Remember the bizarre “Kony 2012” video last year that was supposed to mobilize us all to fight the really bad guys in Uganda? (Or at least get behind the State Department and AFRICOM’s efforts to fight the “really bad guys” in Uganda)? The video was supposedly viewed by millions and gazillions of people who then demanded that the State Department, CIA, and AFRICOM (who all had a hand in funding the “NGO” that made the film) do something about the horrible John Kony and his “Lord’s Resistance Army.”
Never mind that no one had heard of him before viewing the film and never mind that Kony himself had disappeared and was presumed dead years before the film was even made. After watching the film, Americans demanded that the US government do something about all those bad people in Africa, and AFRICOM and other US government agencies happily complied.
Remember how indignant the newly-mobilized and propagandized became after viewing the film, spending all their cash on various t-shirts, bracelets, and “Kony 2012” posters? Remember how equally quickly those posters came down from suburbanite human rights warriors’ windows when it became obvious that the “charity” was a scam and its leaders overpaid stooge lunatics?
Well guess what? This past week’s emergency continuing resolution and debt ceiling adjustment bill that miraculously yanked the US from the edge of the abyss of what we were assured would be an apocalyptic US debt default contained in a deep dark corner an authorization to keep the money flowing to foreign governments who were fighting the US proxy wars in Africa against the Lord’s Resistance Army.
Not that you would know it by the sneaky wording in the rescue bill, HR 2775. Here is how they put it in the bill:
SEC. 122. The authority provided by sections 1205 and 1206 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (Public Law 112–81) shall continue in effect, notwithstanding sub-section (h) of section 1206, through the earlier of the date specified in section 106(3) of this joint resolution or the date of the enactment of an Act authorizing appropriations for fiscal year 2014 for military activities of the Department of Defense.
As typical, it means nothing. But a trip back to Public Law 112–81 reveals the real intent of this snuck-in bit:
SEC. 1206. SUPPORT OF FOREIGN FORCES PARTICIPATING IN OPERATIONS TO DISARM THE LORD’S RESISTANCE ARMY.
(a) AUTHORITY.—Pursuant to the policy established by the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009 (Public Law 111–172; 124 Stat. 1209), the Secretary of Defense may, with the concurrence of Secretary of State, provide logistic support, supplies, and services for foreign forces participating in operations to mitigate and eliminate the threat posed by the Lord’s Resistance Army as follows:…
(c) FUNDING.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Of the amount authorized to be appropriated for the Department of Defense for each of fiscal years 2012 and 2013 for operation and maintenance, not more than $35,000,000 may be utilized in each such fiscal year to provide support under subsection (a).
(2) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS ACROSS FISCAL YEARS.— Amounts available under this subsection for a fiscal year for support under the authority in subsection (a) may be used for support under that authority that begins in such fiscal year but ends in the next fiscal year.
So despite the emergency measures taken by those dedicated to getting the government back open, they somehow found millions of dollars to continue US proxy wars in Africa. There are a lot of minerals and oceans of oil in Africa, however…
Flickr/Avakian
