From The Ramparts        

 Junious Ricardo Stanton        

 The Real Reason Obama Sent Troops To Uganda

“A DETERMINED push by Western wildcatters and big oil companies from fast-growing Asian economies such as those of China and Malaysia may change the fortunes of several countries in remoter and trickier bits of Africa once largely ignored by foreign investors. One of the most spectacular recent finds has been in Uganda. The reserves of the Albertine rift, which takes in the Ugandan and Congolese shores of Lake Albert (see map), are said to need $10 billion for development. All being well, Uganda will soon become a mid-sized producer, alongside countries such as Mexico. Foreign investment in Uganda may nearly double this year to $3 billion. The country expects to earn $2 billion a year from oil by 2015.” www.economist.com/node/15825780

 

On Friday October 14th President Obama sent a letter to Congress informing them he was sending a small contingent of US Special Ops Forces to Uganda ostensibly on another “humanitarian mission” to advise Ugandan officials tracking down Joseph Kony the newest bogey man being used to justify US intervention, imperialism and the imposition of AFRICOM on the African continent. Just like the Orwellian doublespeak Obama used when he and the NATO warmongers  attacked Libya for “humanitarian reasons” on behalf of the international bankers supposedly to prevent Col. Mormar Kadafi from killing rebels, Obama is now sending troops into Uganda to stop another “notorious bad guy” from murdering, looting and wrecking havoc in Central Africa! This song is getting old and tired: invasion is peace, massive murder of civilians is part of the program and theft of resources is liberation. George Orwell would be so proud.

 

At some point in time, the US public must stop believing the mass media’s unsubstantiated assertions and start asking pointed questions like: why after twenty-five years is Joseph Kony all of a sudden such an evil force? But beyond that, stop and think a minute and look at history. Where did Saddam Hussein and Osama bin-Laden get the weapons, military support and the knowhow the US claimed they were using to either to kill dissident Iraqis or to mastermind 9-11?  Now we are being asked to believe Joseph Kony is this monster who needs Uncle Sam to come in and bring him to justice?!  We need to ask ourselves where is Kony getting the weapons, camouflage gear, food and supplies he needed to start his reign of terror that has been going on for twenty-five years?  Did the Russians fund and supply him? Is it the Chinese or is it the West (Europeans)? Is it the US? From what the Western media says about him, and we know how reliable they are don’t we, we are supposed to believe Kony is a religious fanatic on a mission to seize power and run the country in accordance with the Ten Commandments. Hmm, except for the fighting, raping and killing he is doing, Kony could fit right in with the Christian Right in the US. He and George W. Bu$h must have a lot in common.

 

We are expected to believe via US media brainwashing this guy Kony stayed under the radar, getting guns ammunition, food and supplies from who knows where or out of thin air for twenty-five years then all of a sudden the US decides enough is enough, that US troops are a must and Joseph Kony is the target. Where was Uncle Sam when the Coltan Wars in Central Africa were being fought? What, you never heard of the Coltan Wars or the Congo wars? “Cellphones may have revolutionized the way we communicate, but in Central Africa their biggest legacy is war. Nearly 3 million people have died in Congo in a four-year war over coltan, a heat-resistant mineral ore widely used in cellphones, laptops and playstations. Eighty percent of the world's coltan reserves are in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The mountainous jungle area where the coltan is mined is the battleground of what has been grimly dubbed ‘Africa's first World War,’ pitting Congolese forces against those of six neighboring countries and numerous armed factions. The victims are mostly civilians. Starvation and disease have killed hundreds of thousands and the fighting has displaced 2 million people from their homes. Often dismissed as an ethnic war, the conflict is really over natural resources sought by foreign corporations -- diamonds, tin, copper, gold, but mostly coltan” http://www.seeingisbelieving.ca/cell/kinshasa/

 

