action, joseph kony, the brutal leader of the lra and his gang will increase their attack on civilian and abduction of children to be soldiers. kony has taken advantage of the growing security vacuum in the lra affected areas, and appears to be regrouping and reorganizing the lra. a large number of senior commanders recently from the central africa republic. in august i traveled with care to the eastern congo where i met with them and who were raped and sexual violence was used as a weapon of war by joseph kony. i spoke to women there who have been victimized, and some of them lost their children, ages 11 and 12, abducted from their villages. i'm looking forward to hearing from our witnesses today about the details of the deploying and the strategy that would be used. i was very pleased that my friend, senator inhofe, recently stated on the senate floor, statement that the lra must be eliminated. and he said that we are not at war with the lra. the troops are specifically prohibited from any kind of combat, aside from self-defense. as you know last year we passed the lra resistance di

i think this initiative in addition to hopefully achieving the specific goal of taking joseph kony off the battlefield, will also encourage greater military cooperation among the four key states involved. that would be a factor for longer-term stability in the region so that we do not have to intervene in the future. >> let me next turn to a more particular question for these operations. is this in your opinion a unique model that is being used in central africa? or is this comparable to some other operations, like in the southern philippines. chairman rohrabacher led a delegation there a few months ago where we got to see a unique operation there, a limited number of u.s. military advising, not engaging in combat, but trying to be very focused on the terror safe-haven and training camps there. is this a unique model or drawing and other experiences that have work? and let me start with ambassador vershbow. >> congressmen, this is not unique model in the sense that training and equipping partner forces is something that we have done in many parts of the world. my experience, if you loo

we are providing advisers to the forces because joseph kony and other leaders have refused to end peacefullyt atrocities. there was a negotiated peace agreement during the talks in in 2006-2008. they ended when kony refused to sign. regional governments have continued to pursue a military approach. as for our regional partners, we provide assistance to the region's military in recent years. we're providing equipment to the armed forces of the central african republic and supporting people support force. we believe that despite the assistance they will benefit from the capacity to process information on the information. the u.s. advisers point to the operation. there is a specific timing to the deployment. it was predicated on the availability of the pre u.s. forces. >> thank you. >> maybe we will get to the rest of it. >> i have not measure the success. >> thank you very much. thank you to both of you for excellent testimony. we will begin our questions and answers segment now. i wanted to ask you if the president's report to the congress transmited consistent with the war powers resolution

we are providing advisers to the forces because joseph kony and other leaders have refused to end peacefully. they continue to commit atrocities. there was a negotiated peace agreement during the talks in in 2006-2008. they ended when kony refused to sign. he conducted new attacks. regional governments have continued to pursue a military approach. as for our regional partners, we provide assistance to the region's military in recent years. we trained the design of the democratic republic of congo. we're providing equipment to the armed forces of the central african republic and supporting the uganda's people support force. so it can maintain its presence in somalia. we believe that despite the assistance they will benefit from the capacity to process information on the information. -- location from leaders and convert it into operational plans. the u.s. advisers point to the operation. they have the right skill sets to help with the shortfalls. there is a specific timing to the deployment. it was predicated on the availability of the pre u.s. -- appropriate u.s. forces. forces. >> thank you.

this is a group and their leader, joseph kony, who the administration says and many lawmakers on capitol they have been murdering and raping villages throughout central africa, for some 20 years. a letter went up to congress from the white house today, from the president, saying this -- for more than 2 decades, the lords resistance army, lra, has murdered, raped and kidnapped tens of thousands of women, and children in central africa... >> this all happened late this afternoon. came as a surprise to many here in this town. we will start there. we begin our panel segments early because of our upcoming center seat segment. joining us our panel, jonah goldberg from national view. crifertin powers for the daily beast and syndicated columnist, charles, the first sound bite was the president talking about not putting troops on the ground in libya, in contrast to this action? >> here, he has made an exception for a part of the world that i am not sure 1 in a thousand americans know of. you don't have to oppose this mission to say that the president's statement in which he says that i believe th

. >> i have witnessed the spirit of joseph kony and it is not from god.ng people from their homes and forcing them to become something that is not meant to be. i don't want anymore children to go through what i went through. >> she is now 22, and i spoke with evelyn apoko who says that rush limbaugh needs to apologize. >> actually, it is like made me upset a lot. i get very angry, and i would like don't want to talk about it, but i embrace myself, and i say i cannot get quiet on what he had said, because it is not right. so, i decided to do something about it, take action out of this, so if it led the world know that sometimes what we hear without getting the background of it, sometimes is not true. >> so the lord's resistance army, and what did they do to you specifically? because it was a horrifying thing. >> the lord's resistance army abducted me as a child from my parents from the home where i had grown up and they took me this the bush, with a lot of 100,000 of kids, also were there with me. >> what is it that you want rush limbaugh to say, because r

