Obama Invades Uganda, Only the Latest Intervention Against LRA
The wars are piling up for the Nobel Prize winner, war-monger-in-chief. By arbitrary presidential decree, Obama has involved America in another war without asking for approval from Congress and without even giving an explanation as to how in the world it serves our “national security interests” at all.
A little background on the conflict and our newfound Ugandan rebel enemies, the Lord’s Resistance Army, from Danger Room’s David Axe. Sadly, this isn’t our first intervention against the group:
The LRA has its roots in a bloody civil war in Uganda in the 1980s and ’90s. Chased out of their home country by the army and angry civilians, the pseudo-religious LRA spent a few years doing the bidding of Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir before international pressure ended that arrangement and the LRA fled south into the thick, roadless forest of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo and southern Central African Republic.
…Though the danger to American lives is probably minimal, any effort against the LRA poses serious risks. Previous operations targeting Kony have ended badly. In 2006, a squad of Guatemalan commandos trained by the U.S. infiltrated an LRA encampment. But Kony was away. In the ensuing firefight, LRA troops wiped out the entire eight-man commando force and beheaded their commander.
Three years later, a small team from U.S. Africa Command helped the Ugandan army plan a complex series of raids on LRA camps, codenamed “Operation Lightning Thunder.” But the Ugandan air and ground forces could not coordinate their attacks. The enraged rebel survivors fanned out, killing more than 600 civilians as they fled deeper into the forest.
After the disastrous Operation Lightning Thunder, Africa Command assumed a lower profile in Congo, sending small numbers of trainers on short-term missions aimed at boosting the Congolese army. Meanwhile, aid groups and civilian militias ramped up their efforts to guard against LRA attacks, employing homemade shotguns and a DIY radio warning network. And advocates of greater U.S. involvement continued pleading their case, culminating in today’s announcement.
Of course, there’s always the risk of mission creep; just look at how the American efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan have metastasized, for instance. That’s one reason why Center for a New American Security analyst Andrew Exum called the idea of U.S. intervention in Congo “not quite New Coke, and it’s not as ill-advised as signing up to be al-Qaeda’s #3, but this is a pretty bad idea.”
Wondering how bad this could get? Yeah, me too.
Update: As for those “national security interests”…Obama couched them in terms of humanitarian intervention. But something tells me this, instead, isn’t so irrelevant (a report from back in July):
‘Uganda’s Oil Potential Arouses International Interest’
Recent discoveries of vast oil reserves, particularly the oil rich Albertine Graben, with estimated reserves of at least 2.5 billion barrels of oil, mean Uganda is set to become a key oil producer on a part with other African oil producing nations, such as neighboring Sudan, Angola, Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea. Some estimate place the Albertine Graben reserve as high as six billion barrels of recoverable oil.
On the basis of such reserves, government analysts estimate that Uganda will be able to support production of over 100,000 barrels of oil per day for the next two decades.
stefminus
October 14th, 2011 at 3:04 pm
and if you think that the average goofball keyboard warrior can't find yemen or bahrain on a map…
Obama Invades Uganda, Only the Latest Intervention Against LRA – Antiwar.com (blog) | Angola news
October 14th, 2011 at 6:15 pm
[...] and original article: http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2011/10/14/obama-invades-uganda-only-the-latest-intervention-against-lra… This entry was posted in News. Bookmark the permalink. ← Robert F. Nugent, project [...]
Guessed
October 14th, 2011 at 7:18 pm
Look at what's crossed out on page 4: http://www.hcfa.house.gov/112/fortenberry_enbloc….
Someone didn't want the reason for our support of South Sudan to be too obvious.
This is an amendment to HR 2583, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for 2012.
ariele
October 14th, 2011 at 11:08 pm
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Pentagon's Secret
Feds invade another Third World country that poses no danger to us | Southern Nationalist Network
October 15th, 2011 at 1:33 pm
[...] of even more of the Earth’s territory and stretches DC’s resources even thinner. John Glaser has the story for Antiwar.com: The wars are piling up for the Nobel Prize winner, war-monger-in-chief. By arbitrary [...]
