Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Deploying to Africa against the LRA

I know some of the little grasshoppers may disagree with me, but I think that sending 100 Special Forces troops to Africa to coordinate different countries’ operations against the Lord’s Resistance Army is a good use of our military. This is classic “indirect action,” and it is a whole lot better than sending battalions of ...

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Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons

I know some of the little grasshoppers may disagree with me, but I think that sending 100 Special Forces troops to Africa to coordinate different countries' operations against the Lord's Resistance Army is a good use of our military. This is classic "indirect action," and it is a whole lot better than sending battalions of American infantry. I expect they will introduce unique American capabilities-such as imagery from satellites and long-loiter drone aircraft-to help corner the LRA. And because the American commitment is so small, there won't be a ticking political clock on their deployment. This means the foe can't simply go to ground and wait out the crackdown. So, unlike in Iraq and Afghanistan, time is not immediately a factor against the American move.

I know some of the little grasshoppers may disagree with me, but I think that sending 100 Special Forces troops to Africa to coordinate different countries’ operations against the Lord’s Resistance Army is a good use of our military. This is classic “indirect action,” and it is a whole lot better than sending battalions of American infantry. I expect they will introduce unique American capabilities-such as imagery from satellites and long-loiter drone aircraft-to help corner the LRA. And because the American commitment is so small, there won’t be a ticking political clock on their deployment. This means the foe can’t simply go to ground and wait out the crackdown. So, unlike in Iraq and Afghanistan, time is not immediately a factor against the American move.

It also was interesting to me that this news did not make the front pages of the newspapers I looked at.

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1
Tags: Africa, Military, U.S. Foreign Policy

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