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Subscribe to RSSThe Senate defense committee has agreed to spend another $50 million on the Pentagon’s manhunt for African rebel leader Joseph Kony, The Hill newspaper reported.
The Senate Armed Services Committee approved the money to "enhance and expand" intelligence and surveillance support for the roughly 100 American special forces troops and their Ugandan counterparts tracking Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army, The Hill reported.
The money is included in a fiscal 2013 defense bill draft approved Thursday, The Hill said.
Stuart Price / AFP - Getty Images
Lord's Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony answers journalists' questions at Ri-Kwamba, in Southern Sudan in 2005.
Kony has evaded the region's militaries for nearly three decades, kidnapping tens of thousands of children to fill the ranks of his Lord's Resistance Army and serve as sex slaves as he moves through the bush. Thousands have been killed by his brutal army.
In 2005, the International Criminal Court indicted Kony, along with four other LRA commanders, for crimes against humanity and war crimes. Two of them have since died.
Kony was thrust into the spotlight earlier this year when the advocacy group Invisible Children’s video, "Kony 2012," highlighting chilling mutilations, rapes and murders carried out by his spell-bound fighters, went viral on the Internet.
Last year President Barack Obama sent the 100 troops to help eliminate the LRA.
The United States since 2008 has provided about $33 million to support the battle against the LRA, The New York Times reported in October when Obama sent the troops.
Ugandan forces on May 12 captured Caesar Acellam, a Kony senior commander, after a brief fight with rebels near the Congo-Central African Republic border in what an analyst said was an "intelligence coup" for forces hunting for Kony.
In 2005, NBC News correspondent Keith Morrison traveled to Uganda to report on a little-known war being waged by rebel leader Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). "Children of War" documented how the LRA systematically terrorized countless communities and abducted tens of thousands of children to fill its ranks.
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Leave a Comment:
Get the bastard!
And that sh$t we have money for. Disgusting.
Who cares what he does or does not. Not our business. We have enough problems at home and surely can use 50 mil for our homeless here!
Screw Africa and her problems. They are not our problems.
The U.S. government kills without discretion every day. They have killed MILLIONS while the media justifies the killing of everyone else's sons and daughters.
Where are the criminals that started the Iraq wars for no reason other than corporate profit making?
You may now collapse my comment.
Hello folks, do you really think we would spend money and once again invade another country if it didn't benefit the Corporate, Banking, and Oil cartels. Wake up sheeple, we don't do anything unless there is something in it for the 1%ers. We are trying to beat China, Russia, and all the other countries vying for this valuable resource. That means gaining a foothold in Uganda under another false flag.
Enclosed is the article:
Fresh Uganda Oil Find ‘Africa’s Biggest’
By The Times
14 Jan 2009 "The Times" - -Heritage Oil announced details of a large oil discovery in Uganda yesterday, which the company claimed could be the largest onshore discovery in sub-Saharan Africa.
Heritage said that its latest discovery – Giraffe1 – in the Lake Albert region, could total at least 400 million barrels of oil.
However, Paul Atherton, chief financial officer, told The Times that the wider field it was developing, dubbed Buffalo-Giraffe, had several “billions of barrels of oil in place”, although it was unclear how much of this would be recoverable.
He said that the field, which is 9,000 square kilometers in size – or six times the size of Greater London – was unquestionably the largest onshore discovery made in sub-Saharan Africa in at least 20 years, possibly ever.
Mr Atherton said that of the 18 wells the company had drilled in the basin so far, all had produced oil. “Clearly the entire basin is full of oil,” he said. “It’s a world-class discovery, the most exciting new basin in Africa in decades.”
Previously, the largest onshore fields discovered in sub-Saharan Africa were at Rabi-Kounga in Gabon, where 900 million barrels were found in 1985, and at Kome in Chad, where 485 million barrels were found in 1977.