this picture here is a guy whose name is joseph kony. joseph kony is a monster. for 25 years he's been in northern uganda but he's been in other countries, too, rwanda, now the new country of south sudan, the stran african republic and the congo. those five countries is where he's been. this is what he does. rush limbaugh the other day three or four days ago was commenting that nobody knows what the l.r.a. is, the lord's resistance army and nobody knows so i'm here to tell you and tell you why those troops were sent over. it was not president obama, it was me that did it. we passed the law requiring that to be done. let me explain why. i've been active in africa for many, many years. 15 years ago, i was in northern uganda in an area called zulu and found a guy named joseph kony. this is joseph kony. he's a spiritual leader. and what he does is he goes into the villages and he abducts hundreds thousands of young kids, usually between the ages of 11 and 14. and then he takes the girls and sends them into prostitution, but the boys he trains to be soldiers. now, we'

or joseph koni. rush limbaugh talked about it yesterday -- he brought it to my attention -- i don't disagree as some on this side do. he made the statement -- i'm quoting -- until today most americans have never heard of the combat, lord's resistance army. here we are at war with them -- it's not true. have you ever heard of them? he talked about the three people who are always in his studio. don and brian and snerdley. have you ever heard of the lord's resistance army, don? no. how about you, brian? no? how about you? no no one's heard of the lord's resistance army. that proves my contention that most americans have never heard of it. in a moment i'm going to talk about what our mission is there. we're not at war with them. we are specifically precluding our troops from any kind of combat in that area. i'd like to just kind of put it in proper context as to the significance of this. i've had an opportunity to spend a lot of time in africa, more than any other member of this united states senate or a

rapists they also plan while they're there to help remove the head of the army on the battlefield joseph koni now we want to talk more about this and shed some light on what may be behind this to help me do that i spoke earlier to robert naiman with just foreign policy as u.s. military advisors head into uganda south sudan the central african republic and the congo i asked robert this question why africa and why now here's what he had to say . first of all the more longstanding cause the u.s. policy of opposition in virtue of the lord's resistance army. and i think it's worth bearing in mind course the us has got a lot of military conflicts going on there not a place but it is a kid. it's not an international law it's not just troops into uganda against the will of the government and it's in cooperation government. and here at least not our glee contradicting us mark because he's already existing your worst law. says the u.s. should come back the lord's resistance army and present him go down a lot and it is better to speak or being no longer had always been a policy of the last what about th

us human rights and freedoms and in fact at tax on civilians and murders attacks on civilians as joseph koni so obama's senate is one hundred u.s. special forces billed as advisors so remember vietnam in one nine hundred sixty one sixty two it started with a bunch of advisers going to get out and we know what history taught us later this is a civil war and it's and that to make war once again the us is right stepping right into the middle of a net the war that's been going on for over two decades clip the bigger picture is even more impressive because this is not about again they sell and even obama at made it on the record already that these advisers are going to south sudan and the democratic republic of congo as well so when you look at that area in central africa and you see the amount of oil and the amount of mineral riches at play and when we see that china is making me a role in this area and when we look at the africans agenda which is to combat china commercially viable militarisation of africa then you understand these one hundred the beginning of may me will be going to go the sou

which some of the most elite american forces around can go in there cut the head off the snake of joseph koni the leader of the l r a and then leave but what's more likely especially if we think about previous interventions in that region is that more bloodshed occurs and mission creep could possibly come and start to change the mission into stabilizing the region or you know training the ugandan military to fend for themselves the way that we're doing in afghanistan supposedly so all of this leads to questions about exactly how long this will last and i think that we're better we'd be good to be skeptical of exact. this limited mission in a short time period that obama's framed for us and the broader picture here at the same time was all this the pentagon saying isn't it's confirming troops will remain in the region and surrounding countries south central african republic democratic republic of congo how do you think the local populations in those countries and the broader region as a whole feels about the american presence there. well i don't doubt it lee occupation forces from abroad tend

military advisors into four central and eastern countries in africa to carry out the assassination of joseph kony who is a rebel leader of the lord's resistance army a rebel force that has been operating in the northern uganda now for nearly two decades so the policy of targeted assassination is very much a part of the u.s. foreign policy which was the after qana why is focusing back in on libya again and why is america giving so much credence to the n.t. see there that talking to them almost as if they've already been elected and of course they haven't they are only interim leaders or is that a foregone conclusion. well this is a very serious concern on the part of people in the african union as well as people here in the united states has been no i like since there is no legitimate basis that the m.t.c. rebels have for killing out what they're doing right now inside of libya itself also they were the force that we utilized to provide legitimacy for we've seen change in libya they would never have been able to take control of tripoli and other areas of the country that they control if it not bee

united states is apparently not noticed for decades and that we have any warm feelings towards joseph koni or his lieutenants but here's a question why now we'll discuss this all new in our seven pm newscast with robert naiman policy director for just foreign policy and that is going to do it for now for more on the stories we covered go to r.t. dot com slash usa or check out our you tube page at youtube dot com slash r t america has also follow me on twitter you can find me at frowsy thanks so much for watching i'm christine.

