Right across central Africa?
Uganda, Congo, South Sudan and Central African Republic.
Posted on 02/23/2012 4:15:06 AM PST by EBH
The U.S. announced in October it was sending about 100 U.S. troops — mostly special operations forces — to Central Africa to advise in the fight against the LRA and its leader Joseph Kony, a bush fighter wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
Rear Adm. Brian L. Losey, the top U.S. special operations commander for Africa, said the U.S. troops are now stationed in bases in Uganda, Congo, South Sudan and Central African Republic.
"We've already seen a decrease in the lethality of LRA activities, which we think is attributable in part to the pressure we and our partners are applying," Losey said in a telephone briefing to journalists.
Losey said counter-LRA actions will increase in frequency and effectiveness in coming months.
The LRA began its attacks in Uganda in the 1980s, when Kony sought to overthrow the government. Since being pushed out of Uganda several years ago, the militia has terrorized villages in Central Africa.
A top State Department official, Karl Wycoff, said that Kony has shown the ability to mobilize combatants and militant leaders to carry out "horrible atrocities" for the LRA, which he called "some kind of cult," given that the group has no clear agenda. He said the U.S. effort was not just aimed at Kony but at all the LRA leaders.
However, Col. Felix Kulayigye, the spokesman for Uganda's military, said the hunt for Kony was an important aspect of the anti-LRA effort.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Who’s making money off us being there ?
The better question is why are we so interested in helping capture this particular guy?
They say this group is a cult with no agenda. Hmmm, last time I checked “cults” have agendas, serious agendas. Granted it might be the spaceship is landing for them, but they have an agenda.
So what is up with this rogue group?
Right across central Africa?
Uganda, Congo, South Sudan and Central African Republic.
“Joseph Kony (born 1961) is a Ugandan guerrilla group leader, head of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a guerrilla group that is engaged in a violent campaign to establish theocratic government based on the Ten Commandments in Uganda.[1] The LRA say that God has sent spirits to communicate this mission directly to Kony.[4]”
I know that.
But what does it have to do with the United States?
Same people making money off of being in Iraq and Afghanistan. Of course, we WANT troops there, and are in fact bitching that we don’t have enough boots on the ground. So make up your minds, people, we’re either the world’s policemen or we’re not.
>>So what is up with this rogue group?
“By 1992, Kony had renamed the group United Democratic Christian Army and it was at this time that they kidnapped 44 girls from the Sacred Heart Secondary and St. Mary’s girls schools.[8]”
Kidnapping’s ok because it’s not explicitly covered in the 10 commandments?
Quack, Waddle — “Jones, paging Rev. Jim Jones...”
>>But what does it have to do with the United States?
Securing Odumbo’s Homeland?
Between Bush in Iraq, and Obama in Libya, and Obama meddling with Egypt and prob soon to be Syria, and now 4 African countries, when does the point come that it is understandable why the world views us differently than we ourselves do? While we say we have humanitarian reasons for some, if not all, of the above, people are getting killed just the same. Why is the nanny state wrong domestically, but OK internationally? Aren’t we trying to nanny state the world?
Just a guess that this is the strongest pro-Christian group operating in Africa and poses a threat to the islamist movements in the Northern tier.
“Aren’t we trying to nanny state the world?”
Same question Ron Paul is asking. Just sayin.
Why should we be? This has nothing to do with us. No matter who takes one thug out, six more will pop up there. It's long past time we let these little punks kill each other off and start taking care of our own problems at home.
Years ago, during Operation Manta in Chad, the French Foreign Legion had been staging out of Bangui, CAR. The Legion has long been active all over Africa. Their east African training base is in Djibouti, which is now our Horn of Africa HQS in the GWOT.
Wouldn’t these troops be better used in Afghanistan? Well, if we were trying to win?
There have been, at least in a non-military sense. The eldest son of my former church small-group leader was in Africa with a group called Invisible Children, working on getting child soldiers and servants out of the clutches of the LRA and back to their families. The LRA are not “Christian”...their leader is a whackjob who has adopted certain Christian verbiage to try and make his group of bandits and thugs look more legitimate. They attack and raze villages, kill the adults, and carry the children off; the boys are forced into being soldiers, the girls into servitude and eventually sex.
