Yves here. We must note that Andrew Korybko’s piece on the Nigeria Christmas bombing argued that the US was pursuing regional objectives as well as trying to throw some meat to the Trump base. But if that gambit works, it would confirm the criticism that Tucker Carlson has made of some of Trump’s hard-core Christian backers with respect to Israel: Christians do not support the killing of innocents. As we explain shortly, the odds are high that the Trump claim of going after ISIS is strained. And it is similarly hypocritical to mount attacks during the Christmas, where one of the classic greetings is “Peace on earth, good will to men.”
In exchange for helping Nigeria defeat at least some of the terrorists that have been causing trouble for a while already, which the national armed forces have thus far been unable to due to corruption to poor leadership, the US likely expects privileged access to its emerging mining industry. This …. pairs with the third objective of Nigeria distancing itself from BRICS in the sense of the US beating China to the chase with this opportunity.
The attainment of the three prior objectives would lead to the fourth and final one whereby Nigeria could then restore its regional leadership role under America’s aegis. The US is uncomfortable with the Russian-allied Sahelian Alliance/Confederation, whose members – Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger – just announced a joint military battalion after their latest summit for better tackling terrorist threats. While their anti-terrorist goals formally advance US interests, the multipolar example set by them doesn’t.
The spree of patriotic military coups that swept across those countries removed French and therefore Western influence from their armed forces and political leaderships. This in turn led to enormous mining opportunities for Russia, including uranium in Niger, which borders conflict-afflicted Northern Nigeria. Therefore, it should be assumed that the US envisages “Leading from Behind” as Nigeria reasserts Western influence over the Sahel on its behalf, but likely after some time and not right away.
I chose to run the Common Dreams coverage of the latest Trump sin due to Korybko amplifying the misleading Trump ISIS justification in his headline: Why’d Trump Bomb ISIS In Nigeria On Christmas? As one of his readers observed in comments:
Luis A. Melendez Albizu
Because he didn’t. ISIS is a CIA/Mossad mercenary force. The US is not and will not bomb its mercenary force. This is like Syria, where Clinton, Trump & Biden claimed to be bombing ISIS, when in reality they bombed some innocent victims while helping ISIS. So Trump probably just bombed some innocent goat herders so he could claim to be bombing ISIS.
By Brett Wilkins, staff writer at Common Dreams. Originally published at Common Dreams
President Donald Trump—the self-described “most anti-war president in history”—has now ordered the bombing of more countries than any president in history as US forces carried out Christmas day strikes on what the White Houseclaimed were Islamic State militants killing Christians in Nigeria.
“Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!” Trump said Thursday in a post on his Truth Social network.
“I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was,” the president continued. “The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing.”
“Under my leadership, our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper,” Trump added. “May God Bless our Military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.”
.@POTUS “Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and… pic.twitter.com/ct7rUW128t
— Department of War 🇺🇸 (@DeptofWar) December 26, 2025
A US Department of Defense official speaking on condition of anonymity told the Associated Press that the United States worked with Nigeria to conduct the bombing, and that the government of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu—who is a Muslim—approved the attacks.
It was not immediately known how many people were killed or wounded in the strikes, or whether there are any civilian casualties.
The Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that “terrorist violence in any form, whether directed at Christians, Muslims, or other communities, remains an affront to Nigeria’s values and to international peace and security.”
The US bombings followed a threat last month by Trump to attack Nigeria with “guns-a-blazing” if the country’s government did not curb attacks on Christians.
Northwestern Nigeria—including Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, and parts of Kaduna State—is suffering a complex security crisis, plagued by armed criminal groups, herder-farmer disputes, and Islamist militants including Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP/ISIS) and Boko Haram. Both Christians and Muslims have been attacked.
Since emerging in Borno State in 2009, Boko Haram has waged war on the Nigerian state—which it regards as apostate—not against any particular religious group. In fact, the majority of its victims have been Muslims.
