A new trilogy by Carl Douglass has just been released. Readers who read it before its formal appearance on the book market expressed very similar opinions to that of one woman: “The tag-line for books by Carl Douglass is, ‘Former Neurosurgeon writes with gripping realism.’ I have read most of his books, and agree with the tag-line. His new trilogy, The Trojan Horse in the Belly of the Beast, most assuredly has gripping realism. I cried; I gritted my teeth; I swore. I got angry. The books are well written, perhaps too well written. The description of the maltreatment of girls in Iran is soul scorching—so much so that I had doubts about how close to the truth these books of fiction are. By the time I finished them, I was completely convinced. The story is so real that it hurts, and it is convincing. The author spins a spell-binding story that left me wanting to fight. How could any people, any religion, even any lunatic fringe, treat its females with such utter disregard for their humanity? I won’t spoil the story, but there is a silver lining to the black clouds, and it is a compelling adventure.”
Other readers strongly felt that we should not be subjected to such information. It is too disturbing. My answer to that is, take a look at the news. Nigeria—the largest economy in Africa–is an Islamic dominated country. One of the dominant forces in that hapless country is an extremist group known as the Boko Haram. The group is widely heralded, feared, and treated with deference by the nation’s government as a result. On April 14, 2014, a terrorist explosion–for which the Boko Haram took credit—took place in the capital city of Abuja killing at least 75 people. The explosion occurred less than a 15 minute drive away from the office and residence of the Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan. The following morning, a government leader in the city of Chibok received a cellphone warning that the local boarding school for girls was going to be raided by 200 terrorists. He sought urgent help which never came, and the raid was successful despite the heroic efforts of the 15 woefully outnumbered and outgunned guards. 326 innocent girls were abducted. 53 escaped and 276 were taken deep into Boko Haram controlled territory—the Sambisa Forest–in northeast Nigeria. Grief stricken parents appealed to the government and were fed lies. The following day, the military stated that all but eight girls had been returned from captivity. When the school principal demanded evidence that they had been returned, the military retracted its lie. Courageous family members entered the danger zone but were eventually turned back by threats that the terrorists would kill both the girls and their families if they persisted.
In the last two or three days, the terrorists released a video of dozens of heavily total body covered hajib clad young girls chanting rote phrases from the Qur’an under obvious duress. One report stated that 77 of the Chibok School girls were identified, but it is very disturbing that many of the girls were not recognized and were presumed to be the victims of other kidnappings. The leader of the terrorists demanded a ransom of seven million dollars or the girls would be sold into slavery. For three weeks, the Nigerian president refused to allow the U.S. or other interested countries to assist in the rescue of the girls; and the military has done nothing to rescue its innocent young citizens. The families regularly receive threats. Finally, under heavy international pressure, President Jonathan agreed to allow an elite Israeli counterterrorism unit to come to Nigeria to help. The Associated Press reported that leading Islamic scholar warned that accepting Israel’s help would “turn Nigeria into another global arena and battlefield for filthy neocolonial squabbles by interest groups.” It was his contention, speaking for a substantial Muslim population, that “allowing Western soldiers onto Nigerian soil could make the country a new magnet for foreign Islamic militants who want to confront the United States and others.”
It is apparent that there is considerable subliminal support for the Islamic terrorists in the Nigerian population, and tacit acceptance of the fate of these girls—forced marriage, potential involuntary prostitution, limb amputations and other heinous punishments for disobedience, robbery of their freedom of choice in almost any matter of their own well-being including the right to receive an education. It is this author’s opinion that this is an event not generated solely from a group of lunatic fringe terrorists, but is part of the warp and woof of the nation’s fabric.
Nicholas Kristoff, writing in the New York Times May 13, 1014 entitles his op-ed piece with a question. “What’s so scary about smart girls?” He points out that the Boko Haram targeted educated girl, their worst nightmare. He answers the question posed in his title, “Because there is no force more powerful to transform a society.” Kristoff lists multiple reasons why education for girls is so important for a nation and so frightening for Islamic fundamentalists. The most important reason is that educated girls have fewer children which reduces the bulge of unemployed and fractious youth a decade later. Girls with education can double the labor force, boost the economy, and raise living standards—all anathema to extremists who depend on a continually growing population of ignorant and poor people who are not equipped to think or act for themselves. That is what is scary about smart girls.
So, I’ll leave it to you, my readers, to decide if my trilogy of novels, The Trojan Horse in the Belly of the Beast, are overdrawn or wholly unreasonable. An interested investigator can also look into the behavior towards girls and women in Saudi Arabia where the Wahhabis bear sway, or large areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan where the Taliban is in control, or in any African nation or section of India with a predominant Muslim population. Include the 148 million living victims of FGM in that investigation and make up your own mind. When you do, let us all consider what should be done about this ongoing travesty. Consider a $40 donation to Camfed, the Campaign for Female Education which helps impoverished girls to get to school, to stay there, and to pay it forward.