In a sick irony, the son was killed not by the LRA, but by Islamists. He was the only American casualty of the 2010 Ugandan suicide bombings, when an Islamonazi blew himself up in the midst of a crowd of Ugandans watching the World Cup.
}:-)4
Are our servicemen dying, defending or helping the mosloms get or stay into power?
Is our country committing suicide with a leader that says he will stand with the mosloms if push came to shove?
I feel like I’m starting to spin around that abyss.
Of all things, there is said to be a lot of oil in the region—which cannot be exploited for use by Uganda (and Uganda’s rulers) until they actually control the area.
True or not, if we are going to be sending troops to
help clear out corrupt and illegitimate gangs, let’s start with Chicago...
Jim Jones was an atheist Marxist, who cynically tricked people into thinking he was religious in order to further his Marxist agenda.
My best guess about this is that Obama is doing it for two reasons:
1. He thinks it will help secure him the black vote in 2012, since he can tell them: “See how much I’m doing to help your black ancestors, something no white President has ever done.”
2. If he loses, then he leaves the White Republican President a nice Tar Baby to deal with first thing in office.
___________________________________
Yeah, a real "Christian" army.
You might want to do a little homework...try global security...here's a bit of how they describe your "strong pro-Christian group"....
"The LRA abducted large numbers of civilians for training as guerrillas. Most victims were children and young adults. The LRA abducted young girls as sex and labor slaves. Other children, mainly girls, were reported to have been sold, traded, or given as gifts by the LRA to arms dealers in Sudan. While some later escaped or were rescued, the whereabouts of many children remain unknown."
I miss the days when freepers actually knew what they were talking about.
Do we know this has actually happened or are we depending on the same UN/Obama sources for this allegation?
The point is that until Obama does his duty as POTUS and address the nation to outline our national security obligation in this fight, I will take the LRA's side.
Go see my post #25. I trust the LRA before Obama.
“Who’s making money off us being there ?”
I am thinking a remake of “The Dogs of War”, however this time it is the Obama administration and several Senators and Congressmen that are behind the mercs.
Probably found a stash of Unobtanium.
Atrocities committed by the LRA are pretty-well documented and not part of some MSM coverup conspiracy.
They seem to enjoy cutting off people's noses and lips. Occasionally their hands and arms. And raping. You may want to think twice about taking their side. Not all of Obama's enemies are our friends and certainly not the LRA.
Heart of Darkness...the sequel.
I don’t know how much of a national security interest we have in defeating the LRA, to be honest. They are a truly evil group, as bad as any of the many armed bandit bands that have risen in Africa over the last few decades and probably worse than most. The question is, can we and should we send 100 Special Forces advisors over there to train the Ugandans and other central African militaries to take them out? I’m not so sure the militaries in any of those African hellholes are a whole lot better for the populace than the LRA, and that’s saying something.
}:-)4
True enough. The Legion isn’t known for pussy-footing around their enemies.
Thank you. That is my point.....we have no national security interest here and no case has been made for one by anyone.
The media is quiet about this, the GOP is quiet about this and the Obama Admin is quiet about this.
Until someone makes a clear case of what is our mission, I oppose any president from unilaterally deploying troops without an explanation.
I'll agree with this. It ain't our problem and certainly not worth the expense of American treasure or even a single American life. My point was only that there is nothing good about the LRA. They're savages. Then again, there's no shortage of savagery on any side of Africa's multitude of armed conflicts.
And not a single GD voice in the media or useless, shit-scared GOP asking: “WHY?”
ollowing introduction in May 2009 by Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA), Representative Ed Royce (R-CA) and Representative Brad Miller (D-NC), the bill gained an average of 20 cosponsors a month until passage the next year. The bill passed unanimously in the Senate on March 11th, 2010 with 65 Senators as cosponsors, then passed unanimously in the House of Representatives on May 13th, 2010 with 202 Representatives as cosponsors. These 267 Members of Congress helped bring to the President’s desk the most widely cosponsored bill Africa-related piece of legislation in the last 37 years, or as far back as electronic records document.