“According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, more Muslims than Christians have been targeted in recent years,” Chloe Atkinson recently wrote for Common Dreams. “Boko Haram has massacred worshipers in mosques, torched markets in Muslim-majority areas, and threatened their own coreligionists.”
“It is true that Christian communities in the north-central regions have suffered unimaginable horrors as raids have left villages in ashes, children murdered in their beds, and churches reduced to rubble,” she said. “The April massacre in Zike and the June bloodbath in Yelwata are prime examples of the atrocities taking place in Nigeria.”
“The crisis in Nigeria is not a holy war against Christianity,” Atkinson continued. “Instead, it’s a devastating cocktail of poverty, climate-driven land disputes, and radical ideologies that prey on everyone and not just any distinct group.”
“By framing Nigeria’s conflict as an existential threat to Christians alone, Trump is not shining a spotlight on the victims,” she added. “Instead, he is weaponizing right-wing conspiracy theories to stoke Islamophobia, the same toxic playbook he used to fuel his ban on Muslims, and which left refugee families shattered at America’s borders.”
Former libertarian US Congressman Justin Amash (R-Mich.) noted on X that “there’s no authority for strikes on terrorists in Nigeria or anywhere on Earth,” adding that the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF)—which was approved by every member of Congress except then-Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.)—“is only for the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks.”
“The War Powers Resolution doesn’t grant any authority beyond the Constitution,” Amash added. “Offensive military actions need congressional approval. The Framers of the Constitution divided war powers to protect the American people from war-eager executives. Whether the United States should engage in conflicts across the globe is a decision for the people’s representatives in Congress, not the president.”
What constitutional authority supports these strikes without a Congressinal declaration of war?
— Patrick Jaicomo (@pjaicomo) December 26, 2025
In addition to Nigeria, Trump—who says he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize—since 2017 has also ordered the bombing of Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen, as well as boats allegedly transporting drugs in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. Trump has also deployed warships and thousands of US troops near Venezuela, which could become the next country attacked by a president who campaigned on a platform of “peace through strength.”
That’s more than the at least five countries attacked during the tenure of former President George W. Bush or the at least seven nations attacked on orders of then-President Barack Obama during the so-called War on Terror, which killed more than 940,000 people—including at least 432,000 civilians, according to the Costs of War Project at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs.
Trump continued the war on ISIS in Iraq and Syria started by Obama in 2014. Promising to “bomb the shit out of” ISIS fighters and “take out their families,” Trump intensified the US campaign from a war of “attrition” to one of “annihilation,” according to his former defense secretary, Gen. James “Mad Dog” Mattis. Thousand of civilians were killed as cities such as Mosul, Iraq and Raqqa, Syria were flattened.
Trump declared victory over ISIS in 2018—and again the following year.
Some social media users suggested Trump’s “warmongering” is an attempt to distract from the Epstein files scandal and alleged administration cover-up.
“Bombing Nigeria won’t make us forget about the Epstein files,” said one X user.
There is a very strange aspect to Trump bombing Nigeria to go after ISIS. He claims that it is to protect Christians. OK, well maybe. But here is the thing. Trump is in tight with Israel and Jewish people which is no big secret. So why did he not bomb those ISIS camps in the Philippines too which helped train those two Bondi shooters who went on to kill 15 Jewish people? The US does have assets in the region that could do the job very easily including the Philippines itself. Is it because he did not want the President of the Philippines to look bad who seems to be a buddy of the US or was he afraid that the ISIS elements might go on to hit US military bases and personnel in the Philippines. It does seem a very strange omission.
As Truman supposedly mentioned about the Dominican dictator Trujillo; “He may be a bas—-, but he’s our bast—!” As Lord Palmerston remarked; “We (England) have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.” To which ends, any tool will do.
The question does arise; which is the manipulator, and which is the “useful idiot,” ISIS or America?
