May 2009
Hey Mum!
Its just gone 10 in the morning here Im on a stag rotation for the next 7 days guarding the FOB. Its 6 hours on 3 hours off so not much sleep. (Im already an hour in). If you could see what Im looking at now you'd be pretty shocked. Its pretty stunning to be honest. I could probley sling shot a stone from where we were last contacted [shot at] from Ha! Ha! Ha! Pretty fucking crazy huh? I shouldn't really tell you this but its safer than on the phone – were leaving this place. Its gonna be a fucking massive operation moving this lot + a lot of helicopter rides. So when I come back after R&R [leave] ill fly to [the main British camp] bastion then out to our new FOB. You don't really do much on stag. Swetting my tits of its gonna hit 50 degrees today. AAAAH Shit my grenade just fell out of my [body armour] – we wont mention that to any higherarcy will we now.
I think you said you were going to a weight loss thing a few days ago hope that well? (Just keep going) 37 days ill be home – not that Im counting or anything??? THINK there's a bird coming in today at 13.30 so this bluey will probley arrive with the others – well as always gotta go ill try ring when I get a top-up of minuets on Monday. FUCK knows what day it is I thought it was Sunday today. Ha! Ha! Well lots of love to you all!

Cyrus Thatcher was killed on 2 June 2009. This is the letter he wrote to be delivered to his family if he died:
Hello its me, this is gonna be hard for you to read but I write this knowing every time you thinks shits got to much for you to handle (so don't cry on it MUM!!) you can read this and hopefully it will help you all get through.
For a start SHIT I got hit!! Now Iv got that out the way I can say the things Iv hopefully made clear, or if I havent this should clear it all up for me. My hole life you'v all been there for me through thick and thin bit like a wedding through good and bad. Without you I believe I wouldn't have made it as far as I have. I died doing what I was born to do I was happy and felt great about myself although the army was sadly the ending of me it was also the making of me so please don't feel any hate toward it. One thing I no I never made clear to you all was I make jokes about my life starting in the Army. That's wrong VERY wrong my life began a LONG time before that (Obviously) but you get what I mean. All the times Iv tried to neglect the family get angry when you try teach me right from wrong wot I mean to say is I only realised that you were trying to help when I joined the army and without YOUR help I would have never had the BALLS, the GRIT and the damn right determination to crack on and do it. If I could have a wish in life it would to be able to say Iv gone and done things many would never try to do. And going to Afghan has fulfilled my dream ie my goal. Yes I am young wich as a parent must brake you heart but you must all somehow find the strength that I found to do something no matter how big the challenge. As Im writing this letter I can see you all crying and mornin my death but if I could have one wish in an "after life" it would be to stop your crying and continueing your dreams (as I did) because if I were watching only that would brake my heart. So dry your tears and put on a brave face for the rest of your friends and family who need you.
I want each and everyone of you to forfill a dream and at the end of it look at what you have done (completed) and feel the accomplishment and achievement I did only then will you understand how I felt when I passed away.
[To his brothers:] You are both amazing men and will continue to be throughout your lives you both deserve to be happy and fofill all of your dreams.
Dad – my idol, my friend, my best friend, my teacher, my coach, everything I ever succeeded in my life I owe to you and maybe a little bit of me! You are a great man and the perfect role model and the past two years of being in the army I noticed that and me and you have been on the best level we have ever been. I thank you for nothing because I no all you have given to me is not there to be thanked for its there because you did it cause you love me and that is my most proudest thing I could ever say.
Mum, where do I start with you!! For a start your perfect, your smell, your hugs, the way your life was dedicated to us boys and especially the way you cared each and every step us boys took. I love you, you were the reason I made it as far as I did you were the reason I was loved more than any child I no and that made me feel special.
Your all such great individuals and I hope somehow this letter will help you get through this shit time!! Just remember do NOT mourn my death as hard as this will seem, celebrate a great life that has had its ups and downs. I love you all more than you would ever no and in your own individual ways helped me get through it all. I wish you all the best with your dreams.
Remember chin up head down. With love Cyrus xxxx

Photo: Man Bonds with Crocodile

 

 Deep in the Costa Rican jungle, a fisherman named Chito discovered a crocodile that had been shot in the eye by a cattle farmer and left to die. 


Chito was able to drag the massive reptile into his boat and brought him to his home, where he stayed by his side for months, nursing him back to health. He named the crocodile Pocho. “I stayed by Pocho’s side while he was ill, sleeping next to him at night
He and Chito play, wrestle and hug on a daily basis. That bond, Chito said, took years to forge.

Seven-Year-Old Boy Leads Police To Arrest Of University Graduate, Two Other Suspects Specializing In Kidnapping Children

A university graduate and two other suspects were on Wednesday paraded by the Lagos State Police Command, following their arrest, by a tip off from a seven-year-old victim.


