Brutal, but Promising

Sending U.S. troops into the Ugandan jungle represents a new level of American engagement in Africa. It may mean the beginning of the end of the Lord’s Resistance Army, one of the most brutal rebel groups on the African continent. This militia will only cease to exist when its leader, Joseph Kony, is captured. Kony is not only the commander in chief of the LRA but also the spiritual leader of this youthful army. He is much like Africa’s version of Osama bin Laden.

Obama’s initiative against the LRA is no brainchild of Pentagon strategists, even if one might suspect the United States is really after Uganda’s oil reserves. It is actually the result of a successful lobbying effort by U.S. human rights groups and Hollywood stars like Ben Affleck and Mia Farrow.

That’s enough to make even politicians sit up and take notice. Besides, Kony fits the image of the indisputable African bad guy, and Uganda’s jungles are different from, say, Somalia in that its terrain isn’t quite as dangerous. The LRA is militarily weak, so the chance of U.S. casualties is accordingly lower.

The claim that U.S. troops won’t be engaging in actual combat is nothing but a sham. They’re arriving in full battle dress, and it’s hard to imagine that elite U.S. troops will hide in the bushes and send Ugandan soldiers to do the job if they are presented with the opportunity to capture or kill Kony.

The elimination of Kony’s political power would give the embattled Obama and the even more embattled Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni a political boost. And nobody is likely to ever find out who delivers the coup de grace; just look at the killing of Osama bin Laden.