100 U.S. troops were sent to Africa to help end the reign of terror of the monstrous Joseph Kony and his Lord\’s resistance army.

According to the Los Angeles Times, President Obama has sent about 100 “combat-equipped” special ops troops to Africa targeting the leadership of the Lord’s Resistance Army, which has been committing atrocities for over two decades. Founder Joseph Kony, although using Christian rhetoric and claiming to want a theocracy based on the Ten Commandments, abandoned Christianity in his youth and apprenticed as a witch doctor. According to the Upper Nile Times, Kony is quite flexible in his belief system. “A blending of animist, Christian beliefs along with some Islamic practices was now a part of the LRA. Someone would argue that Joseph Kony is not a Christian nor is he a Muslim; he is a person misguided by his demonic visions and his selfish desires for power.” Kony, who is about 50, is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity.

Decades of terror

Joseph Kony’s Lord Resistance Army has been active for 23 years, attacking, mutilating, and murdering civilians in Northern Uganda and the Congo. According to Human Rights Watch, which has been monitoring Kony’s atrocities and calling for assistance, in 2009 the “Lord\’s Resistance Army (LRA) killed at least 321 civilians and abducted 250 others, including at least 80 children,” during a four-day rampage in Makombo. This is just one of his atrocities, which often target church gatherings, schools and orphanages in order to abduct children.

LRA massacres

The Makombo massacre was the worst since the Christmas massacre in 2008, when the LRA killed 865 civilians in retaliation for a government air strike on their camp. Using their standard methods, (which apparently involves maximum brutality without wasting bullets) the LRA hacked with machetes, crushed skulls with axes, and bludgeoned to death their victims with heavy branches. After their killing sprees, they march their captives back to their camps, killing along the way any who are too slow to keep up. Witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that “for days and weeks after the attack, this vast area was filled with the \”stench of death.\”

LRA use of abducted children

Particularly repulsive is Kony’s use of children; young girls as sex objects for his troops and young boys as cannon-fodder. “Many of the children captured by the LRA were forced to kill other children who had disobeyed the LRA\’s rules. In numerous cases documented by Human Rights Watch, children were ordered to surround the victim in a circle and take turns beating the child on the head with a large wooden stick until the child died,” according to Human Rights Watch.

Politics of seeking a monster

Although the U.S. public is suspicious of news propaganda of atrocities justifying military intervention, in this case the atrocities are real, as documented by Human Rights Watch and other watchdog groups. On October 14, 2011, Rush Limbaugh questioned the U.S. move, stating that the “Lord\’s Resistance Army are Christians. They are fighting the Muslims in Sudan. And Obama has sent troops, United States troops to remove them from the battlefield, which means kill them.\” Although Limbaugh said he would conduct “due diligence” in researching the LRA, according to the New York Times, he has posted on his website: \”Obama Invades Uganda, Targets Christians.”