The US has been openly and clandestinely arming various ethnic groups in Africa for decades, fomenting hostilities and stoking the fires they create in order to justify selling more arms to whomever will buy them. Keep in mind the Africans  are buying the weapons on credit (with interest). This means the banksters get their cut along with the weapons manufacturers and the arms middle men and they all get paid from US tax payer dollars!! “Because many of the recipient countries remain some of the world’s poorest, the U.S. government provided around $87 million in foreign military financing loans (subsidized by U.S. taxpayer dollars) to cover the costs, increasing the debt burden that is already suffocating the continent. The DRC alone owes more than $150 million in outstanding DoD loans, with Liberia, Somalia, and Sudan owing another $160 million combined. These loans, accrued while corrupt dictators were serving as U.S. clients, have further contributed to the economic hardships of these nations by saddling them with unproductive military debt. In an article titled Why the U.S. Won’t Help, a Nairobi newspaper recently explained, ‘Right from the days of the Cold War, Western governments have been comfortable with a situation in which African regimes squandered meager resources on the instruments of war, borrowing from the West to finance domestic consumption. The war in the Congo and the countries involved in it are a case in point’... In 1998, the State Department licensed commercial weapons sales by U.S. manufacturers to sub-Saharan Africa worth up to $64 million, on top of the $12 million in government-to-government deliveries that year. Commercial sales to the region included 300 M16s, 236 pistols and revolvers, 3940 rifles, and 10.8 million cartridges of .22-.50 caliber ammunition. A number of the countries engaged in the Congo war were recipients of these stocks, including Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Namibia.  Congress also continues to provide only meager amounts of debt relief and development aid. Of the $370 million requested by the Clinton administration for various debt relief initiatives in FY2000, less than half – $123 million – was approved by Congress. The hypocrisy of asking Africa to develop and democratize while shrinking levels of non-military international aid and increasing weapons and training to the continent does not seem to have registered with policy-makers. To demonstrate real commitment to developing a new partnership with Africa, the U.S. needs to redirect the focus away from strengthening military capacity and toward promoting human development in Africa.”  Report: U.S. Arms to Africa and the Congo War - World Policy Institute - Research Project www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports/congo.htm#usrole  

 

On top of that the wars create instability and humanitarian crisis which gives the corporations and the Western government who serve them a pretext to come in and steal whatever it is they covet be it coltan, diamonds or in the case of Uganda, oil. Do you get the picture They are doing to Africa what they are doing in our communities here bringing in guns, and drugs fomenting strife and sitting back watching us kill each other!!!  By the way, did Obama or the mainstream media tell you oil was recently discovered in Uganda? “KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda expects to start refining crude oil from its fields in 2014 and the proceeds will help end the economy's dependence on donor aid, its president said. The east African nation discovered commercial oil deposits in 2006 in the Albertine basin along its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo and reserves of about 2.5 billion barrels have been confirmed...  The country's ministry of energy estimates the basin's crude reserves could climb to 6 billion barrels when fully explored. Only 40 percent of the basin has so far been studied. In November last year, the ministry said a phased construction of the refinery would begin in 2012, starting with capacity for limited production to satisfy the domestic market whose demand ranges between 20,000-25,000 barrels per day.” http://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFJOE79H04O20111018?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0  Call me a cynic but it makes sense Obama would send troops into Uganda now that they have discovered oil there; especially as the US moves to secure all the continent’s resources and prevent the Chinese from gaining another toe hold in Africa. This is how they roll. To keep us inthe dark and make us fall for their okey-doke they tell us some cock and bull story about going after a “bad guy” who they armed and supported for twenty-five years. It’s the same ol’ same ol’ only this time its being done by a “black”  president.
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  • The Herald

    Published by the government of Zimbabwe

    Uganda: Museveni, Offside On U.S. Forces

    http://allafrica.com/stories/201110270332.html

     

    Musere Kibutu

    27 October 2011

     

    opinion

    Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, Uganda's former rebel leader who ascended to that country's helm - from bush to power - in January 1986, is indeed a President gone askew by all Pan African standards.

    The recent sending of 100 United States of America special soldiers to Uganda, at Museveni's invitation, to deal with rebels led by Joseph Kony is not only an affront to democracy but an insult and assault to

     

    Africanism. It is indeed a self-defeating act. At a time when Africa is making frantic efforts to find lasting home-grown solutions for its political conflicts in the aftermath of the fatal results of the occupation of Libya by foreign forces, Museveni invites American soldiers to his country.