New War of Choice in Uganda Follows Familiar Foreign Police Doctrine -- News from Antiwar.com
October 15th, 2011 at 7:32 pm
[...] twofold. First, Obama injected the ubiquitous humanitarian rationale, accurately noting that the Ugandan-based militant group the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) “has murdered, raped, and kidnapped tens of thousands of men, women, and children in [...]
salvatore
October 16th, 2011 at 1:24 am
Not that I disagree on principle but I'm not sure 100 troops constitutes an invasion. More like a boy scout troop.
New War in Uganda Follows Foreign Police Doctrine | Colonel6's Blog
October 16th, 2011 at 3:06 pm
[...] twofold. First, Obama injected the ubiquitous humanitarian rationale, accurately noting that the Ugandan-based militant group the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) “has murdered, raped, and kidnapped tens of thousands of men, women, and children in [...]
Guessed
October 16th, 2011 at 5:10 pm
'nam started for the US with Kennedy sending a few "advisers" into the jungle…
Donchi
October 16th, 2011 at 9:51 pm
So… America will see a lot of media images of atrocities committed by this group–children with missing noses and ears–and then the government of a nearby country will be identified as the financial backer of this group, thus paving the way for what?
Donchi
October 16th, 2011 at 10:05 pm
An article in The Atlantic, for instance, accuses Sudan of being a financial backer of the LRA. What will happen if the rebel group is said to be encamped in, say, Darfur?
Donchi
October 16th, 2011 at 10:17 pm
I don’t know. It just all reminds me of General Wesley Clark’s claim that a Neocon-led Pentagon had a plan to take out seven countries. Sudan was one of them.
When “Atrocity-Curbing” Is Not What It Seems « Antiwar.com Blog
October 17th, 2011 at 3:13 pm
[...] unintended consequences, but I’m sure civilians on the ground know better. In 2009, when the US teamed up with the Ugandan army to coordinate a series of raids on LRA encampments - codenamed “Operation Lightning Thunder” - it failed miserably and let LRA forces [...]
Obama Sends Troops, Further Expands U.S. Involvement in Uganda « Spatial Orientation
October 21st, 2011 at 7:46 pm
[...] on previous joint operations, supporters of this move should at least worry: In 2009, when the US teamed up with the Ugandan army to coordinate a series of raids on LRA encampments - codenamed “Operation Lightning Thunder” - it failed miserably and let LRA forces escape [...]
Nach Irak, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Jemen und Libyen startet die USA in Uganda jetzt ihren achten Krieg! 2009 berichtete die Ölgesellschaft „Heritage Oil“, dass in Uganda die größen Ölfelder des afrikanischen Festlandes gefunden worden
October 28th, 2011 at 6:55 am
[...] twofold. First, Obama injected the ubiquitous humanitarian rationale, accurately noting that the Ugandan-based militant group the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) “has murdered, raped, and kidnapped tens of thousands of men, women, and children in [...]
Nach Irak, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Jemen und Libyen startet die US-Regierung in Uganda jetzt ihren achten Krieg! 2009 berichtete die Ölgesellschaft „Heritage Oil“, dass in Uganda die größen Ölfelder des afrikanischen Festlandes gefunde
October 28th, 2011 at 6:56 am
[...] twofold. First, Obama injected the ubiquitous humanitarian rationale, accurately noting that the Ugandan-based militant group the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) “has murdered, raped, and kidnapped tens of thousands of men, women, and children in [...]
Nach Irak, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Jemen und Libyen startet die US-Regierung in Uganda jetzt ihren siebten (8.) Krieg! 2009 berichtete die Ölgesellschaft „Heritage Oil“, dass in Uganda die größen Ölfelder des afrikanischen Festlandes g
October 28th, 2011 at 6:59 am
[...] twofold. First, Obama injected the ubiquitous humanitarian rationale, accurately noting that the Ugandan-based militant group the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) “has murdered, raped, and kidnapped tens of thousands of men, women, and children in [...]
Ugandan Regime Sharply Increases Repression « Antiwar.com Blog
November 1st, 2011 at 10:24 am
[...] guess this would be less relevant if Obama had not just sent combat troops to support the Ugandan military and government in their fight against the [...]
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