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Obama sending combat troops to central Africa to aid fight against rebels

by Admin on October 14, 2011 in Disfunctional Congress, Obama Foreign Policy, Obama Propaganda, Sudan with No comments
Flag of the Lord's Resistance Army paramilitar...

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President Obama has deployed combat troops to central Africa to aid in the fight against the Lord’s Resistance Army.  In a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner, Obama says 12 troops with “appropriate combat equipment” were deployed on October 12 and approximately 100 in total will be deployed including a second combat team and headquarters, communications and logistics personnel.  The forces will provide information and advise and assist “select partner nation forces,” Obama explains.  The troops will not fight except in self-defense.  The full letter is after the jump.

TEXT OF A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
TO THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AND THE PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE OF THE SENATE
October 14, 2011
Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)
For more than two decades, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has 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. Since 2008, the United States has supported regional military efforts to pursue the LRA and protect local communities. Even with some limited U.S. assistance, however, regional military efforts have thus far been unsuccessful in removing LRA leader Joseph Kony or his top commanders from the battlefield. In the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009, Public Law 111-172, enacted May 24, 2010, the Congress also expressed support for increased, comprehensive U.S. efforts to help mitigate and eliminate the threat posed by the LRA to civilians and regional stability.
In furtherance of the Congress’s stated policy, I have authorized a small number of combat-equipped U.S. forces to deploy to central Africa to provide assistance to regional forces that are working toward the removal of Joseph Kony from the battlefield. I believe that deploying these U.S. Armed Forces furthers U.S. national security interests and foreign policy and will be a significant contribution toward counter-LRA efforts in central Africa.
On October 12, the initial team of U.S. military personnel with appropriate combat equipment deployed to Uganda. During the next month, additional forces will deploy, including a second combat-equipped team and associated headquarters, communications, and logistics personnel. The total number of U.S. military personnel deploying for this mission is approximately 100. 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. Our forces will provide information, advice, and assistance to select partner nation forces. Subject to the approval of each respective host nation, elements of these U.S. forces will deploy into Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The support provided by U.S. forces will enhance regional efforts against the LRA. However, although the U.S. forces are combat-equipped, they will only be providing information, advice,
and assistance to partner nation forces, and they will not themselves engage LRA forces unless necessary for self-defense. All appropriate precautions have been taken to ensure the safety of U.S. military personnel during their deployment.
I have directed this deployment, which is in the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States, pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct U.S. foreign relations and as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive. I am making this report as part of my efforts to keep the Congress fully informed, consistent with the War Powers Resolution (Public Law 93-148). I appreciate the support of the Congress in this action.
Sincerely,
BARACK OBAMA

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Tancredo helped end war in Sudan

by Admin on February 19, 2011 in Sudan, Tom Tancredo with No comments

Published: 02.18.11 – Highlands Ranch Herald
Mike Coffman

My predecessor in this office, Tom Tancredo is perhaps best remembered for his efforts to reform our immigration system. But there is another part of his legacy in Congress that deserves recognition: Tancredo set the wheels in motion to end the civil war in Sudan and to allow the southern Sudanese to declare independence on Feb. 7, 2011.

Tancredo’s interest in Sudan began many years before he went to Congress. It was peaked while attending the Cherry Hills Community Church, now in Highlands Ranch.

One Sunday in November, the message centered on the persecuted Christians throughout the world, and one part focused on Sudan.

“We are supposed to do something about this,” Tom said he remembers telling his wife, Jackie, after the service. Of course, beyond contributing a to relief efforts, they had no idea what they could do.

The plight of the Sudanese Christians stayed with Tom for many years. Especially imprinted on his mind were photos of the Sudanese Christians being branded after the Arab Muslims of northern Sudan captured and enslaved them.

Tom was also moved by the incredible efforts of a teacher named Barb Vogel. She and her students gained fame for raising funds to free hundreds of Sudanese Christian slaves.

In 1998, U.S. Rep. Dan Schaefer announced he would not seek re-election and Tancredo decided to jump in the race. The fact that he and Jackie moved to be near the Church put him in the Sixth Congressional District.

Tom won a hard fought five-way primary, and went on to win the general election handily.

When it came time to request committee assignments, Tancredo asked for the Africa Subcommittee. A staffer told him, “Congressman, just because you’re a freshman, you don’t have to take that committee. You can’t raise money for your re-election on that committee.”

Later the Majority Whip, Tom DeLay, asked him to change assignments because a western conservative had been requested by another committee chairman. Tancredo recounted his experience and motivation for requesting the Africa Subcommittee. Tancredo stayed on the subcommittee.

Soon he got a call from Sen. Sam Brownback, who shared in the desire to help the southern Sudanese and who was organizing a trip to Africa. Tom agreed to go along, much to Jackie’s dismay.

Jackie wasn’t the only one upset about the plans. The state department pitched a fit, telling them no security detail would be dispatched because of the war. By that time, the war had displaced 4 million and left 2 million dead.

Tancredo, Brownback, and Rep. Don Payne, D-N.J., went anyway. Once they got to Nairobi, Kenya, they were flown into the warzone by a “role model for Indiana Jones,” where they saw the horrors of the civil war firsthand. They met with missionaries, freedom fighters, and refugees who all implored them to help. To say the three were moved by the experience is an understatement.

On the last day Tancredo, Brownback, and Payne gathered in thatched-roofed hut that doubled as a church. Despite enduring daily bombings, physical mutilation and displacement from their homes, the Sudanese Christians were joyous in their religious celebration.

“It’s only right that my last day in Sudan be spent in a church, because my trip here began in a church,” Tancredo told the congregation. “All these years I thought I was doing this for you, but your profession of faith under such dire circumstances did more for me than I could ever do for you.”

Tancredo then set to work crafting legislation to help the Southern Sudanese. After many years shepherding it through the legislative process, President George W. Bush finally signed the Sudan Peace Act into law on October 21, 2002.

The Sudan Peace Act set up a series of carrots and sticks that drew both sides to the negotiating table. Even the State Department had to grudgingly agree that it was a major factor in ending the war.

I want to thank Tom Tancredo for putting the wheels of peace in motion. His efforts, as well as those of hundreds of others like Barb Vogel and her middle school students, saw their work pay off this month with the referendum that created an independent Southern Sudan.

U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman represents Colorado’s 6th Congressional District. He was in both the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps. He served in first Gulf War and in the Iraq War.