The graduate of Economics of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Gbenga Sholaja; Olalekan Benjamin and Samson Shomorin, who specialise in kidnapping little boys, were arrested by men of the Igando Police Division and the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Ikeja, Lagos.
The victim (name withheld) was said to have been held hostage at Benjamin’s father’s house at Ikotun, Lagos.
The child, who was later released after ransom was paid by his parents, was said to have memorised the house address where he was kept. It was the child who led police officers to the same house where Benjamin was arrested.
Sholaja, who wept profusely during his interview, said that he was pushed by unemployment into kidnapping. He said, “I have a Second Class Upper (Division) in Accounting and have completed my National Youth Service Corps programme.
“I went into kidnapping because since I finished my NYSC in 2011, I have been unable to get a job.”
An ex-convict, who was remanded in prison for kidnapping three years ago, Benjamin, said he met Sholaja at OOU while he was trying to gain admission into the school.
He said, “I was a casual worker at a factory in 2007 before I was sacked; I earned N300 per day. After staying idle for some months, I met a friend, Muyiwa, we were carriers of frozen fish at Apapa. He introduced me to Taofeeq.
“One day, Taofeeq brought a small boy to my house and asked me to take care of him. He claimed that the boy was his younger brother; he was about seven years old. The boy stayed in my house with my family and was well taken care of for four days. Taofeeq even sent money for his upkeep.
“When Taofeeq went to collect N150, 000 ransom, he was arrested by SARS and he led them to my house. We were charged and sent to prison in November 2009. In September 2010, we were released because the complainant refused to show up in court.”
Benajmin and his wife, upon his release, then moved to his father’s house at Ikotun area of the state. In 2010, he was said to have met Sholaja in OOU, where he went to write the post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.

The 30-year-old claimed that Sholaja invited him to take part in another kidnapping; he said Sholaja had read about Benjamin’s arrest in the newspapers.
Benjamin said, “We would kidnap one boy and we would keep the boy in his (Sholaja’) mother’s house at Owode Ijako.
“After a week, the boy’s parents paid the money. We were given N100,000 and my share was just N40,000.”
Describing their modus operandi, Benajmin said they usually kidnapped children while on their way to or from school. All suspects were said to have collected a total of N260,000 on two separate occasions, to secure the release of two boys.
Benjamin said that he befriended potential victims by buying them biscuits on their way to school, thereby earning their trust.
He said, “It was the last kidnap that got us into trouble. I drove away not knowing that the boy memorised my father’s house address, where he was kept.
“After he was released, he led policemen to the house and I was arrested along with my dad but my dad was later released on bail.”
Shomorin, on his part, confessed to kidnapping three boys. He urged the government to pardon them, promising not to go back to crime.
Lagos Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, Damasus Ozoani, said the suspects were arrested on September 29, 2013.
Ozoani said, “They confessed to have kidnapped three children -one from Omole Phase 1; one Kola at Alagbado area and the last one in Owode Ijako, Ogun State, and various amounts of money were collected as ransom.”

You Won’t Believe What BBA Winner Dillish Is Using Her 300,000 USD For

Dillish was crowned BBA ‘The Chase’ winner on Sunday, August 25, beating 27 contestants from different African countries and going home with the grand prize of 300,000 dollar.

The beauty queen got herself a Rihanna Heart Mac lipstick which cost around $16.50 for 0.10 oz.



Earlier, Dillish had disclosed that it has been her dream to get a house for her siblings and herself so they could live together and winning the money will make that a reality.
“I made it very clear in the beginning that I just want to get a house for me and my siblings to be together. It might sound something simple, something stupid but I never had that family thing so now I can go and do it for my siblings,” she said.
Sure she plans to spend the money wisely.

Swift Record! Migrating Birds Fly Nonstop for 6 Months

Scientists have long suspected that the Alpine swift — a swallowlike bird that has a wingspan of about 22 inches (57 centimeters) and a body length of about 8 inches (20 cm) – spends much of its life in flight, based on field observations and radar data collected during its migration. But, until now, researchers have not been able to prove just how long these birds fly without taking a rest.
Researchers at the Swiss Ornithological Institute and the Bern University of Applied Sciences in Burgdorf, Switzerland, have collected data showing that the birds take little to no breaks during their migration from breeding grounds in Switzerland to wintering grounds in Western Africa and back again the following year. The team details their findings today (Oct. 8) in the journal Nature Communications. [Quest for Survival: Incredible Animal Migrations]
To collect their data, the researchers outfitted six birds with small tags that logged acceleration and ambient light during the course of a yearlong migration cycle that began and ended in Switzerland. Only three of the six birds were recaptured the following year, but these individuals provided enough data to complete the study, the researchers said.
The team analyzed the acceleration patterns captured by the loggers to determine when the birds vigorously flapped their wings, when they glided and when they rested.
The only period of sustained resting appeared during the breeding period in Switzerland. The birds appeared to glide and flap throughout their entire migration across the Sahara Desert and their overwintering period in sub-Saharan West Africa.

View gallery."

The logger that was attached to the birds to collect light and acceleration data over the course of  …

"Their activity pattern reveals that they can stay airborne continuously throughout their nonbreeding period in Africa and must be able to recover while airborne," the team writes in the report. "To date, such long-lasting locomotive activities had been reported only for animals living in the sea."
Migrating sea animals, including a variety of whale and fish species, expend less energy migrating than birds do because the swimmers rely partially on their own buoyancy to help keep them afloat.
Birds expend lots of energy during flight, but Alpine swifts do not need to stop to eatbecause they feed midair on what is called aerial plankton — the atmospheric equivalent to marine plankton that can include an array of tiny bacteria, fungus, seeds, spores and small insects that get caught in air currents.
Whether or not the birds sleep in flight remains unclear, though periods of decreased movement suggest that they do, indeed, catch up on a bit of rest midair. Still, the clear lack of significant resting periods suggest that the birds do not need as much sleep to perform their migration as previous research has suggested.
"We cannot rule out that the Alpine swifts may interrupt their flight for a few minutes," the team writes. "Nevertheless, they must be able to accomplish all vital physiological functions in flight over a period of several months."
The team next hopes to determine the evolutionary drivers responsible for what they consider to be an extraordinary behavior.