Obama's Foreign Policy in Africa Wears Combat Boots

If you have been listening to what General Carter Ham has been saying lately, you would have seen this coming. This is the latest military deployment to make headlines, from ABC News.

Two days ago President Obama authorized the deployment to Uganda of approximately 100 combat-equipped U.S. forces to help regional forces “remove from the battlefield” - meaning capture or kill - Lord’s Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony and senior leaders of the LRA.

The forces will deploy beginning with a small group and grow over the next month to 100. They will ultimately go to Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with the permission of those countries.

The president made this announcement in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, Friday afternoon, saying 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.”

Below is the letter.

Dear Mr. Speaker:

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

I think the old Vulcan proverb went something like this: "Only Nixon could go to China." I do wonder if in a few years another Vulcan proverb will suggest only Obama could go to Africa.

The messaging by the Obama administration - announcing this specific military deployment in this way - is very curious. Why, if this is simply a training engagement (and not operational), is the President of the US sending a letter to the House Speaker? When claiming the purpose of the letter is "consistent with the War Powers Resolution" then we have serious intentions that go beyond training. Sure, it may begin with training, but I expect over time we will see armed drones and other military assets being put into covert use in that region of Africa, and what might be 100 troops today will be well over a thousand in the near future. See Columbia, etc., for other examples of start small and creep up.

If this was simply a training engagement, there would be no need for this letter, no need to cite the War Powers Resolution, and this news would have been told from an Army PAO in AFRICOM in a news article that wouldn't get any attention at all in most of the media (like what no one sees hiding in plain sight all the time). Worth noting, one of the reasons the President probably invoked the War Powers Resolution in Uganda is because AFRICOM might desire the mission to be long term, thus with the War Powers Resolution, the US military can set up a permanent base in Uganda as an overseas contingency operation rather than by going through the normal political (ie. budget) and diplomatic process of setting up a permanent base in a foreign country on African soil.

This deployment has open ended activity written all over it. However, this deployment also appears to be a strategic move rather than the more tactical activities the US has been conducting in Africa lately (like Libya and Somalia).

By putting US troops in Uganda, the US is building the foundation for what is the next piece of containment for Al Shabaab in Somalia while at the same time adding an extra layer of support for the still very weak state of South Sudan. AFRICOM has apparently begun playing big boy chess, and by that I mean they are building the foundations (where possible) of US influence to help strengthen the African Union by selectively supporting major contributing states. Remember, Uganda is one of the big contributors to African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), for example, so as the US military builds up the capability of Uganda it is also building up the capability of a regional military force that is and will in the future be fighting for interests in Africa that the US shares with Uganda.

Finally, for those who keep track of such things, the US is now apparently fighting wars on at least seven fronts - Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, Libya, and now Uganda.

Finally. Uganda is a land locked country, and while we can expect the Army and Air Force to step up and support whatever policy objectives are outlined, there is a potential serious oversight role here for the Navy. Between Lake Victoria, Lake Edward, Lake Albert, and the major rivers that connect these bodies of water; brown water elements of the US Navy might have a major role to play regionally and it relates to training and proficiency. Uganda has the potential to be another example where the US Navy has a major role to play, but big Navy under funds and under resources the necessary brown water naval capabilities in favor of some super tech with limited practical application short of World War IV.