Obama Sends Military Advisers To Central Africa To Help Fight Lord's Resistance Army

High_Gravity

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Nov 19, 2010
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Obama Sends Military Advisers To Central Africa To Help Fight Lord's Resistance Army

r-OBAMA-TROOPS-CENTRAL-AFRICA-large570.jpg


WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Friday he's dispatching roughly 100 U.S. troops to central Africa to help battle the Lord's Resistance Army, which the administration accuses of a campaign of murder, rape and kidnapping children that spans two decades.

In a letter to Congress, Obama said the troops will act as advisers in efforts to hunt down rebel leader Joseph Kony but will not engage in combat except in self-defense.

The White House said the first troops arrived in Uganda on Wednesday. Ultimately, they'll also deploy in South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Long considered one of Africa's most brutal rebel groups, the Lord's Resistance Army began its attacks in Uganda more than 20 years ago but has been pushing westward.

The administration and human rights groups say its atrocities have left thousands dead and have put as many as 300,000 Africans to flight. They have charged the group with seizing children to bolster its ranks of soldiers and sometimes forcing them to become sex slaves.

Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court under a 2005 warrant for crimes against humanity in his native Uganda.

Obama's announcement came in low-key fashion -- a letter to House Speaker John Boehner in which he said the deployment "furthers U.S. national security interests and foreign policy and will be a significant contribution toward counter-LRA efforts in central Africa."

The deployment drew support from Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., who has visited the region.

"I have witnessed firsthand the devastation caused by the LRA, and this will help end Kony's heinous acts that have created a human rights crisis in Africa," he said in a statement. "I have been fervently involved in trying to prevent further abductions and murders of Ugandan children, and today's action offers hope that the end of the LRA is in sight."

But Obama's letter stressed the limited nature of the deployment.

"Our forces will provide information, advice and assistance to select partner nation forces," it said. "Although the U.S. forces are combat-equipped, they will ... not themselves engage LRA forces unless necessary for self-defense."

State Department officials portrayed the deployment as part of a larger strategy to combat the group that dates to the Bush administration but also includes legislation passed by Congress this year.

Obama Sends Military Advisers To Central Africa To Help Fight Lord's Resistance Army
 
Announced on a Friday afternoon with no public POTUS comment.......hmmmm.......praise the Lord and pass the ammunition. War, Inc. has found a new front.
 
wellllllll as much as I would like to dump on this, (aside from the sheer hypocrisy), there are special operations personnel all over the globe, 20 here 100 there....and all of them don't get announced, there are a lot of legacy ops that carry on into new admins etc. .

It has always been so, I can say with uhm, some absolute certainty we had men in say Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Angola in the 80's for instance, aside from headline grabbers like Central America. Lets say the School of Americas graduated folks to more places than Nicaragua etc etc...

It is what it is.
 
Friday afternoons... always a good time to watch the White House. Sneaky critters.

Anything
to distract from the major trouble our leaders are in? And as you say, always on a Friday.

How did a failing California solar company, buffeted by short sellers and shareholder lawsuits, receive a $1.2 billion federal loan guarantee for a photovoltaic electricity ranch project—three weeks after it announced it was building new manufacturing plant in Mexicali, Mexico, to build the panels for the project.

The company, SunPower (SPWR-NASDAQ), now carries $820 million in debt, an amount $20 million greater than its market capitalization. If SunPower was a bank, the feds would shut it down. Instead, it received a lifeline twice the size of the money sent down the Solyndra drain.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=46761
 
wellllllll as much as I would like to dump on this, (aside from the sheer hypocrisy), there are special operations personnel all over the globe, 20 here 100 there....and all of them don't get announced, there are a lot of legacy ops that carry on into new admins etc. .

It has always been so, I can say with uhm, some absolute certainty we had men in say Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Angola in the 80's for instance, aside from headline grabbers like Central America. Lets say the School of Americas graduated folks to more places than Nicaragua etc etc...

It is what it is.

Didn't 'Nam start with a few advisers who were not going to actually shoot anyone?
 