Mr Atherton said that it would take at least another three years to start commercial production. The crude could be exported by road or rail, he said, but analysts believe that the most practical solution would be to build an 806-mile pipeline to take it to Kampala, Uganda’s capital, and then the Kenyan coast. The pipeline would need to be heated and designed to traverse swampy and mountainous land. It would cost an estimated $1.5 billion (£1 billion) to complete.
Heritage and its partner Tullow Oil, which also has a 50 per cent equity stake in the project, would need to demonstrate that the field could produce at least 400 million barrels of oil to justify the cost of building such a pipeline. Richard Griffith, an Evolution Securities analyst, said the latest discovery “thrashed” this commerciality threshold.
See Also - Uganda : Pressure Mounts To Make Public Oil Agreements:Uganda's oil discovery is already attracting major players like Italian oil giant Eni Spa, U.S. Exxon Mobil, France's Total and of recent the China National Offshore Oil Company. The country does not have the funds to finance the production of oil and instead signed agreements with oil giants spelling out how the revenue will be shared with investors willing to fund the production phase. The companies will build an oil refinery in Uganda and an oil pipeline to the Indian Ocean. This will enable the landlocked country to sell its estimated two billion barrels of crude oil internationally
Uganda's oil contracts leaked - a bad deal made worse: The repeated claims by the Ugandan government and the oil companies that Uganda has received a very good deal and the best in the region are not only a fiction, but were reliant on the real terms of the contracts being kept secret. While the contracts will deliver vast profits to Tullow Oil and Heritage Oil, the contracts will prevent the Ugandan people from receiving their due benefits.
Oil extraction and the potential for domestic instability in Uganda: The paper identifies and discusses in detail three sources of domestic volatility that may arise as a result of oil development.
Uganda: Oil could cause war : The attacks are by armed gangs suspected to be rebels of the FDLR, LRA, and the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF). In the ongoing campaign in DR Congo, President Joseph Kabila is being criticised for failing to restore peace in this vital area.
Way too long dude, nobody reads these long posts.
why am paying any of my tax money to hunt for this guy??? i do not care!!! it is not my problem!!
I agree with you, let the governments in Africa hunt him down if they want. The reality is that Kony has not done much of anything for the last decade or more. His following has dwindled to only a handful of men and they have been on the run just trying to stay alive and clear of Ugandan troops. At one point the LRA was a real threat, but it has not been for some time. The only reason we are wasting money is because of the stupid video that came out. That video was proven to be a collection of very old footage and information and that none of what as depicted as recent activities. The video was nothing more than a fund raising scam and the finances of the organization that put it together have been called into serious question. I am surprised that our government is stupid enough to waste money chasing Kony who has become largely irrelevant today and someone who the US certainly has no national interest in worrying about at this point.
Did we pass the collection plate at the United Nations before we did this? The crimes against the children there are horrible, BUT why always us and us alone?............
Why is he our problem? Africa should be paying for this, not the US taxpayers. Obama is wasting millions on his country. I understand he wants to help his home country but we can't afford it, we are f*cking broke.
Wow Shamrock! You worked that "obama and his home country" nonsense right into the discussion!
It's amazing how low some republican lowlifes can crawl!
And, I hate to burst your bubble -- but this was the Senate Armed Services Committee. And the ranking member is GOP Sen John McCain, who pushed this issue right through.
Uh-oh. Need a towel to clean that egg off your face, punkin?
because they found oil in uganda so now hes our problem
So Kony doesn't matter anymore but we need to get rid of him so we can get to the oil. Can you guys get on the same page before you have your panic attacks?
Froggie -
And who is in charge of the senate - hint he's a democrat. And who is in charge of the military - hint he's also a democrat.
As long as we have a person that has his hands on the checkbook that has no qualms about writing worthless checks we will continue down the road to poverty.
