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Reasonable people can disagree about whether President Obama was right to send 100 special operations forces into Uganda to address the crisis caused by the Lord’s Resistance Army. Reasonable people should agree, however, that Rush Limbaugh’s criticism of the decision is disgusting.
The right-wing radio host went after the president on this issue on Friday, running this headline on his website: “Obama Invades Uganda, Targets Christians.” Limbaugh told his listeners:
“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. […]
“Lord’s Resistance Army objectives. I have them here. ‘To remove dictatorship and stop the oppression of our people.’ Now, again Lord’s Resistance Army is who Obama sent troops to help nations wipe out. The objectives of the Lord’s Resistance Army, what they’re trying to accomplish with their military action in these countries is the following: ‘To remove dictatorship and stop the oppression of our people; to fight for the immediate restoration of the competitive multiparty democracy in Uganda; to see an end to gross violation of human rights and dignity of Ugandans; to ensure the restoration of peace and security in Uganda, to ensure unity, sovereignty, and economic prosperity beneficial to all Ugandans, and to bring to an end the repressive policy of deliberate marginalization of groups of people who may not agree with the LRA ideology.’ Those are the objectives of the group that we are fighting, or who are being fought and we are joining in the effort to remove them from the battlefield.”
The LRA is best described as a death cult. It invades villages, slaughters the adults, and kidnaps children. These terrorists have been known to go on killing sprees with machetes and axes, and leave trails of dead bodies when their kidnapped victims don’t walk quickly enough with the rest of the cult.
The cult’s leaders claim some loose affinity for Christianity, but as Blake Hounshell reported yesterday, “To call the LRA ‘Christians’ is to abase the English language. As the Atlantic’s Graeme Wood put it in a profile of [LRA leader Joseph Kony] last year, ‘An American diplomat in Bangui compared the group to the Manson family, but given that the LRA has killed 12,000 people, the comparison is self-evidently unfair to Manson.’”
Limbaugh, meanwhile, is so blinded by hatred for America’s president that he’s siding with terrorists on the air, hoping to convince his suckers audience that Obama is targeting Ugandan Christians. Limbaugh even felt comfortable broadcasting LRA propaganda to a national American audience, as if it were legitimate.
I don’t care that Limbaugh is a professional liar; I do care when he sides with a depraved, roving band of mass murderers, solely because he hates the U.S. president. There are some things Americans simply shouldn’t do, and some lines that shouldn’t be crossed.
There need not be anything partisan about this. When Congress passed the LRA Disarmament & Northern Uganda Recovery Act, authorizing U.S. military support against the LRA, it was approved unanimously in both chambers — everyone from the most conservative Republican to the most liberal Democrat supported it.
And yet, there’s Limbaugh, who is simply beneath contempt.
Here’s an idea: given that Limbaugh is one of the nation’s most prominent Republican leaders, perhaps the GOP presidential candidates can be asked for their opinion on this. Does Mitt Romney agree with Limbaugh? Will Limbaugh’s embrace of the LRA and his broadcast of terrorist propaganda stop the candidates from appearing on Limbaugh’s show?
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DAY on October 16, 2011 8:18 AM:
Father Coughlin returns to the airwaves.
c u n d gulag on October 16, 2011 8:19 AM:
"The LRA is best described as a death cult. It invades villages, slaughters the adults, and kidnaps children."
Ooops, I thought LRA stood for "Lardass Rush's Army," because this sounds like what he'd like to do.
Rushba the Hutt suffers from Drastic Obama Derangement Syndrome (DODS).
Unlike Bush Derangement Syndrome which was, you know, based on actual things like stealing elections, unnecesarry wars and occupations, abrogation of civil and human rights, torture, rendition, etc., ODS could as easily be called AABO - Anything, ANYTHING, But Obama!
If Obama walked on water, they'd say, "Just like a typical n****r, too lazy and stupid to learn how to swim."
And when Obama comes out in support of arresting child molesting Priests, look for Rush to defend NAMBLA because, Obama doesn't love boys.
Rush, don't let your NAMBLA membership expire!
I understand that they've got minimum standards new or expired memberships.
Yup, your dick has to be THIS high ----------.
Sorry Rush...
Danp on October 16, 2011 8:26 AM:
Limbaugh has crossed the line with this argument, but it sure is hard to side with the Ugandan government, which is no beacon of tolerance either.
hells littlest angel on October 16, 2011 8:32 AM:
The candidate I want to hear from on this is Bachmann. Whatever lunacy comes out of her mouth is sure to push her under the waves for the last time, and I think it will also bring this issue to the prominence it deserves. For now, the big fat idiot can continue to hide behind his microphone.
