Nobody Told President Obama That Boko Haram Wasn’t A Terrorist Organization

Posted by | May 9, 2014 14:13 | Filed under: Contributors News Behaving Badly Opinion Politics Tommy Christopher Top Stories


Aside from attacking Michelle Obama for publicly showing concern and lying about President Obama, one of the major spokes in the conservative effort to politicize the kidnapping of 284 schoolgirls in Nigeria has been to criticize the Obama administration for not designating Boko Haram (the group responsible for the abductions) a terrorist organization. Why, then, is there all this video of President Obama calling Boko Haram a terrorist organization, long before the State Department changed its designation?

The mainstream media has also picked up the narrative. In fact, way back in July of 2013, CNN asked “Why hasn’t the Obama administration labeled ‘Boko Haram’ a terrorist organization?”, when, the month before, there actually was an Obama administration official who called Boko Haram a terrorist organization. Maybe you recognize him:

You might also recognize that Obama administration official from this clip, in September, calling Boko Haram “one of the most vicious terrorist organizations in the world”:

Even before that, Obama administration officials were not shy about what to call Boko Haram…READ MORE

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Copyright 2014 Liberaland
By: Tommy Christopher

Tommy Christopher is The Daily Banter's White House Correspondent and Political Analyst. He's been a political reporter and liberal commentator since 2007, and has covered the White House since the beginning of the Obama administration, first for PoliticsDaily, and then for Mediaite. Christopher is a frequent guest on a variety of television, radio, and online programs, and was the villain in the documentaries The Audacity of Democracy and Hating Breitbart. He's also That Guy Who Live-Tweeted His Own Heart Attack, and the only person to have ever received public apologies from both Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.

12 responses to Nobody Told President Obama That Boko Haram Wasn’t A Terrorist Organization

  1. Dwendt44 May 9th, 2014 at 14:25

    Since when have facts mattered to the Obama Haters?

    • JimmiJames May 10th, 2014 at 11:55

      Since when do believe anything out of that liars mouth? He virtually lies every time he speaks…. nearly every sentence is a lie. He is Un-American (anti-American) that is for sure!

      • arc99 May 10th, 2014 at 11:59

        your entire post is a lie. go ahead and ignore video tape and the State Dept link I provided above. all you do is confirm what Dwendt44 said.

  2. Dwendt44 May 9th, 2014 at 14:25

    Since when have facts mattered to the Obama Haters?

    • JimmiJames May 10th, 2014 at 11:55

      Since when do believe anything out of that liars mouth? He virtually lies every time he speaks…. nearly every sentence is a lie. He is Un-American (anti-American) that is for sure!

      • arc99 May 10th, 2014 at 11:59

        your entire post is a lie. go ahead and ignore video tape and the State Dept link I provided above. all you do is confirm what Dwendt44 said.

  3. arc99 May 9th, 2014 at 15:05

    To all of our new Disqus colleagues who are inclined to oppose the President and his policies. One conclusion I have drawn over the past five years is that critics of the President routinely rely on innuendo and outright lies to state their case.

    This is just more example to illustrate that my conclusion is correct and a prime example of why I and lots of other Americans believe that your Benghazi obsession is just another pack of lies; more nuanced lies perhaps than the easily debunked claim about Boko Haram, but lies nonetheless.

    For Boko Haram, the right wing lie machine is trying to portray a State Department decision a couple of years ago to not apply a formal designation to Boko Haram as a terrorist organization, as some sort of outrageous failure by the Dept. of State.

    it really does get tiresome providing facts to counter the lies of the right wing, even more so since their lies often drown out the truth. It is true that the State Dept did not officially designate Boko Haram as a terrorist organizations, and there were multiple reasons for that which anyone who actually cares about facts can research for themselves.

    However, the leadership was most definitely identified by the State Department and received individual designations as terrorist.

    The bottom line is right wingers are lying again. so, shove it righties….

    seriously.

    http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/06/193574.htm

    Terrorist Designations of Boko Haram Commander Abubakar Shekau, Khalid al-Barnawi and Abubakar Adam Kambar

    Media Note

    Office of the Spokesperson

    Washington, DC

    June 21, 2012

    The Department of State designated Abubakar Shekau, Abubakar Adam Kambar, and Khalid al-Barnawi as Specially Designated Global Terrorists under section 1(b) of Executive Order 13224. Shekau is the most visible leader of the Nigeria-based militant group Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad, commonly referred to as Boko Haram. Khalid al-Barnawi and Abubakar Adam Kambar have ties to Boko Haram and have close links to al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.

    • BanditBasheert May 9th, 2014 at 17:52

      If you are referring to the FoN people, we agree totally with you. Wow – 2012 – too bad no one read the Media Note you provided.

      Nigeria is a swamp.
      This is not just about the 300+ girls who were kidnapped – let’s add the 300+ people who were murdered in the market this week by Boko Haram while the “military” stood by and then ran away. According to reports, the Nigerian military is absolutely AWESOME at running away.

  4. arc99 May 9th, 2014 at 15:05

    To all of our new Disqus colleagues who are inclined to oppose the President and his policies. One conclusion I have drawn over the past five years is that critics of the President routinely rely on innuendo and outright lies to state their case.

    This is just more example to illustrate that my conclusion is correct and a prime example of why I and lots of other Americans believe that your Benghazi obsession is just another pack of lies; more nuanced lies perhaps than the easily debunked claim about Boko Haram, but lies nonetheless.

    For Boko Haram, the right wing lie machine is trying to portray a State Department decision a couple of years ago to not apply a formal designation to Boko Haram as a terrorist organization, as some sort of outrageous failure by the Dept. of State.

    it really does get tiresome providing facts to counter the lies of the right wing, even more so since their lies often drown out the truth. It is true that the State Dept did not officially designate Boko Haram as a terrorist organizations, and there were multiple reasons for that which anyone who actually cares about facts can research for themselves.

    However, the leadership was most definitely identified by the State Department and received individual designations as terrorist.

    The bottom line is right wingers are lying again. so, shove it righties….

    seriously.

    http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/06/193574.htm

    Terrorist Designations of Boko Haram Commander Abubakar Shekau, Khalid al-Barnawi and Abubakar Adam Kambar

    Media Note

    Office of the Spokesperson

    Washington, DC

    June 21, 2012

    The Department of State designated Abubakar Shekau, Abubakar Adam Kambar, and Khalid al-Barnawi as Specially Designated Global Terrorists under section 1(b) of Executive Order 13224. Shekau is the most visible leader of the Nigeria-based militant group Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad, commonly referred to as Boko Haram. Khalid al-Barnawi and Abubakar Adam Kambar have ties to Boko Haram and have close links to al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.

    • BanditBasheert May 9th, 2014 at 17:52

      If you are referring to the FoN people, we agree totally with you. Wow – 2012 – too bad no one read the Media Note you provided.

      Nigeria is a swamp.
      This is not just about the 300+ girls who were kidnapped – let’s add the 300+ people who were murdered in the market this week by Boko Haram while the “military” stood by and then ran away. According to reports, the Nigerian military is absolutely AWESOME at running away.

  5. fancypants May 10th, 2014 at 20:52

    BOKOHARAMGATE is too long of a word
    americans might get killed if we send in tomahawks ?

  6. fancypants May 10th, 2014 at 20:52

    BOKOHARAMGATE is too long of a word
    americans might get killed if we send in tomahawks ?

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