Last year President Barack Obama sent the 100 troops to help eliminate the LRA.The United States since 2008 has provided about $33 million to support the battle against the LRA. I'm sorry it didn't mention John McCain in the article. I'm not a republican, I'm an independent voter. Here's a little tidbit about us independent voters among independents, 60 percent preferred Romney and 29 percent favored Obama. See you in Nov punkin. It's all about the spending and economy for me.
spend spend spend spend spend spend spend
And then Spend More!
and then bitch about the other guy having no fiscal restraints.
Africa is a cesspool. Even the once great South Africa is devolving into mandelas marxist socialist dictatorship. Let them kill each other with guns, AIDS or any other method their sick minds can come up with. They would do the world a favor if they went extinct.
The people who are being attacked know where he is.
Let them find him.
WE the US does NOT need to spend money on this project.
Put a bounty on his head, (and there already is) and still people are afraid to turn him in?
Beginning to sound a lot like Pakistan.
I know the atrocities are great.
But this can be handled in country by Africa's own people and one 2 cent bullet.
Send money to Pakistan, money to N. Korea, now this? Time to let some of the world settle its own affairs a bit. Were Broke!
Spend more on aid, spend more on tuitions spend more on healthcare, spend more on studies, spend more on EPA, spend more on medical research, spend more on grants ,spend more on clean energy, spend more on bail outs, spend more on Presidential vacations, spend more on FEMA, spend more on HUD, spend more on IRS lawyers, spend more on Presidential fundraising, spend more building mosques, spend more on Pakistan, Obama sure is doing a good job.
Spend Spend Spend, how can we do that when we are Broke?
Again, as mumbling fools will mumble along...
...this was the Senate Armed Services Committee. And the ranking member is GOP Sen John McCain, who pushed this issue right through.
Sorry, didn't mean to make you appear stupid, but your own words probably did that for you.
Again the senate is controlled by harry and the autographer-in-chief is also a democrat.
Is this Bush's fault also?
I doubt it. He spent most of his time screwing everyone in the United States of America.
So that's what justifies o'bummer continuing bush's failed policies that he railed against? Where is the CHANGE that was promised?
And why not Xe ( Blackwater ) ? The US made them what they are and something like this should be a cakewalk for them . Shoot them a price of 25 million to start and haggle from there .
Since 2008 we have spent $33M to battle the LRA...What? We need a leader that will stop this insanity of spending our taxes (paid by you and me) for this type of thing. Where is he or she?
Put a million dollar bounty on his head. Since his series has been cancelled Dog might be interested.
Black Panthers can pay the bounty.
Send Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton over to police this matter.........Oh wait, I just thought of something.
What...you just realized they're your dad and uncle?
What he realized was that it is black-on-black crimes. al and jesse will NEVER show for black-on-black or black-on-white crimes - doesn't fit their agenda.
Spend money to capture a man who was a threat to children everywhere back in the 80's but has become nothing more than a annoying tick but thanks to a For-profit greedy organisation and guy who Jacked-off in San Diego have gotten their wish and all those fan-boys and girls who clicked like thinking they did what was right for the world.
I'd like to focus on the home front rather about a Continent that hasn't gotten its sh** together.
Not to belittle the horrors he has wrought, but why is America being World Police? I know that schools in my state could sure use that $50M to avoid having to lay off teachers and increase class sizes. It may seem a 'drop in the bucket' dollar amount when compared to the federal budget, but this amount of money could do an awful lot of good in the US. Even if you divided it up amongst the 50 states, they could all find good use for $1M dollars.
They been killing and raping each other for thousands of years, and the idiot obama thinks he can change it in his one term what a fu*ken dope, keep our money in the USA.................
Robert read the article, Senate panel did this not the President, or are you one of those who blames Obama for everything?
like two or three others, above, who also cannot read...
@square dude he blames everything on obama the way obama blames everything he did on bush
You have got to be kidding me. This jerk sells, kills and who knows what else, kids , and most of you are po'ed because we are spending money to stop it. I would rather have my tax money go for this than into some senators friends pocket to build a highway no one needs. We need to let Africa be a lesson in what happens when governments become unable to function, as this is where we are heading now.