    When Museveni came into power, he was hailed as one of the few leaders, alongside President Mugabe of Zimbabwe to bring stability to their countries and to show flashes of brilliance into African governance.

     

    CONTINUES....

     

     

  • BSN

    BLACK STAR NEWS

    NEWYOK’S LEADING INVESTIGATIVE NEWSPAPER

     

     

    October 18, 2011

     

    U.S. Military In Africa

     

     

    Why Is Obama Deploying U.S. Troops Against rag-tag Bandits, Unless...

    http://www.blackstarnews.com/news/135/ARTICLE/7722/2011-10-18.html

    By Peter Ngom

     

    U.S. and Ugandan troops; is Joseph Kony's LRA the true objective?

     

    The Obama administration has announced that it has dispatched about 100 armed U.S. troops to Central Africa --Uganda, South Sudan, Central African Republic (CAR) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)-- purportedly to apprehend the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

     

    The LRA is an anti-President Yoweri Museveni insurgency which started in Uganda and had since moved to the large swath of land between DRC, CAR and South Sudan after the failure of the Juba Peace talks between the LRA and Museveni's government, in December 2008.

     

    The Museveni regime has in the past attempted --or claims it did-- to defeat the LRA, including through scorched earth tactics to decimate them. Yet Museveni has also used the LRA for political and financial propaganda purposes when it suits him. The U.S. has also been supporting the Museveni regime all along: militarily, financially, logistically, politically, technically and diplomatically culminating in the botched attack on LRA camps, operation "Lightening Thunder" that fell like a dud on December 14th, 2008.

     

    Since then, the Uganda government has claimed that it has terribly degraded the LRA to the point that it is no longer a serious threat. The rag-tag LRA is variously estimated to number 200 to 500 fighters. Contrast this with the combined national troops of Uganda, CAR, DRC and South Sudan, which number almost a quarter of a million troops:

     

    Central African Republic, 2,150; Democratic Republic of the Congo, 151,651; South Sudan, 45,395 and; Uganda, 45,000. Additionally, there are militias in the four countries numbering in thousands.

     

    Furthermore, the United Nations has deployed about 50,500 peace keeping troops in this region: Sudan/Darfur, UNAMID, 26,000; South Sudan, UNMISS, 7,000 and; Democratic Republic of the Congo, MONUSCO, 17,500.

     

    Given the staggering numbers of these troops compared to the rag-tag LRA rebel fighters, one would expect the LRA to have been eliminated by now. Could there be that there other motives at play, with the U.S. deployment? How has the LRA managed to survive when faced against the overwhelming "opposition" from tens of thousands or troops; 45,000 from Uganda alone? Could it be that Museveni has always had an incentive for the prolongation of the LRA's existence since it secures military and financial benefits from the West to "combat" the LRA?

     

    Neither the rationale nor the timing of the announcement of the deployment of 100 U.S. troops in Central Africa makes sense.

     

    Why is the U.S. deploying now?

     

    Looking at the balance of power, it is obvious that the four countries together with the UN have an overwhelming superiority over the rag-tag LRA rebels. The LRA has been reported to have continued to commit heinous crimes and must face justice. What about the crimes under Museveni? Clinging to power: by deceit, corruption and suppression of dissent frequently; by arrests, jailings, torture and killing opponents with impunity. Why single out only the LRA while bestowing blessings on Museveni? Shouldn't both be brought to justice?

     

    The announcement has also come at a time when the American people are suffering from war fatigue having been at war in Iraq and Afghanistan for the last 10 and 8 years respectively. It also comes at a time that the U.S. economy is in the dumps and the budget deficit is at an all time high. It seems inexplicable that the U.S. would want to start yet another war as Americans are looking forward to an end of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

     

    To understand the real reasons, we need to think outside the usual LRA narrative by looking at what has happened recently in the world or in the region that could have prompted President Obama to deploy troops in Central Africa:

     

    First, the overriding national U.S. concern is terrorism directed at America and its allies. The hot spots in Africa include Somalia and Northern Nigeria. Recent events in Libya have magnified the urgency to control the unintended consequences of the Libyan war; dangerous weapons such as heat guided shoulder fired missiles and crude uranium materials falling into the hands of terrorists.