Rob on October 16, 2011 8:38 AM:
I thought I was long past the point of caring about anything that man said. But when Matt Yglesias posted about this yesterday, I about lost it. I'm an international development student, interested in working in fragile and post-conflict states. The LRA is one of the main reasons why I began these studies. They have been classified as a terrorist group for over a decade - first being categorized as such by the Bush Administration. Even if Rush merely failed to do his due diligence and actually research the topic he was wading into, this is an embarrassment and shameful.
Invisible Children in San Diego has worked tirelessly on this issue for years, and one of their "roadies" a young American man, Nate Henn, died in Uganda last year while working on this issue (though to be clear, he was killed in the Al Shabaab bombing, not by the LRA). To hear his family tell it at the time, he was motivated in large party by his Christian values. So, you have a megalomaniacal death cult leader who American Christians have literally given their lives to undo the work of, but Rush thinks this is a great place to win cheap political points...
majun on October 16, 2011 8:46 AM:
Will Limbaugh’s embrace of the LRA and his broadcast of terrorist propaganda stop the candidates from appearing on Limbaugh’s show?
You seem to be confusing the GOP with some group that has a sense of decency, some capability about being embarassed. They are a band of immoral, power-hungry megalomaniacs.
SYSPROG on October 16, 2011 8:50 AM:
He CAN help himself but he has chosen to play a game with his listeners. How many despicable things can he say and they will STILL follow him? He is not just taking jabs at the 'liberals'...he is taking jabs at ANYONE he has decided is beneath him. He has become an egomanical fool that thinks money=intelligence and the ability to lead. We are seeing this more and more.
Mike on October 16, 2011 8:59 AM:
The Limbaugh show is still carried on Armed Forces Radio, btw.
internet tough guy on October 16, 2011 9:00 AM:
Rush might as well have asked someone to pop Obama.
That's some seriously dangerous dogwhistle he's blowing.
Antonius on October 16, 2011 9:06 AM:
Sounds like material support of terrorism to me. Call in the drone strikes.
FRP on October 16, 2011 9:15 AM:
Many speakers are less invested of the glamour found in Emperor Sir very high , highfalutin' Rushbo and his extemporaneous improvisational sermonizing , than his rushness himself .
Still I would like to see Mr Benen frame his observations in the straightforward deconstructions applied so fluidly today on the all mighty Rush .
It can be difficult to read courteous asides considering the whack a mole sensibility of the leading , pick 'em , right wing philippics over settled science , constitutional law , religious or health care choice , etc etc etc etc ....
So it is easy to pick apart a rushbo without hurting sensitivities to the higher callings of service and country , it is still difficult to frame the rantings of the right as in service to anything other than the wish lists of the Koch family .
DisgustedWithItAll on October 16, 2011 9:18 AM:
Can anybody say they're really surprised by this?
berttheclock on October 16, 2011 9:19 AM:
I'm surprised there are no old tapes of Russ denouncing US Rep Leo Ryan and his aide, Jackie Speier, for trying to intervene in the MaHvelous Christian work being done, at that time, by Jim Jones.
GregL on October 16, 2011 9:22 AM:
Con on, the transscript you link to clearly has Rush trying to backtrack his statements at the end:
Is that right? The Lord's Resistance Army is being accused of really bad stuff? Child kidnapping, torture, murder, that kind of stuff? Well, we just found out about this today. We're gonna do, of course, our due diligence research on it. But nevertheless we got a hundred troops being sent over there to fight these guys -- and they claim to be Christians.
Although the idea if Rush and "due diligence" is a bit much to take.
zandru on October 16, 2011 10:11 AM:
Mike helpfully points out "The Limbaugh show is still carried on Armed Forces Radio, btw.
Let's USE the Limbaugh quotes that Mr. Benen has kindly provided us and write to our Congresspersons, to our Senators, to the White House, to the DoD DEMANDING that Limbaugh be removed from the Armed Forces playlist.
Let's do it this weekend.
"eldrAc importance" - Precisely.
max on October 16, 2011 10:14 AM:
Even Magoo tagged accurately Limbaugh as a "circus clown". Limbaugh has never been anything but a fat rich druggie lying to people he knows to be idiots.
