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



## High_Gravity (Oct 14, 2011)

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









> 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.
> 
> ...



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


----------



## B. Kidd (Oct 14, 2011)

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.


----------



## California Girl (Oct 14, 2011)

Friday afternoons... always a good time to watch the White House. Sneaky critters.


----------



## Trajan (Oct 14, 2011)

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.


----------



## AquaAthena (Oct 14, 2011)

California Girl said:


> 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&#8212;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


----------



## Quantum Windbag (Oct 14, 2011)

This makes 9 wars.


----------



## Quantum Windbag (Oct 14, 2011)

Trajan said:


> 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?


----------



## waltky (Oct 14, 2011)

Obama gonna whup up onna terrorists even if dey is in deepest, darkest Africa...

*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&#8217;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&#8217;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.  &#8220;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,&#8221; he said.  The deployment is in line with President Obama&#8217;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.
> ...


----------



## Trajan (Oct 14, 2011)

Quantum Windbag said:


> Trajan said:
> 
> 
> > 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. .
> ...



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*


----------



## Ropey (Oct 15, 2011)

Trajan said:


> Quantum Windbag said:
> 
> 
> > Trajan said:
> ...



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


----------



## B. Kidd (Oct 15, 2011)

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.


----------



## Liability (Oct 15, 2011)

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.


----------



## Samson (Oct 15, 2011)

Liability said:


> 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.
> 
> ...



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.


----------



## Liability (Oct 15, 2011)

Samson said:


> Liability said:
> 
> 
> > There MIGHT be a good reason to send our military advisers into the Congo, etc.
> ...



I *have* heard of it. 

 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.


----------



## Trajan (Oct 15, 2011)

Liability said:


> 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.
> 
> ...



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.


----------



## Samson (Oct 15, 2011)

Liability said:


> Samson said:
> 
> 
> > Liability said:
> ...



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!!!!


----------



## Article 15 (Oct 15, 2011)

High_Gravity said:


> 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.


----------



## uscitizen (Oct 15, 2011)

It appears that Obama is more like Reagan than most thought.


----------



## Liability (Oct 15, 2011)

Samson said:


> Liability said:
> 
> 
> > Samson said:
> ...



*WHAT?!?!?!?
*


----------



## iamwhatiseem (Oct 15, 2011)

Trajan said:


> 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.


----------



## Trajan (Oct 15, 2011)

uscitizen said:


> It appears that Obama is more like Reagan than most thought.



I see you didn't read the thread......good job.


----------



## Samson (Oct 15, 2011)

Liability said:


> Samson said:
> 
> 
> > Liability said:
> ...



Yep


*Oil-rich Uganda faces massive land-wars and population explosion*
Read more: Oil-rich Uganda faces massive land-wars and population explosion


----------



## LAfrique (Oct 15, 2011)

High_Gravity said:


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




From what I have heard, Joseph Kony is a Christian jihadist just like George W. Bush and, like W. Bush and other religious ignoramuses, believes he is doing God's work.* Meanwhile, I do not understand why Barack Obama is not picking up that thus far, he has been mostly used to go against Africans, as if our imperialists backing him assume using a "minority" against other minorities is acceptable. *


----------