I must point out: this is an erroneous way of argumentation. You cannot use the fact that Trump did not order an attack on one place to prove that his order to attack another place was wrong.
Pointing out hypocrisy is valid criticism.
I must point out: this is an erroneous way of argumentation. Trump ordering an attack on any place is wrong. You cannot use the fact that Trump did order an attack on many places in order to assume that one of those just might be right by pure chance. A monkey with a machine gun is bad by default. Everything else is mental gymnastics.
Do you really think that during Donald Trump’s presidency, the U.S. military should not engage in combat under any circumstances, for any reason, or against any adversary?
Nigeria has oil. Lots and lots of oil. Any questions? / ;)
https://energynews.africa/2025/08/03/nigerias-oil-dominance-persists-as-crude-drives-45-billion-export-windfall/
Additionally, it fits with a pattern of conflict or upheaval of some kind in countries with monetary debt to China.
Dear Christians, do not wrap yourself in the blanket of Trump’s protection. It is a full of holes and fully dependent on location and identity of your tormentor. If Christians are being terrorized in the wrong place or by the wrong group, it will not even be noticed. You are but a good excuse to help seize power and/or especially resources.
Author Wilkins ignores the summing up at the Costs of War Project at Brown: “An estimated 3.6-3.8 million people died indirectly in post-9/11 war zones, bringing the total death toll to at least 4.5-4.7 million and counting.”
Likely an undercount. Five million victims. For perspective on the slaughter and on why people might “hate” Americans.
Observations:
–I don’t understand how allowing the U.S. of A. to conduct missions on its soil benefits Nigeria and the Nigerian self-tootling claims to be the leading nation of Africa. This action doesn’t look much different from French military adventures in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Chad, which have since gotten the French kicked out.
–Agreeing with flora, just above, oil, oil, lotsa petroleum. Hence the preoccupation by the U.S. government with Venezuela, Iran, and, now, Nigeria.
–There are some other countries rich in petroleum likely to find the U.S. government as a suitor at the door. Gabon. Guyana. Argentina?
–It may be that Trump is playing to his base of evangelical and zionistic “Christians,” but that means that this concern for “Christians” is about white “Christian” America. Evangi and fundi U.S. Christians are anti-Catholic, know only dim glimmers of the Orthodox churches, know nothing of the Eastern churches like the Egyptian Coptic church, Ethiopian Coptic church, and the Armenian Apostolic church. Saint Thomas Christians of India? Heck, can we bomb them? Trump could have the U.S. bomb Rome and his local “Christian” base wouldn’t give a shit. See: Various constipated Calvinist / Presbyterian denominations:
https://www.prca.org/resources/pamphlets/the-anti-christ
Protect us from those who would redeem us. Amen.
–In short, protecting “Christians” is like “spreading democracy.” Got any rare earths?
The scariest words a citizen of an attractively resourced country can hear:
I heard the following, officer quoted be friends who underwent military training “Target is the place where target is located when treated as a target”.
So US forces treated 70 places in Nigeria as targets, and we do not know where and why. So a target can be a truck, car, bicycle, pedestrian, goat… Historically, Americans had trouble picking targets that fit general description given to the press like “people who poison our children with drugs” or “members of Tren de Aragua”, and the same may be true with “Islamic fanatics killing Christians”.
AP has a report from one affected village, no paywall (perhaps with limits, like Reuters). There nobody was killed, villagers collected metal scrap (will US force buy back valuable alloys?), a young woman delays wedding plans (a risk notorious in possible affected areas…)
All this bombing and threats of more war by Trump, and deafening silence from the Democrats.
Which will turn into deafening cries for impeachment if the mid-terms work out well for the Democrats. Congress will have the opportunity to roll back executive power to where it belongs if they have the bottle. And then the Trump family’s legal troubles will really begin.
And my mom had wheels she’d have been a bicycle.
Agreed and when was the last time we have heard the Dems say no to war?
Any war?