Marie Burns on October 16, 2011 10:27 AM:
I want to thank commenter Mike for pointing out that Armed Forces Radio Network carries Limbaugh's show. Here's a copy of a letter I just wrote to P. J. (Jerry) Weaver, an Armed Forces Radio Network director, at pjweaver94@gmail.com (the original letter contains links to documentation). I hope some of you will write similar letters:
Dear Mr. Weaver:
As you probably know, last week Rush Limbaugh came out in support of the terrorist African group the Lord’s Resistance Army. In 2009, the U.S. Congress unanimously passed the LRA Disarmament & Northern Uganda Recovery Act, authorizing U.S. military support against the LRA. Last week the President sent Congressional leaders a letter advising them that he had “authorized a small number of combat equipped U.S. forces to deploy to central Africa to provide assistance to regional forces that are working toward the removal of Joseph Kony [the LRA leader] from the battlefield.”
In view of Mr. Limbaugh’s support of a group which the Congress and President have recognized as a violent terrorist organization, and against whom American troops are fighting, I ask you to immediately and permanently remove Mr. Limbaugh’s program from your schedule. Armed Forces Radio Network, which is taxpayer-funded, should not carry a radio show that advocates for enemy terrorists.
Thank you for your urgent attention to this matter.
Marie Burns
The Constant Weader at http://www.RealityChex.com
Swift Loris on October 16, 2011 10:48 AM:
Con on, the transscript you link to clearly has Rush trying to backtrack his statements at the end:
I read about his first remarks and the backtrack at the end of his show on another blog yesterday.
It remains to be seen whether he'll do a full walkback on his next show or pretend he never said anything, but as much as he deserves ridicule for his initial take, fairness requires that anybody reporting it also report that he got clued in enough to call it in question on the air.
Fritz Strand on October 16, 2011 10:51 AM:
One of the things which drives me nuts is why the Democrats miss the really easy stuff. How obvious is it to ask a Republican, 'The leader of the Republican party Rush Limbaugh says..(poor children should be taught to dumper dive, supports a murderous cult, etc.,etc.,)"?
DZ on October 16, 2011 12:05 PM:
I listened to Limbaugh a lot in the early 90s, and he was challenging then. However, this was in the days when he at least tried to construct an argument, and pre-Internet, it was not as easy to fact-check him.
Now, Limbaugh’s discourse is no more sophisticated than that of the drunk at the end of the bar, head down in his arms, who is awakened from his stupor to yell at the TV when Obama’s picture comes on.
I defy anyone to listen for three hours and come away with a fact-based argument. And it’s why Limbaugh will never, ever put himself in a forum situation where he would be even remotely challenged.
Skip on October 16, 2011 12:09 PM:
"Limbaugh even felt comfortable broadcasting LRA propaganda to a national American audience, as if it were legitimate."
From a man who has felt comfortable broadcasting GOP propaganda to a national American audience, as if it were legitimate? Easy.
Quaker in a Basement on October 16, 2011 12:59 PM:
"We will, of course, do our due diligence research on this..."
That ship has sailed, Sparky. The time for "due diligence" was before you opened your fat piehole the first time.
Sparko on October 16, 2011 1:26 PM:
I still think he should be in prison for his prescription drug felonies. That he is not is all you need to know about the war on drugs. He should be removed from the air too. There is no constitutional right to mislead thru propaganda. And this is hate speech--and incitement to violence angainst the POTUS. He should be arrested this time.
sam3am on October 16, 2011 1:55 PM:
Limbaugh is counting on the likelihood that most Americans have never heard of the Lord's Resistance Army before this week, and will buy his crap, hook, line, and sinker.
I didn't know much about them myself until I traveled to Uganda in the summer of 2010.
My question is, does Limbaugh really not know any better and believes that the LRA is what they say they are, or does he know the truth and is saying these things anyway just to try to undermine President Obama?
zandru on October 16, 2011 2:00 PM:
"Fairness Requires"
per Swift Loris. No, it doesn't. Limbaugh has a 20 year record of vicious anti-American statements and unfair, false attacks against the military's own Commander in Chief, whenever and ONLY when that person is a Democrat. This undermines discipline and the military's own codes of conduct.
Let this Lords thing be the straw that finally broke the camel's back.
Swift Loris on October 16, 2011 2:46 PM:
@zandru: Limbaugh has a 20 year record of vicious anti-American statements and unfair, false attacks against the military's own Commander in Chief,
Granted. And this means, according to you, that it's perfectly OK for us to be unfair to him? Two wrongs make a right?
