The Kidnapping of Nigerian Girls, A Primer
http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/gordonhaber/7859/the_kidnapping_of_nigerian_girls__a_primer/May 8, 2014 9:44am
Post by GORDON HABER AND PRINCE CHARLES DICKSON
Nigeria is arguably the most important country in Africa. With 175 million people, it’s certainly the most populous. And Nigeria has the biggest GDP on the continent, largely due to its oil reserves.
In terms of religion, the northern half of the country is mostly Muslim, the southern half mostly Christian (with many Nigerians following traditional beliefs).
Relations between Muslims and Christians have largely been cordial with occasional tensions arising from the sharing of political power. But that was before the rise of Boko Haram.
What Is Boko Haram?
Often known as “Nigeria's Taliban,” Boko Haram (roughly translated from the Hausa language as “Western education is sinful”) officially calls itself the Congregation of the People for Proselytism and Jihad. As you might infer, Boko Haram is against Westernization—to the point where its members argue that the world is flat—and seeks to impose its radical version of sharia law throughout Nigeria.
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First and foremost because I don't think the UK would tolerate US military operations within their borders. At the most, I could see them requesting anti-terrorist attaches, but even that is unlikely; between their own intelligence services and the SAS, the UK is equally capable, if not more so (no doubt our friends across the pond would think so 
), of dealing with this kind of attack.
Also worth considering: this is a two-way street.
We're not barging into Nigeria demanding to assist them. They are asking for our help, and we are responding. While we don't know exactly how much aid Nigeria asked for, I think it is pretty safe to assume they aren't looking for a high profile American presence in their country. As noted, the general population is very skeptical of western intentions in their country, given its history as a colonial possession and its continued history of economic exploitation, so whatever our intentions, it is likely we would not be well-received. The Jonathan administration no doubt wants our help to make a difficult problem disappear, but they can't be seen as being in the pocket of the Americans.
There's also the possibility Goodluck Jonathan, not being one of the finer specimens of h. politicus, doesn't want outsiders looking too closely at the assorted horseshit his government is pulling, or knows full-well that once the Americans show up in country, his days of limitless authority will be numbered.
In any event, I'm still more or less with you on this: I don't know what we should do.
But I've been feeling this way about Africa for a long time. Virtually every country on the continent has been going completely to shit for at least the thirty years I've been alive, and no amount of foreign aid has seemed to make a dent. The tribal conflicts, corruption, poverty, and economic exploitation are just so goddamned entrenched it seems there's no overcoming them. I can't help but think that if there's going to be major change, it will have to come from within.
