month to admit the failure of US Commandos
to rescue Luke Somers, an American freelance
photographer, who was kidnapped in
September 2013, at the Yemeni capital,
Sanaa. Justifying the operation, Pentagon
Press Secretary, Rear Adm. John Kirby had
said: "The United States government is
committed to the safety and wellbeing of its
citizens, particularly those suffering in
captivity. We use the full breadth of our
military, intelligence, law enforcement, and
diplomatic capabilities to bring people home
whenever we can. The United States will not
tolerate the abduction of our people, and will
work tirelessly to secure the safety of our
citizens and to hold their captors
accountable."
There are two issues in Kirby's statement that
are of great importance in appraising
Nigeria's government apparent inability to
rescue the Chibok Girls. First, just like the
Nigerian government, Washington recognizes
the need to ensure ''the safety and well-being
of its citizens, particularly those suffering in
captivity''. This explains why in seeking to
carry out this responsibility the American
government makes use of the full breadth of
her ''military, intelligence, law enforcement,
and diplomatic capabilities''.
The second important aspect of his statement
is that the American government, at any
event in its attempt to rescue its citizens
"under hostage or captivity" in terrorist
enclave, hold, ''their captors accountable'' for
unforeseen or possible outcome of its
operation. On this note, the American citizens
are not expected to blame the government
but the 'captors' whenever things turn sour or
go awry.
The inability of our government to rescue the
Chibok Girls kidnapped several months back
has been generating unending controversies,
and the batching of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan
administration by sundry critics, who are
obviously ill-at-ease with its reluctance to
adopt full military operations in rescuing the
girls. In the light of the recent American's
failures in its rescue operations, especially on
freeing hostages of terrorist groups,
Jonathan's recourse to caution, restraint and
unwillingness to apply full military option in
the matter seems justifiable. Military
operations are based on intelligence reports
upon which evidence of certitude in locations
have been accurately established before
action is taken. Even in the case of some
failed US military operation, the hostages
were moved few hours before the
commandos landed at their target.
Just recently, the ''Pentagon acknowledged
that it had conducted a secret mission earlier
this year in an attempt to rescue hostages
held in Syria by the Islamic State of Iraq and
the Levant (ISIL) group, including journalists
James Foley and Steven Sotloff''. What the
Pentagon did not reveal before now is that
the separate videos showing the beheading of
the journalists and three other western
hostages killed in the same style was a
reprisal reaction from Levant (ISIL) group,
against the failed US rescue operation in
which a number of the ISIL members were
killed.
Of course, it is easy to argue that virtually all
the failed rescue missions were carried out
outside the US territory. But such arguments
do not diminish the point that the US
government had always acted in full
collaboration with the home governments of
the affected countries and had employed the
state of the art military and intelligence
logistics far better than anything the Nigerian
government can muster. Yet some of the
rescue operations ended in failures.
The recent Yemeni experience has once again
raised issues about the most effective ways of
securing the freedom of hostages held in
terrorists' enclaves. The American
government has always flaunted its rigid
policy of not negotiating with terrorists and
hostage takers. Now a number of US
Congressmen are questioning the policy,
while pushing for a rethink on the approach
to the release of hostages. Ironically, there
have been instances when the US
government, through covert operations,
actually paid ransoms and negotiated with
terrorists. But in most cases it chooses to
embark on military rescue operations, some
of which yielded tragic results. The Yemen
experience is somewhat pathetic considering
the fact that the raid was carried out just a
few hours before Pierre Korkie, a fellow
captive from South Africa was to be released.
Ironically, the militant group has referred to
Washington as being "foolish" for choosing
''armed force over negotiation'', arguing that
''Barack Obama and his government knew
the fairness of our demands, and they could
have at least avoided armed confrontation''.
What lessons are there for us in Nigeria to
learn? We may as well begin with what
Christopher Voss, a former lead international
hostage negotiator for the FBI said about
rescue missions. "As long as hostages are in
the hands of terrorists who have the
opportunity to murder them at any time, you
can't take the promise that they can be
released at its face value''. Negotiation, no
doubt, seems the better option, although the
subterfuge usually involved might be too
tasking and over-stretching in most
circumstances.
Posted By David Aniemeka
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