The 'Lord's Resistance Army'

[Adrian II]

Christopher Hitchens of Vanity Fair has a hair-raising article about the Lord's Resistanc Army in Uganda. I am neither Muslim nor Christian, but I can imagine what peaceful Christians must feel when they read about what acts are perpetrated in God's name over there. Probably not very different from what Muslims must feel when some caveman starts issuing fatwas in the name of Allah.

On the subsequent forced march, James underwent the twin forms of initiation practiced by the L.R.A. He was first savagely flogged with a wire lash and then made to take part in the murder of those children who had become too exhausted to walk any farther. "First we had to watch," he says. "Then we had to join in the beatings until they died." He was spared from having to do this to a member of his family, which is the L.R.A.'s preferred method of what it calls "registration." And he was spared from being made into a concubine or a sex slave, because the L.R.A. doesn't tolerate that kind of thing for boys. It is, after all, "faith-based." Excuse me, but it does have its standards.

Link

[doc_bean]

Hardly news I'm afraid, but it's good to be reminded once in a while.

[KukriKhan]

"Lord's Resistance Army" : christianity, as http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/ : journalism.

Obviously.

[Husar]

Sounds really nice.
A typical case of "Kill the infidels, ah that´s nice, do it!....What? Love? No, that´s the wrong part of the book!"
If only Uganda and Sudan had oil, some politician would probably be willing to bring these people freedom and democracy.(no, not only the US are meant here!)

[Adrian II]

If only Uganda and Sudan had oil, some politician would probably be willing to bring these people freedom and democracy.(no, not only the US are meant here!)

Why not, we already brought them Christianity...

[Watchman]

Ouch.

[BDC]

They're nasty pieces of work.

[Reenk Roink]

"Lord's Resistance Army" : christianity, as http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/ : journalism.

Always one to give recognition to good analogies...

[Tribesman]

If only Uganda and Sudan had oil,
They have , and this wonderful group is going to be one of the beneficiaries of the new oil contracts as the Khartoum government withdraws northwards as part of the peace deal .

Christopher Hitchens of Vanity Fair has a hair-raising article about the Lord's Resistanc Army in Uganda.
Wow Hitchens managed to crawl out of the bottle for long enough to cover a decades old story .

[KukriKhan]

Wow Hitchens managed to crawl out of the bottle for long enough to cover a decades old story

Heh. Some of his best work has been rendered whilst under the influence. :) I don't know if that's the case with the subject article, but it (the article) continues his personal crusade (uhm, I guess that's ironic) against 'religio-fascism', or whatever he's calling it these days.

[Adrian II]

Wow Hitchens managed to crawl out of the bottle for long enough to cover a decades old story .

^What Doc Bean said.

[Tribesman]

Heh. Some of his best work has been rendered whilst under the influence. :) I don't know if that's the case with the subject article, but it (the article) continues his personal crusade (uhm, I guess that's ironic) against 'religio-fascism', or whatever he's calling it these days.

I thought all of his work was written under the influence .
I have no issue with the content of the article , the issue I have is what the hell took him so long to address a very old story .

[Adrian II]

I have no issue with the content of the article , the issue I have is what the hell took him so long to address a very old story .

Ahem.. WHAT DOC BEAN SAID!???

[KukriKhan]

OW! My ears (eyes?).

...I have no issue with the content of the article , the issue I have is what the hell took him so long to address a very old story

My best guess would be that, as a professional op-ed writer, he's likely got 50+ such pieces tucked away in various stages of polish. A Vanity Fair deadline popped up, he dusted that one off & transmitted to the VR editor. Ka-ching: beer money. (j/k :) )

And, as has been mentioned, since it's an on-going atrocity, being reminded of it is not a bad thing.

But I take your point: why now, in particular?

[Tribesman]

Pardon Adrian , I didn't quite catch that .
Could you repeat it a little louder ?

[Adrian II]

My best guess would be that, as a professional op-ed writer, he's likely got 50+ such pieces tucked away in various stages of polish.

Op-ed?

It's a report.

Do you have any idea how dangerous the border area north of Gulu is?

[KukriKhan]

You don't think the Vanity Fair 'Roundtable' section is an op-ed area, vs a hard news report? OK, I bow to your superior experience It is long-ish for an op-ed.

And I'm quite sure that 'north of Gulu' would be dangerous to anyone not 'in' with the in-crowd. I guess you think I'm impugning his credibility (I don't), and so defend him pointing out that he's apparently been to that dangerous place, and I haven't. No contest there either.

Since I have less 'cred' then, should I not therefore have an opinion on the author, his report or the issues raised? I thought you solicited just such by posting & quoting in the starter.

[Adrian II]

Pardon Adrian , I didn't quite catch that .
Could you repeat it a little louder ?

May I remind you that you are up for re-election soon, Mr President? As your sole constituent, I would like to at least have the impression that my voice is heard in the corridors of power...

[Adrian II]

Since I have less 'cred' then, should I not therefore have an opinion on the author, his report or the issues raised?

Heh, I have no issue with issues and your credibility has been beyond question from the moment I set foot in the .org, but I find it hard to believe that Hitchens is merely making things up because he needs another drink or two (hundred). The thing has been wel-documented, but a report brings it just that bit closer. And I dispute Tribesman's remark that any ongoing genocide can be 'old news'.

[Tribesman]

And I dispute Tribesman's remark that any ongoing genocide can be 'old news'.
True , it did amaze me in a previous discussion on religeous nutters with Panzer (where has he gone ?) that he had never heard of them .

Then again there is the peace deal and the oil exploration contracts so it isn't all bad news in this particular madness . ..... oh but Khartoum is persuing a scorched earth policy as it withdraws which isn't really in the spirit of peace and reconstruction is it .

One thing about Hitchens piece though , I thought it was the non-Muslims that the Khartoum government sponsored militias was killing in Dharfur , not the Muslims .
Then again there are so many militias up there from several different countries that it is getting a bit hard to keep track of who exactly is slaughtering who .

[econ21]

Well, in some sense, the story is around 19 years old but it is still happening so is worth reporting - I've heard reports about the nightly trek of children to the towns quite recently.

I'm not sure about the anti-Christian spin on the story - I think the LRA follows a strange mix of superstitious beliefs, rather than any recognisable brand of Christianity. For example, the whole "bullets will not kill us" idea seems closer to the beliefs of the Chinese Boxers or (IIRC) Mahdi/Dervish beliefs of a century ago than to anything I recall from Church (Christian warmongering has always seemed rather pragmatic - praise the Lord and pass the ammunition). I doubt they stand in relation to Christianity as Al Qaeda does to Islam - I fear the latter bunch are much more literal and close in their adherence to Islam, however odious their particular interpretation or actions.

However, it is an interesting and puzzling story nonetheless. I am still a little vague on where exactly the LRA came from - initially it seems to be some kind of Joan of Arc story born of social trauma - and why the Ugandan government has been unable to crush them for 20 years (while still being able to topple governments of Rwanda and Zaire, at least by proxy).

[KukriKhan]

...hard to believe that Hitchens is merely making things up because he needs another drink or two (hundred).

Right. I'm not qualified to make that remark (I have no special, personal knowledge of Mr. Hitchins), so I 'take it back' and apologize. (Too 'clever' for my own good, sometimes).

Simon A throws in an interesting aspect: how/why hasn't this long-running atrocity been quashed earlier, by obviously capable powers-that-be?