President Obama sends ground troops to several African countries

[kinggovernor]

Obama sends troops to help fight Africa rebels
By Stephen Collinson (AFP) – 6 hours ago
WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama said Friday he is sending 100 combat troops to central Africa to help and advise forces battling the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army rebels accused of gross human rights abuses.
"These forces will act as advisors to partner forces that have the goal of removing from the battlefield Joseph Kony and other senior leadership of the LRA," Obama said, but warned they would not lead the fighting themselves.
The mostly special operations forces could deploy in Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of the Congo, subject to approval of regional governments, Obama said in a message to Congress.
LRA rebels are accused of terrorizing, murdering, raping and kidnapping thousands of people in the four nations, and tens of thousands of people died in their 20-year war with security forces in northern Uganda.
"Although the US forces are combat-equipped, they will only be providing information, advice, and assistance to partner nation forces," the president said.
"They will not themselves engage LRA forces unless necessary for self-defense. All appropriate precautions have been taken to ensure the safety of US military personnel during their deployment."
A small group of troops deployed to Uganda on Wednesday and additional forces will deploy over the next month.
Pentagon officials said the troops would travel to regional capitals to work with government officials, military officers and peacekeeping missions.
In a statement, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said "the United States condemns the continued atrocities and abductions committed by the LRA across central Africa."
Pledging continued US support to Uganda's neighbors, she said Washington has since 2008 provided more than $40 million in logistical support, equipment and training to "enhance counter-LRA operations" by armies in the region.
"We continue to join regional governments in calling on LRA fighters to peacefully disarm and return home," Nuland said.
Kony, accused of war crimes and wanted by the International Criminal Court, appears to have dropped any national political agenda and in recent years his marauding troops have sown death and destruction in the region.
Heading a movement based on a mix of religion and brutality, Kony a self-styled mystic and religious prophet, claims to be fighting on divine orders to establish theocratic rule based on the Biblical Ten Commandments.
The civil war effectively ended in 2006 when a peace process was launched, but Kony and his top lieutenants, commanding forces including child soldiers, continue to commit atrocities.
General Carter Ham, head of US Africa Command, said last week his best estimate was that Kony was probably in the Central African Republic.
Obama said in his message that the LRA had "murdered, raped, and kidnapped tens of thousands of men, women, and children in central Africa."
"The LRA continues to commit atrocities across the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan that have a disproportionate impact on regional security," he said.
In 2009, Congress enacted a law expressing support for increased US efforts to mitigate and eliminate the threat posed to civilians by the LRA.
And a year ago, Obama unveiled a plan to disarm the LRA and increase humanitarian access to affected communities.
A coalition of human rights groups and anti-genocide groups welcomed Obama's decision.
"By deploying these advisers, President Obama is showing decisive leadership to help regional governments finally bring an end to the LRA's mass atrocities," said Paul Ronan, Director of Advocacy at Resolve.
"These advisers can make a positive difference on the ground by keeping civilians safe and improving military operations to apprehend the LRA's top commanders."
John Prendergast, co-founder of the Enough Project, said the US troops could play a catalytic role if they were used as part of a wider multinational strategy.
"Missing elements include more capable forces dedicated to the apprehension of Joseph Kony and protection of civilians, and an intelligence and logistics surge from the US to help those forces succeed," he said.

AFP: Obama sends troops to help fight Africa rebels

The Warmonger Neocon strikes again, how long until they ask for that peace prize back?

Also I'm sure glad that we are subject to the approval of African regional governments, Yoweri Museveni has only been "President" for 25 years good to see we are fighting to keep him in power.

[JDTC]

I don't really think this is news. I'm pretty sure we had CIA et al in Africa training and instructing the rebels/defectors long before this story "broke."

In my opinion, this is how we should fight these brushfires and foreign civil wars (if we have to at all). Send in a small number of intelligent, highly-trained men who are experts in their field. Have them train the locals, have them play the war-games, and have them do the planning.