Any time?
Or to stopping a genocide?
Any genocide?
Or reducing the NDAA?
Bueller, any one?
When will Trump start bombing the IDF after two years of killing Palestinian Christians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza?
Politically, he will have to ‘outsource’ the job to Teheran Aerospace Industries.
Parenthetically, I have been expecting someone to start displaying cartoon pictures of Natasha Fatale and Vlad Vladimirovitch as envoys of “Fearless Leader.” Alas, even when it comes to oppositional “research,” the West is lacking in imagination and drive.
I must point out: this is an erroneous way of argumentation. You cannot use the fact that Trump did not order an attack on one place to prove that his order to attack another place was wrong.
I do not propose to speak for GF.
However, pointing out hypocrisy is valid criticism.
The definition of hypocrisy given at dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/hypocrisy is as follows:
“a situation in which someone pretends to believe something that they do not really believe, or that is the opposite of what they do or say at another time”
And the definition given at http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hypocrisy includes:
“especially : the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion”
I must point out: this is déjà vu all over again.
The couple of Nigerian immigrants I spoke to in the UK were in favour of this when news of the proposal broke about 6 weeks ago. Firmly of the opinion that jihadi killings are a great threat to the south of the country, and not bothered by the attack coming from an outside source via America. Of course some bias in the fact these guys are English-speaking and raised as evangelical Christians (although one follows the Nigerian youth fashion for diamond ear studs), and that the UK’s immigrants tend toward right wing crankiness.
It’s kind of a lot of bombing for a country allegedly running low on munitions. Not enormous, but fairly steady.
Could anyone provide some source for ISIS being a CIA/Mossad force?
This is an assignment and a violaton of our written site Policies. You are just as able to use a search engine as anyone else.
It took me 30 seconds to find this admission by Netanyahu in Haaretz, FFS: https://archive.is/E6acl
More generally, as multiple experts, such as Mohammed Marandi and John Kirakou (who has said head of counterterrorism for the CIA in Pakistan and worked extenisively in the Middle East) point out thas ISIS is fiercely anti-Iran, which aligns well with Israel’s aims, and not anti-Israel.
Former chief of staff to Colin Powell Larry Wilkerson confirmed the CIA-ISIS connection in a new talk on Dialogue Works. At 3:50:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95MnFFUtSeQ
The usual ultra kudos, ma’am.
Any time I start feeling optimistic I just review the comments on NC and then I start feeling normal again, which is to say, depressed.
You guys might like this one, but I get the feeling you’ve already seen it, and the regulars here could probably write five or six sequels even if you have. Clearly, civilization runs on corruption, and one wonders why the bottom hasn’t dropped out yet. It is a truism of human social, political, and economic dynamics that those who lie, cheat, and steal to get what they want have a decisive advantage over those who do not, which seems to me to explain everything that’s wrong with the world.
A**holes: A Theory (1080p) FULL MOVIE – Documentary, Comedy, Political
https://archive.org/details/youtube-rMkMJD6Bddw
[This comment was by repeated violator of site Policies by sock puppeting. All comments will be overwritten or removed. Get another hobby rather than pollute this site]
From a year and a half ago: How CIA and MI6 Created ISIS by Kit Klarenberg.
Michael Moore needs to make of sequel to “Where To Invade Next?” “Who Do We Bomb Today?” would work.
Interestingly, Inside China Business had a piece on the general loss of support for the US (and Israel), in some large part because of Israel – the report was in relationship of the difficulty of the US securing access to rare earths with announced trade deals going south as the populations were (in ASEAN) very unsupportive.
One item of note, the country with the highest regard for the US, even more than Israel was Nigeria. And Nigeria also has a very positive regard for Israel. Curious. Evangellical-ism? Or anti Islam radicalization?
Curious. A majority (admittedly, just a bare majority) of Nigerians are Muslims. I wonder how the numbers break down by regions and demographics.