To: CondorFlight
LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009 http://www.theresolve.org/pages/list-of-congressional-cosponsors
Representative Jeff Fortenberry (NE-1) joined with Reps. Jim McGovern (MA-3) and Bill Young (FL-10) to “ensure that our defense community has the resources necessary to carry out […] an international strategy to help end the atrocities committed by the LRA, protect innocent civilians, and stabilize a region of Africa that is critical to U.S. national security interests.”
In a major victory for Resolve’s S2F campaign, the Senate Armed Services Committee passed its version of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act today — essentially the budget for the U.S. defense community — and included an unprecedented provision aimed at helping stop LRA atrocities. According to a release on the Committee website, the amendment — put forward by Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK), and championed by Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), the Chair of the Committee — authorizes $35 million to provide support to regional forces working to protect people from LRA atrocities.
http://www.theresolve.org/blog/archives/category/from-congress
Near the village of Niangara recently, a cadre emerged from the bush, slaughtered up to 100 civilians and committed a very particular atrocity — the LRA calling card — on those left behind still alive: hacking off lips and ears, tying their victims to tree trunks.
Bullets, a precious resource, are not often wasted on humans. LRA fighters are more apt to wield machetes and bayonets and machete-like pangas, often crushing skills with no more than large wooden sticks.
Thus have these children and adolescents adapted to their jungle environment.
It took weeks for aid officials to even learn of what had occurred in remote Niangara or retrieve traumatized victims for medical attention. There is no mobile phone coverage that penetrates the region and the village is barely accessible by road. The nearest UN military forward operating base is 150 kilometres away but might as well be on the other side of the moon — such is the tailbone-shattering overland drive.
One young woman who was initially treated at the Dungu hospital before being transferred for more expert treatment elsewhere — though it’s hard to imagine how her horrific mutilation can ever be reversed — told doctors her attackers extended her lips with pliers and then sawed them off. “They were angry because I kept crying for mercy and calling to God for help,” she said.
At the hospital, only a handful of victims still remain, recovering from their wounds: Fidel Nbangala, who took a machete blow across the face but lived; Joseph Antingi, shot in the groin; Dieu-donne Yamba, chopped at the wrist. And 3-year-old Suza Anipidu, who had been in her grandmother’s arms when the woman was shot dead, the child struck by a bullet as well.
When a reporter prepares to take a photograph, the child screams. “She thinks your camera is a gun,” her mother explains.
The massacre at Niangara followed the worst atrocity committed by the LRA in recent years — the killing last December of more than 300 civilians in a nearby village. About 250 people were kidnapped, including 80 children.
To engage UN troops or even a national army platoon would be suicide. They prefer to prey on the week and vulnerable, in isolated villages of mud-and-thatch huts. They pounce on women working in the field, youngsters fetching water from a well. Boys are turned into porters, girls into slaves.
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/843637—dimanno-child-sadists-child-victims
Thank you, Anglian! I appreciate the info
This joint project, developed by Invisible Children and Resolve, marks the first time data surrounding the crisis has been comprehensively aggregated and made publicly available. http://www.lracrisistracker.com/#updates
Wow, my God bless you and help you deal with your great loss.
Wow, may God bless you and help you deal with your great loss.
It is in our interest that central Africa not be destabilized any more than it is. What that means is not so clear.
I don’t need to “see your post”....anybody who described LRA as a strong pro-christian, as you did, has nothing of substance to offer.
The leaders in that part of the world helped the U.S. get some nasty Moslems (pirates?) a while back, and we promised them help with Kony in return.
But this Administration doesn’t bother with things like explanations, because he prefers to rule by decree.
There is a difference in making alliances with some Moslems against other Moslems as Bush had to do in Iraq and Afghanistan; providing assistance to Islamic drug gangs such as the KLA to take over Kosovo; and fighting this group.
Since this cult prefers to attack women, children and the helpless the troops themselves are not in great danger and assisting in the eradication of such evil might be enlightening. While such interventions must be carefully done this has nothing to do with Vietnam and there is little chance of such an involvement.
The problem is The Disaster is clueless and can only be counted on to be relfexively anti-American and incompetent to accomplish Good.
Thanks for your post, af_vet_rr!
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