Back in October 2011, conservative talk radio personality Rush Limbaugh took to the airwaves to attack President Barack Obama for ordering the deployment of 100 U.S. soldiers to Uganda to assist Ugandan military forces in their efforts to combat the Lord’s Resistance Army, a group listed on the United States’ terror watch list and to arrest that group’s leader, Joseph Kony.
While you may not have heard of the Lord’s Resistance Army or Josephy Kony, that group under Kony’s leadership is responsible for murder, mutilations, rape, and the kidnapping of children who are then forced to fight as soldiers, among other crimes against humanity. For his leading role in the Lord’s Resistance Army, Joseph Kony was indicted in 2005 by the International Criminal Court.
So here’s what Rush Limbaugh had to say in defense of the Lord’s Resistance Army and President Obama’s decision to send troops to assist efforts to eradicate that group and bring their leader to justice:
Now, up until today, most Americans have never heard of the combat Lord’s Resistance Army. And here we are at war with them. Have you ever heard of Lord’s Resistance Army, Dawn? How about you, Brian? Snerdley, have you? You never heard of Lord’s Resistance Army? Well, proves my contention, most Americans have never heard of it, and here we are at war with them. Lord’s Resistance Army are Christians. It means God. I was only kidding. 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. That’s what the lingo means, “to help regional forces remove from the battlefield,” meaning capture or kill.
So that’s a new war, a hundred troops to wipe out Christians in Sudan, Uganda, and — (interruption) no, I’m not kidding.
There you have it folks….Rush Limbaugh rushing (no pun intended) to the defense of a “Christian” group that has engaged in horrific crimes against humanity. I suppose Rush Limbaugh will say just about anything to attack President Obama, but defending war criminals seems beyond the pale for even Limbaugh.
In a somewhat related (and definitely more uplifting story), filmmaker Jason Russell and the group Invisible Children Inc. have released a new documentary shining a bright light on Joseph Kony and the atrocities he has committed as leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army. Here’s the documentary:
Jack and Jill Politics has more on Rush Limbaugh’s defense of crimes against humanity.
Not that facts mean anything to Limbaugh but, the LRA was supplied and supported by the government of Sudan. But, it’s not unusual for Limbaugh to have something totally assbackwards.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/08/joseph-kony-lords-resistance-army
All you need to know about Flush Limbaugh:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/12/1073551/-No-Seriously-You-just-made-me-snort-coffee-out-my-nose?via=sidebyuserrec
The following is an epitaph of sorts written by the author for his father. It is also an epitaph of sorts for Flush, for conservatism/rightwingism/take-back-my-country-ism, as well, written by someone who was raised, and forced to listen to Limbaugh, by a father who listened to Flush religiously, and who, according to the author, was also a sociopath.
http://www/dailykos.com/story/2012/03/13/1073844/-I-Grew-Up-With-Rush-Limbaugh
[An excerpt]:
“I do not mistake my father for being like all Limbaugh fans, or all conservatives–I’ve known right-wingers of all the stripes. But there are similarities. I’ve heard one too many homophobic comments, one too many xenophobic rants. One too many deluded or conspiratorial descriptions of our economic-political system. They’re a sad lot, burning on hatred and bitterness at life passing them by.
Who will be at Rush Limbaugh’s funeral? I almost don’t care anymore about the obscene amount of money that huckster, that advertising prostitute has tucked away. He is an empty vessel: only a little more than prescription drugs, a dwindling fan base, eternal insecurity and wrath.
I envision in the year 2020 an America having undergone another demographic shift, and a political hangover for the Republican Party, and decent progress from medicine to LGBT rights. If Limbaugh is still around by then, I fail to see how he will have become anything more than a forgotten Coughlin, neither loved nor relevant.”
I think the author is right about all of that, and I find no small measure of solace in it as we fight the battles we now fight.