http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/14/us-uganda-usa-newspro-idUSTRE79D5CA20111014

Obama is sending around 100 military advisers to Uganda (also possibly South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo) to train local military forces to combat the Lord's Resistance Army, which has been a colossal bunch of fuckbags since it emerged in the 90's.

Excluding the usual answers I fully expect (isolationist/libertarian/if Obama is doing it, it must be bad), I was wondering if anybody had any thoughts.

In particular I've been wondering...why now? Haven't seen any particular rationale for the action in the news, and from what I've read of the history this doesn't seem to be a particular turning point in the history of the LRA. They're not particularly more or less destabilizing or awful than they have been in recent years. The countries involved have been various kinds of fucked for a long time now without our involvement. I'm not aware of any vital new resources being discovered in the region. So why the hell is this happening right now?

Let me point out that my only complaint about the action is that it wasn't taken earlier. I hope they feed Kony to heyenas and make his commanders enter bare-knuckle boxing matches with gorillas. But I'm still confused about the timing.

10/15/2011 10:59:51 PM

Quote :

"I've been wondering...why now?"

Exactly. Are they trying to smuggle a nuke through that region or something? What gives.

10/15/2011 11:11:56 PM

They're humans, just like the rest of us.

Maybe it piqued someone's interest, and someone just said the right thing to the right person.

10/16/2011 12:20:05 AM

Maybe. It's just unusual. Something like this goes almost completely ignored for 20 years, and suddenly it's on the front page that we're sending soldiers. No build-up, no announcement until after the fact, it's not clear yet that we've even been invited by 3 of the 4 governments involved.

10/16/2011 12:44:07 AM

Iraq will "officially" end next month. The money has to go somewhere. You can't just stop having wars. The puppet-masters won't allow it. It's the first law of military-industrial thermodynamics.

10/16/2011 1:09:51 AM

Wouldn't Iran seem like a more logical and profitable destination for US military-industrial-conspiracy dollars?

10/16/2011 2:18:01 AM

There were non-violent protests in dozens upon dozens of major American cities the other day, consisting of tens upon tens of thousands of Americans. The US corporate dummy-media (that the majority of you get 100% of your news from and believe is "left-wing" in many cases lol) is all but blacking this out, focusing on foreign violent protests and the "occupy" movement globally (skipping the spread nationally altogether). Is it surprising Obama's running around trying to wag the dog when the Democrats can't seem to get occupy under control?

10/16/2011 8:34:25 AM

Quote :

"t's the first law of military-industrial thermodynamics."

Wars cannot be created or destroyed, just transferred from place to place.

I agree with OP. Good "war' even though 100 troops is nothing. Its hardly enough to even mention. We have a few guys there giving advice. We should have rolled in and took out the bad guys forever ago. It would be quick, just and effective.

10/16/2011 1:32:52 PM

Quote :

"The US corporate dummy-media (that the majority of you get 100% of your news from and believe is "left-wing" in many cases lol) is all but blacking this out, focusing on foreign violent protests and the "occupy" movement globally (skipping the spread nationally altogether)."

I don't know what news you've been listening to/watching, but CNN and all of my local stations have had plenty about the protests in this country. I heard a mention of some violence in Italy, but that's as far as that goes and, given the state of Italian politics, hardly surprising.

And as a god-damned communist, shouldn't you be thrilled that the news is describing the expression of proletarian revolt in global rather than national terms?

10/16/2011 1:37:41 PM

Im gonna say this just to be a dick

Quote :

"I agree with OP. Good "war' even though 100 troops is nothing. Its hardly enough to even mention. We have a few guys there giving advice. We should have rolled in and took out the bad guys forever ago. It would be quick, just and effective."

I bet they said the same thing about Nam

10/16/2011 1:43:58 PM

'Advisors' = Green Beanies and MiTT teams

10/16/2011 8:15:54 PM

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-s1067/show

Quote :

"S.1067 - Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009 A bill to support stabilization and lasting peace in northern Uganda and areas affected by the Lord's Resistance Army through development of a regional strategy to support multilateral efforts to successfully protect civilians and eliminate the threat posed by the Lord's Resistance Army and to authorize funds for humanitarian relief and reconstruction, reconciliation, and transitional justice, and for other purposes "

Passed in may 2010, so omg congress actually authorized something!!! I don't really understand the timing either, although you have to consider that maybe we have been there for longer than what has been announced

10/17/2011 6:10:14 PM

Quote :

"'Advisors' = Green Beanies and MiTT teams"

Quote :

"I bet they said the same thing about Nam"

These thoughts occurred to me. Frankly I was surprised they used the word "advisers," given the connotations associated with the build-up to Vietnam. Though honestly I can't see us getting involved in a larger war against a bunch of people who pose no direct threat to us and are not part of a bigger movement by which we feel threatened.

[Edited on October 17, 2011 at 11:18 PM. Reason : and, of course, who also don't have that oil we're always giving blood for]

10/17/2011 11:18:10 PM

Quote :

"And as a god-damned communist, shouldn't you be thrilled that the news is describing the expression of proletarian revolt in global rather than national terms?"

I'm going to just reprint this quote and hope you stare at it a second time

Nothing further, really

10/18/2011 1:35:55 PM

The US is sending 150 more troops and 4 more airplanes to Central Africa to continue to pursue Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army of christian extremists.

http://time.com/35078/us-intensifies-hunt-for-ugandan-warlord-joseph-kony/

3/24/2014 2:08:13 PM