Obama gonna whup up onna terrorists even if dey is in deepest, darkest Africa...
:clap2:
Obama Deploys Troops to Central Africa
October 14, 2011 - U.S. President Barack Obama has deployed 100 U.S. troops to Central Africa to help forces that are fighting the Lord’s Resistance Army group - known for its campaign of rape and killing in the region, and its use of child soldiers.
The president, in a letter to Congress, said he has authorized the deployment of a small force of combat-ready U.S. troops.
Defense department officials say the first of about 100 troops arrived in Uganda this week. The rest will follow in the coming weeks, moving into areas of South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo where the group operates. A department official says U.S. troops will remain as long as needed, perhaps several months. In his letter, President Obama said that although the troops will be combat-ready, they will only be providing information, advice, and assistance to regional forces fighting for the removal of Joseph Kony, who is the head of the Lord’s Resistance Army. Obama said the U.S. troops will not engage the L.R.A. directly, except in self-defense.

Center for Strategic and International Studies Africa researcher Richard Downie explained why Kony is of concern to the United States. “Joseph Kony and his followers have committed egregious human-rights abuses in a large swathe of Africa for many, many years now. Really, I think the U.S. feels it has to act to tackle the L.R.A. because of the abuses it has committed. It does not pose a national security threat to the United States as such, but it feels impelled to act in this situation,” he said. The deployment is in line with President Obama’s public commitment to promote governance and human rights in Africa. The troops will primarily assist the Ugandan army, which has taken the lead in fighting the L.R.A. Downie says Uganda and other nations in the region have been unable to eradicate the group on their own and are eager for U.S. help.

“Intelligence suggests that it is operating in perhaps two or three small groups in very remote areas, one of them in the far northeast of the Congo, another in the Central African Republic, and perhaps another one also in South Sudan. So this really explains why it is so difficult to eliminate this group because they are operating in a remote region, in very, very small groups,” said Downie. The Pentagon is not saying what types of units are being deployed. Officials say soldiers will work to safeguard civilians. The U.S. launched a similar support operation to try to combat the L.R.A. in 2008. That mission failed to capture Kony and other commanders. The operation came under criticism by human-rights advocates, who said the effort resulted in a campaign of revenge by L.R.A. fighters who killed hundreds of civilians in the months that followed.

Source
 
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wellllllll as much as I would like to dump on this, (aside from the sheer hypocrisy), there are special operations personnel all over the globe, 20 here 100 there....and all of them don't get announced, there are a lot of legacy ops that carry on into new admins etc. .

It has always been so, I can say with uhm, some absolute certainty we had men in say Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Angola in the 80's for instance, aside from headline grabbers like Central America. Lets say the School of Americas graduated folks to more places than Nicaragua etc etc...

It is what it is.

Didn't 'Nam start with a few advisers who were not going to actually shoot anyone?

sure.


but speaking from experience, we have been training troops of foreign countries for, well, since the banana wars. Not all of these detachments etc. lead to a war even near that size.

I think he should be sending troops to other places , not this one, nor wasting resources in Libya, but either way I cannot see a big deal here. we do it all the time, we also cross trained and deployed, look up operation lemon, if that has even seen much light of day, we had guys there too;).....nato too, they all have people with us, gsg 9, sas, spec. boat service, GSA.
when I joined in the carter era, he did too, then Reagan picked up right there after and the deployments were pretty much seamless, not that the media would tell anyone that......*shrugs*
 
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wellllllll as much as I would like to dump on this, (aside from the sheer hypocrisy), there are special operations personnel all over the globe, 20 here 100 there....and all of them don't get announced, there are a lot of legacy ops that carry on into new admins etc. .

It has always been so, I can say with uhm, some absolute certainty we had men in say Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Angola in the 80's for instance, aside from headline grabbers like Central America. Lets say the School of Americas graduated folks to more places than Nicaragua etc etc...

It is what it is.

Didn't 'Nam start with a few advisers who were not going to actually shoot anyone?

sure.


but speaking from experience, we have been training troops of foreign countries for, well, since the banana wars. Not all of these detachments etc. lead to a war even near that size.