Does it always work? lol. But it's better than massive, sustained ground invasions. Cheaper, too, I'd imagine. I see it this way: No matter what America does in these situations, we will be fucked. And I think it's better to work on the "problem" rather than do nothing at all.

I figure they're sending guys like DevGru or Delta (or whatever they're called nowadays.. ACE?) operators to be force multipliers. ISA maybe. I dunno, not really a JSOC insider.

It really is funny to see Nobel Peace laureate Barack Obama commit ground troops to Arab Spring, though. We all knew it was gonna happen sooner or later. I just wish he'd had the brains to turn the fuckin' thing down when they offered it to him.

[notquiteright]

Warmongering neocon???

Is Cheney incharge of overseas deployments now? Has the disgraced Wolfowitz snuck back into the DoD?

Calling the 100 advisers combat troops is very misleading. Very biased reporting.

We never had much interest in nations without oil, when we did we didn't fare so well.

Perhaps sending trainers instead of ground troops is a better tack.

Perhaps helping nations that still have some sort of a central government will produce better results.

The Peace Prize is safe as long as President Obama doesn't declare a group of nations some 'axis of E-Vile', declare a crusade, demand everyone either be with us or we will consider them against us, attack nations for what they MIGHT do...

[kinggovernor]

Originally Posted by notquiteright

Warmongering neocon???

Is Cheney incharge of overseas deployments now? Has the disgraced Wolfowitz snuck back into the DoD?

Calling the 100 advisers combat troops is very misleading. Very biased reporting.

We never had much interest in nations without oil, when we did we didn't fare so well.

Perhaps sending trainers instead of ground troops is a better tack.

Perhaps helping nations that still have some sort of a central government will produce better results.

The Peace Prize is safe as long as President Obama doesn't declare a group of nations some 'axis of E-Vile', declare a crusade, demand everyone either be with us or we will consider them against us, attack nations for what they MIGHT do...

President Obama is a neocon

[notquiteright]

WOW,

First he is THE most socialist president we EVER had.
His Healthcare plan a fascist takeover of 20% of our economy.
Bailing out the Auto Industry a government take over of free enterprise.

Now he sends 100 advisers to Africa and he is a Neo-Con.

I'll have some of what your smoking.

[Donkey®]

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

President Obama is a neocon

So we're through with that silly "socialist" "marxist" stuff?

[kinggovernor]

Originally Posted by notquiteright

WOW,

First he is THE most socialist president we EVER had.
His Healthcare plan a fascist takeover of 20% of our economy.
Bailing out the Auto Industry a government take over of free enterprise.

Now he sends 100 advisers to Africa and he is a Neo-Con.

I'll have some of what your smoking.

Originally Posted by Donkey®

So we're through with that silly "socialist" "marxist" stuff?

Neither of you have any idea what a neocon is, do you? It was just a name you heard attached to Bush so you just kept parroting it

[notquiteright]

No it was a name attached to a cabal of Conservatives who wrote opinion papers and sat around in right wing think tanks. Many had at one time or another been democrats but civil rights turned them into Republicans.

There is a long list of conservative democrats turned republican but the best known is Reagan who famously exclaimed he didn't leave the democratic party, the party left him. others were Scoop Jackson, and Kirkpatrick (an okie).

Now the cabal has such legendary members as Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz, Fieth, Libby.

The neocon principles of military action now that America was the soul surviving superpower were cooped and used rather ruthlessly by the Bush II administration.

What neocon meant back in Scoop's day, a counter to liberal McGovernism, had been warped into cowboy version of big stick America. Doesn't matter what definition you use.

[kinggovernor]

Originally Posted by notquiteright

The neocon principles of military action now that America was the soul surviving superpower were cooped and used rather ruthlessly by the Bush II/Obama administration.

[notquiteright]

Not even close!
Obama has spent most his time cleaning up the world wide mess BushII's team let loose.