Your right rebeljake the jerk does everything you say he does, which makes me question why the local goverments dont take action. Perhaps they would rather spend their tax money on some senators friends pocket to build a highway no one needs, so why should we care if the locals dont care?
He did all of that... in the 80's nowadays hes on the run with what little group of men he has
stastika and friends... so by this reasoning once WWII was over there was no need to pursue Nazis for war crimes because they were mostly just on the run with a small contingent? I guess because it's in Africa this man doesn't deserve a dose of justice one way or the other in your eyes.
That was some lip service for the media. How about the acceptable Nazis we befriended because it fit our agenda - you know the scientists that came up with the various weapons used against us. We put them on our payrolls.
Asswipes, spend some more on worthless crap no one cares about!!!!
Let Africa worry about African problems with thier money. I want my tax money spent on poverty in the USA ONLY!!!! If Obummer wants to spend his $$ looking for a worthless piece of crap, fine with me. My tax dollars are NOT to leave America for ANY REASON!! All tax payors need to fire all Federal Politicians! We don't need them, the states can decide what to do with thier own tax dollars or not & who it supports. Where & how can anyone spend $50 million hunting anyone. Send in the Seals, team of six & get it over with. Politicians are stupid!
I have too agree with most posts here that sending more money to Africa is money down a toilet. Wonder if these politicians are thinking about the minority vote here. They spend taxpayer money way too easily if they think it will get them a couple of more votes.
This too, feels like more trumped up propaganda held infront of the peons in order to keep sucking their blood.
why not put an international bounty on the heads of everyone they know to be associated with him including him, he really doesn't need to be on the list because if his associates find out that they have a bounty on their heads, they won't even associate with him, neither will anyone associate with his associates either, problem solved which would cost a whole lot less than sending our service members in harms way,
it will in fact turn themselves against each other.
if all international problems were solved in this way, the US service members could stay here in the US protecting our borders taking care of our more serious problems that have been neglected for far too long.
When are the US taxpayers going to get something other than WAR for our tax dollars ?
Well, we're trying to get rid of the wars that Dumbya started...
But hey! I have a great idea. Let's put in Mittens Romney, the mormon cultist who will give us more of the same Dumbya-like GOP policy. Great...just a great idea!
When Kony is caught I'm going to celebrate by stripping naked in the street in front of everyone and perform lewd acts on myself.
the "ethnic cleansing" has been going on in every African country for centuries,
the UN should be the first to address this situation if the rest of the countries in the UN organization was serious about doing anything about the atrocities going on there.
our idiot politicians have the idea to think the US tax payers can continue to loose product producing jobs here to all the third world countries then go and fight the very countries that produce the products this country consumes,
that's as bad as trying to tell China what to do as they're the very people who own the debt the US owes,
to me that's is the definition of ironic hypocrisy.
One vote that everyone should be able to agree here at MSNBC.com that KONY is the next target of Ghost it's bullet.
KONY is five times the terrorist that Bin Laden could ever hope to become. Anyone that mutilates, rapes and uses hundreds of thousands of children as sexual slaves needs to be disemboweled before the entire world or even better yet drawn and quartered between four five tons.
Ever red and blue boned America should be behind such a kill as it is part of the War on Terror. A war that the last administration did not even look into or try and stop.
Drop the Bomb.
hundreds of thousands? That doesn't sound accurate. If he had an army he would be easier to find. I heard he had about 300 'men'.
What is a red and blue boned American?
300, A well place Napalm strike would take care of that.
I'm okay with my tax money going to this.
We just close some more schools and make more money with corporate gun running.
Yep - what do they care - its not their money. More wasteful spending. 50 million here, 50 million there. Like Alfred E. Newman said, WHAT ME WORRY?