I think he should be sending troops to other places , not this one, nor wasting resources in Libya, but either way I cannot see a big deal here.
we do it all the time, we also cross trained and deployed, look up operation lemon, if that has even seen much light of day, we had guys there too;).....nato too, they all have people with us, gsg 9, sas, spec. boat service, GSA.
when I joined in the carter era, he did too, then Reagan picked up right there after and the deployments were pretty much seamless, not that the media would tell anyone that......*shrugs*

I agree. This is the state of American military policy...

j0387426-11.jpg
 
In 2006, the UN, in a covert operation, sent up to 40 U.S. trained Guatemalan Special-Ops troops trained in jungle warfare to take out the head of the LRA.
None came back alive.
 
There MIGHT be a good reason to send our military advisers into the Congo, etc.

If there is, it seems pretty doubtful that a good case can be made on the ground of "national security." Frankly, I doubt there is much U.S. national interest there.

On a plane of pure justice and arguable morality, the LRA deserves to be eradicated.

But the thing that's MISSING is of some import, too: Specifically, what's missing is compliance with the Constitution.

A Friday evening letter dump to Congress is NOT even a distant approximation of complying with the Constitution.
 
There MIGHT be a good reason to send our military advisers into the Congo, etc.

If there is, it seems pretty doubtful that a good case can be made on the ground of "national security." Frankly, I doubt there is much U.S. national interest there.

On a plane of pure justice and arguable morality, the LRA deserves to be eradicated.

But the thing that's MISSING is of some import, too: Specifically, what's missing is compliance with the Constitution.

A Friday evening letter dump to Congress is NOT even a distant approximation of complying with the Constitution.

Clearly you are not familiar with the "Domino Theory."

First its Uganda, then The Congo, then Ivory Coast, then the South Atlantic, the Brazil, then Panama, then Mexico, then Texas, then the USA.
 
There MIGHT be a good reason to send our military advisers into the Congo, etc.

If there is, it seems pretty doubtful that a good case can be made on the ground of "national security." Frankly, I doubt there is much U.S. national interest there.

On a plane of pure justice and arguable morality, the LRA deserves to be eradicated.

But the thing that's MISSING is of some import, too: Specifically, what's missing is compliance with the Constitution.

A Friday evening letter dump to Congress is NOT even a distant approximation of complying with the Constitution.

Clearly you are not familiar with the "Domino Theory."

First its Uganda, then The Congo, then Ivory Coast, then the South Atlantic, the Brazil, then Panama, then Mexico, then Texas, then the USA.

I have heard of it. :cool:

And the same folks who came to publicly ridicule it are now ok with getting a new Viet Nam started by the sending-in of advisers?

Hm. It still leaves open the question of compliance with Constitutional niceties, though.

I guess in liberal Democarat-land that can be answered by the standard disclaimers: The Commerce Clause and The "Elastic" Clause as well, of course, as the concept of a living, breathing, mutable, changeable Constitution.
 
There MIGHT be a good reason to send our military advisers into the Congo, etc.

If there is, it seems pretty doubtful that a good case can be made on the ground of "national security." Frankly, I doubt there is much U.S. national interest there.

On a plane of pure justice and arguable morality, the LRA deserves to be eradicated.

But the thing that's MISSING is of some import, too: Specifically, what's missing is compliance with the Constitution.

A Friday evening letter dump to Congress is NOT even a distant approximation of complying with the Constitution.

I agree to an extent. Saying Libya was a serious case of threatened American interests was a stretch that was pretty fantastic. I said it then and say it now, we would have been better off sending folks to Yemen.
 
There MIGHT be a good reason to send our military advisers into the Congo, etc.

If there is, it seems pretty doubtful that a good case can be made on the ground of "national security." Frankly, I doubt there is much U.S. national interest there.

On a plane of pure justice and arguable morality, the LRA deserves to be eradicated.

But the thing that's MISSING is of some import, too: Specifically, what's missing is compliance with the Constitution.

A Friday evening letter dump to Congress is NOT even a distant approximation of complying with the Constitution.

Clearly you are not familiar with the "Domino Theory."

First its Uganda, then The Congo, then Ivory Coast, then the South Atlantic, the Brazil, then Panama, then Mexico, then Texas, then the USA.

I have heard of it. :cool:

And the same folks who came to publicly ridicule it are now ok with getting a new Viet Nam started by the sending-in of advisers?