100 men sent to three countries doesn't equal 100,000 sent into one.

To be a neocon he would need to invade Pakistan and Iran.

But only after some real neocons write position papers saying we will be greeted with flowers and candy....

[The Great Catpiss]

Originally Posted by notquiteright

Not even close!
Obama has spent most his time cleaning up the world wide mess BushII's team let loose..

You Really Believe That?

[kinggovernor]

Originally Posted by notquiteright

Not even close!
Obama has spent most his time cleaning up the world wide mess BushII's team let loose.

100 men sent to three countries doesn't equal 100,000 sent into one.

To be a neocon he would need to invade Pakistan and Iran.

But only after some real neocons write position papers saying we will be greeted with flowers and candy....

that is not logically consistent

[WickedLou9]

If you remember what was and is still going on in Uganda, you might think that sending troops to help assist in putting a stop to genocide is a moral imperative.

[kinggovernor]

Originally Posted by WickedLou9

If you remember what was and is still going on in Uganda, you might think that sending troops to help assist in putting a stop to genocide is a moral imperative.

so we are supposed to police the world?

[WickedLou9]

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

so we are supposed to police the world?

How did you make that leap? stopping ethnic cleansing is being world police? Just because a human being lives in another coutnry doesn't mean they don't deserve to live, that they don't deserve human dignity.

[DosEquis]

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

so we are supposed to police the world?

There is a huge difference between invading a country for WMD that we provided them, which no longer exist, to advance a nation building geopolitical agenda...

And saving a region from genocide.

[notquiteright]

Gov-
you seem to be amply blessed with inconsistent logic.

You lack nuance, to you a man with one speeding ticket is equal to a man with a DUI. A man 5 pounds over weight is equal to a man 100 pounds over weight.

Sending 100 men as trainers to 4 countries is not the same as invading two nations with 100's of 1000's.

Now again you lack any consistency.

We send 100's of trainers around the world. Teachers, agricultural advisers, financial, medical, telecommunications... the list is as long.

100 military advisers do not make us the policemen of the world..

Reagan in lebenon, BushI in somalia, clinton in bosnia, BushII in Iraq does.

[kinggovernor]

Originally Posted by WickedLou9

How did you make that leap? stopping ethnic cleansing is being world police? Just because a human being lives in another coutnry doesn't mean they don't deserve to live, that they don't deserve human dignity.

We are in Libya and just sent ground troops to three countries via press release. That is the very definition of policing the world.

[kinggovernor]

Originally Posted by notquiteright

Gov-
you seem to be amply blessed with inconsistent logic.

You lack nuance, to you a man with one speeding ticket is equal to a man with a DUI. A man 5 pounds over weight is equal to a man 100 pounds over weight.

Sending 100 men as trainers to 4 countries is not the same as invading two nations with 100's of 1000's.

Now again you lack any consistency.

We send 100's of trainers around the world. Teachers, agricultural advisers, financial, medical, telecommunications... the list is as long.

100 military advisers do not make us the policemen of the world..

Reagan in lebenon, BushI in somalia, clinton in bosnia, BushII in Iraq does.

War is war, also sending advisers has not worked out so well for us in the past.

[WickedLou9]

Originally Posted by kinggovernor

We are in Libya and just sent ground troops to three countries via press release. That is the very definition of policing the world.

The world polices itself. We are a member of the world. The world watched what was happening in Libya and decided that we should step in. We participated in that because we are part of this world. With Uganda and Somalia and such, pretty much everyone in the world agrees that it's horrible. Gangs of men wielding machetes enter villages, hack people to death, rape women, and then hack them to death, kill all the children... It's just vile, evil, repugnant stuff and someone should do something. No one ever steps up to help, and usually the US, being the most powerful nation in the world, takes on the responsibility. I don't have a problem with that. It's a moral question. I support the decision to go into those places and help, if you are certain that you can actually help. Sometimes it gets muddy because you aren't sure you can help and then it gets tricky.