     

    In a small way, the concern about the LRA is that it could act as a conduit to export the weapons to be used elsewhere like in Somalia. Alternatively, the LRA narrative is simply a ruse to cover up the real reason for the deployment of U.S. troops in the region.

     

    Second, the announcement could help relieve internal pressure on President Museveni being mounted by citizens who are tired of being abused by the Museveni regime. On the one hand, it is a familiar pattern that whenever President Museveni is under pressure, he uses controversial issues like the LRA threat to security or his threat to give away the venerable Mabira Forest for growing sugar cane. On the other hand, the announcement could be an appreciation for President Museveni’s waging of a proxy war on terror in Somalia on behalf of the U.S.

     

    Third, the long-term goal of the U.S. in this region is to secure the vast natural resources including oil in South Sudan and Uganda, and critical minerals including uranium and coltan from the DRC. In this respect, the LRA does not pose a significant threat to the American effort to secure these resources.

     

    Fourth, this is an election season in the U.S. Due to the bad economic situation, President Obama is not doing as well among the electorate as he did in 2008. Some analysts have speculated that this is merely a symbolic act to placate the youth who have been actively calling for the elimination of the LRA. By so doing, the President hopes to mobilize the youth for his re-election campaign. If true, it reflects the pettiness by which the presidential power can be used and it is not acceptable.

     

    Lastly, in spite of their alliance, the relationship between the Obama administration and the Museveni regime is riddled with embarrassment, unfriendly and insulting comments, suspicion and mistrust.

     

    For example, according to WikiLeaks, former U.S. ambassador to Uganda, Jerry Lanier gave President Museveni a failing grade in governance. Most recently, a member of Parliament revealed that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency gave him documents alleging kickbacks paid to senior ministers for facilitating oil contracts in Uganda.

     

    On his part, President Museveni denounced the people who originated the allegation of bribery as "idiots." There are rumors of an impending army takeover should the allegedly corrupt ministers not step down and allow investigations. Could it be that the announced deployment is in anticipation of a regime change in Uganda, as a way to pre-empt the country from catching the Arab Spring virus?

     

    While these are reasonable speculations, the official rationale by Washington for the deployment of the 100 troops in Central Africa does not make sense is not credible.

     

    "Speaking Truth To Empower."

     

    SUBMITTED BY ERNST PERODIN

  • South

    This is an AWESOME piece of work! Speaking truth to power!  When I read dynamic articles such as this one, I cannot help but think of the staunch arrogance of Pharaoh, with his trust in all of his 'military' might and cronies willing to do his evil bidding, even at the cost of their lives.  America will go the same way as Pharaoh and the Titanic.  It has already been 'hit' on its symbolic "starboard" side, and it is DESTINED to go down!  It's only a matter of time.  As his end drew perilously closer, Pharaoh became more brazen in his arrogance, as America is doing now, basing all her faith in her military might and power.  True to the words of John 10:10--"The THIEF'S PURPOSE is to STEAL, KILL, AND DESTROY..."  This biblical text has ALWAYS been apropos to America and the West. (emphasis mine)  That, in fact, should be NATO's motto:  "OUR PURPOSE IS TO STEAL, KILL, AND DESTROY!"  They leave death and destruction everywhere they go in this world--based on PURE GREED, AND THEIR INSATIABLE APPETITE FOR OIL AND THE WEALTH OF MOTHER AFRICA!  And for this, the judgment of God is fast approaching upon them!    I can smell it in the air we breathe!  Thank you for the enlightenment.  Keep up the good work!!!

  • NYMetro

    Peace Brother. Very informative article. The despicalble behaviour of our American Renegade Politicians is becoming much to bare. Their actions are definitely fostering extreme levels of animosity that will culminate in retaliatory tragedies far beyond what we experianced in 9-11.  I  pray that we as black Americans and the Innocent victums who may become causualties in this crisis are able to escape from the war zones as Allah the black God promised he would deliver us from the hands of our enemies and our enemies destruction. Thank you for the information you provided. It was very enlightening.

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