united states has apparently not noticed for decades now that we have any warm feelings towards joseph koni or his lieutenants but here's a question why now well we'll discuss that in our seven pm newscast with robert naiman policy director for just foreign policy and that is going to do it for now but for more on the stories we covered go to our t. dot com slash usa or check out our youtube page lots of our latest videos are posted there lots of occupy wall street that addresses you tube dot com.

taking out saddam hussein but suddenly it's a good argument for taking out moammar gadhafi and joseph koni the ned man who's the head of the lord's resistance army you know it often is so often there's like this situational constitutionalism where people line up behind their team but i think what we ought to be thinking about is do we want to use u.s. military power so promiscuously and i think what's behind most of these things i don't think there's much that we stand to benefit for many of them i think through ideal out ideology is a lot to do with it but i think a lot of it is also like with the infamous quote from now in albright colin powell use chairman of the joint chiefs and she said what's the point of having this wonderful army you're always bragging about if we don't get to use it i think people in power want to use it and a lot of times they use it for purposes that have nothing to do with u.s. national security and i guess the and some ways you can say that that's a little bit of empire play here you could say that's a little bit of. military industrial complex of labor becaus

the president's announced he's sending 100 troops to central africa to combat the lra, to combat joseph konyuld you support this if you were president? is this something you would do? >> in thinking about this, he signed legislation, congress authorized that this is what needed to take place. he signed that legislation. as president, if i would have signed that legislation. >> , i would have had an action plan ready to go immediately. from all appearances, this really does seem to be genocide. i mean, this really seems -- these are really bad actors, there is a finite number of fighters. 300 -- whatever that number is. i don't know fiwould be sending advisers in there, as immediately after having sent -- after having signed the legislation, sent in a strike force to wipe them all out -- >> that's very nonlibertarian of you. >> i have always said, genocide is something that none of us want to stand by and watch happen. from everything that i can ascertain from this situation, this does qualify for genocide. >> what about the qaddafi threat? when he was winning the war against the rebels in th

on his program, he criticized president obama for sending 100 troops to help bring down joseph kony andd's resistance army. limbaugh defended the lra saying they are "christians and accused obama of sending them to wipeout christians in uganda. tonight she explained why she could not ignore his comments. she lost part of her face in an explosion that struck while the lord's resistance army enslaved her. >> actually it made me like upset a lot. i get very angry and i would like don't want to talk about it, but i embrace myself. i say i cannot keep quiet on what he had said because it's not right. so i decide to do something about it, take action out of this. so to let the world know that sometimes what we hear without getting the background of it, sometimes is not true. >> and hear my full interview with evelyn and her response to the fact limbaugh has not backed down from his statements tomorrow night during the 6:00 p.m. eastern hour here on cnn. minnesota vikings corner back chris cook has been arrested for the second time this year. cook was charged early saturday with two counts of

the central africa republic and to uganda to train the ugandans in trying to finally eliminate joseph kony who this house passed legislation saying that we should go out bipartisan support, many of my colleagues on the other side have been just as passionate about the fact that joseph kony needs to be eliminated, needs to be captured or taken out because for 25 years he's wreaked havoc on people, horrendous acts that he has dope is just unconscionable. and time is past that he should be taken off the face of this earth. let me just then quickly get to what you're here about, afghanistan and pakistan. i almost forgot that. the -- [laughter] u.s. strategy in afghanistan has been based on the belief that developing afghanistan's economy and institutions will win over the population to support the afghan government even after international forces draw down. some analysts are concerned that the afghan economy may somewhere a steep depression -- may enter a steep depression as military involvement in afghanistan winds down over the next three years. what's the u.s. take to insure that this depre

or joseph koni. rush limbaugh talked about it yesterday -- he brought it to my attention -- i don't disagree as some on this side do. he made the statement -- i'm quoting -- until today most americans have never heard of the combat, lord's resistance army. here we are at war with them -- it's not true. have you ever heard of them? he talked about the three people who are always in his studio. don and brian and snerdley. have you ever heard of the lord's resistance army, don? no. how about you, brian? no? how about you? no no one's heard of the lord's resistance army. that proves my contention that most americans have never heard of it. in a moment i'm going to talk about what our mission is there. we're not at war with them. we are specifically precluding our troops from any kind of combat in that area. i'd like to just kind of put it in proper context as to the significance of this. i've had an opportunity to spend a lot of time in africa, more than any other member of this united states senate or a