Hm. It still leaves open the question of compliance with Constitutional niceties, though.

I guess in liberal Democarat-land that can be answered by the standard disclaimers: The Commerce Clause and The "Elastic" Clause as well, of course, as the concept of a living, breathing, mutable, changeable Constitution.

In a year it won't matter.

Obama has consistantly tried, and failed, to boost his declining popularity with Military adventures.

PS: There is Oil in Uganda!!!!:eek:
 
Obama Sends Military Advisers To Central Africa To Help Fight Lord's Resistance Army

r-OBAMA-TROOPS-CENTRAL-AFRICA-large570.jpg


WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Friday he's dispatching roughly 100 U.S. troops to central Africa to help battle the Lord's Resistance Army, which the administration accuses of a campaign of murder, rape and kidnapping children that spans two decades.

In a letter to Congress, Obama said the troops will act as advisers in efforts to hunt down rebel leader Joseph Kony but will not engage in combat except in self-defense.

The White House said the first troops arrived in Uganda on Wednesday. Ultimately, they'll also deploy in South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Long considered one of Africa's most brutal rebel groups, the Lord's Resistance Army began its attacks in Uganda more than 20 years ago but has been pushing westward.

The administration and human rights groups say its atrocities have left thousands dead and have put as many as 300,000 Africans to flight. They have charged the group with seizing children to bolster its ranks of soldiers and sometimes forcing them to become sex slaves.

Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court under a 2005 warrant for crimes against humanity in his native Uganda.

Obama's announcement came in low-key fashion -- a letter to House Speaker John Boehner in which he said the deployment "furthers U.S. national security interests and foreign policy and will be a significant contribution toward counter-LRA efforts in central Africa."

The deployment drew support from Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., who has visited the region.

"I have witnessed firsthand the devastation caused by the LRA, and this will help end Kony's heinous acts that have created a human rights crisis in Africa," he said in a statement. "I have been fervently involved in trying to prevent further abductions and murders of Ugandan children, and today's action offers hope that the end of the LRA is in sight."

But Obama's letter stressed the limited nature of the deployment.

"Our forces will provide information, advice and assistance to select partner nation forces," it said. "Although the U.S. forces are combat-equipped, they will ... not themselves engage LRA forces unless necessary for self-defense."

State Department officials portrayed the deployment as part of a larger strategy to combat the group that dates to the Bush administration but also includes legislation passed by Congress this year.

Obama Sends Military Advisers To Central Africa To Help Fight Lord's Resistance Army

This is how we end up knee deep in piles of shit.
 
Clearly you are not familiar with the "Domino Theory."

First its Uganda, then The Congo, then Ivory Coast, then the South Atlantic, the Brazil, then Panama, then Mexico, then Texas, then the USA.

I have heard of it. :cool:

And the same folks who came to publicly ridicule it are now ok with getting a new Viet Nam started by the sending-in of advisers?

Hm. It still leaves open the question of compliance with Constitutional niceties, though.

I guess in liberal Democarat-land that can be answered by the standard disclaimers: The Commerce Clause and The "Elastic" Clause as well, of course, as the concept of a living, breathing, mutable, changeable Constitution.

In a year it won't matter.

Obama has consistantly tried, and failed, to boost his declining popularity with Military adventures.

PS: There is Oil in Uganda!!!!:eek:

WHAT?!?!?!?


shocked_face.gif


shocked_face.jpg
 
wellllllll as much as I would like to dump on this, (aside from the sheer hypocrisy), there are special operations personnel all over the globe, 20 here 100 there....and all of them don't get announced, there are a lot of legacy ops that carry on into new admins etc. .

It has always been so, I can say with uhm, some absolute certainty we had men in say Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Angola in the 80's for instance, aside from headline grabbers like Central America. Lets say the School of Americas graduated folks to more places than Nicaragua etc etc...

It is what it is.

Exactly.
The real question here is why was the information released at all?
Wouldn't have anything to do with hopes of gaining popularity points from black Americans would it?
Like you, I am willing to place a significant bet that there have been this very sort of involvement of and on in Africa for 30 years...at least.
 

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