Cha on October 16, 2011 3:12 PM:
So the idiot walked into his own trap.. had to take back what his big mouth shot off? Haha. limbaugh finally had to retract one of his slimey lies against our President? Too bad his listeners are too stupid to know he should be walking back all his lies.
tanstaafl on October 16, 2011 3:47 PM:
Gotta call bullshit on the idea that Lardass Limbaugh was trying to walk anything back. It would have taken him less time to find out the facts about Kony and the LRA than it did to locate the ridiculous mission statement of their that he read on air.
The idea that he would attack the President of the United States for sending U.S. troops to kill Christians and then do "due dilligence" afterwords makes the term meaningless. It was a disgusting, immoral and deliberate attempt to revive all the "he is a secret Muslim" bigotry directed at the President. He is counting on his gullible audience to forgive him and forget his lies if/when he issues a correction later but to remember that rush of visceral hatred towards the President that they felt when they heard those lies.
exlibra on October 16, 2011 5:19 PM:
“Lord’s Resistance Army objectives. I have them here. ‘To remove dictatorship and stop the oppression of our people.’ -- Lush Limpbow
He ought to have read some of the officially stated "objectives" of the communist parties of USSR and the Eastern Europe. They, too, were positively lyrical.
Lying idiot.
DaveyNC on October 16, 2011 6:53 PM:
Since you all are in a high dudgeon here over Limbaugh's comments, allow me to provide you with the final paragraph that Mr. Benen conveniently left out of this "article":
"The government of Uganda claims that Lord's Resistance Army only has 500 or a thousand soldiers in total. So what's the threat? If that's the maximum size of their army, what's the threat? A thousand soldiers? Now, 1100 soldiers because we have sent a hundred. I'm not making this up. This is Jacob Tapper. ABC News had reported that Obama got a letter off to John Boehner a couple days ago announcing this. It's just for a few months until the Lord's Resistance Army is eradicated. That's all. Just a few months. Not much of a threat."
The original is here: http://goo.gl/DKNsy if you care to get the full view of the story. Which I doubt.
sjay on October 16, 2011 10:04 PM:
To those claiming Steve was unfair to Rush by not reporting his concluding remarks- those remarks don't do much for Rush's case. Basically, he's saying that he will leap reflexively to the defense of any group that claims to be "Christian" and is "fighting Muslims". He is one easy mark if that is the case.
momo on October 16, 2011 11:51 PM:
it's bias not to call LPA fundamental christians when we call al Qaede fundamental muslims or islamists, not a cult.
just saying.
Patango on October 17, 2011 4:07 AM:
Swift Loris ," but as much as he deserves ridicule for his initial take, fairness requires that anybody reporting it also report that he got clued in enough to call it in question on the air. "
But this is exactly what the GOP propagandist do , in DC and on the air , they tell the lie , then retract it behind the scenes latter , so they get their message out , and are also the supposed good fair guys , while the minion repeat it like wild fire....
Any since of fair play was abandoned long ago by this GOP type , you can play fair with them , and they will walk all over you , look at how far playing fair got Obama so far ....
I agree one must come from the truth and fairness , but look at what it took to even get to FAIR when we had to deal with the nazis for instance .... That may sound extreme , but just sit down and try and have a logical conversation with a ditto head some time ....
My bro in-law will repeat everything rush farts on the radio any given day , and there is nothing that will convince him it is not all fact based , good luck with that ...
kindness on October 17, 2011 12:06 PM:
Guillotine?
Texas Aggie on October 17, 2011 4:35 PM:
a Ugandan rebel group he (President Obama) once condemned as an “affront to human dignity” for chilling violence that has included hacking body parts off victims, abduction of young boys to fight and young girls to be used as sex slaves.”
I think what we hear here is the Great White Whale's fantasy wet dream. This is the kind of thing that gets "people" like him all excited and turned on.
Chesire11 on October 17, 2011 5:27 PM:
DaveyNC-
For 24 years, the 500-1,000 members of the LRA have managed to butcher thousands of innocent CHRISTIANS (not Muslims - not that it matters):
"The rebels often masquerade as military soldiers, or pounce as villagers gather together for occasions such as church services. They launch vicious attacks, killing the weak and the old with machetes, swords or stones, and cutting off people�s ears, lips and noses to serve as a warning to others. The rebels capture those who can be useful to them, including children strong enough to carry weapons. The captives are tied together and marched to camps where they are violently indoctrinated and turned into soldiers, porters, cooks, or sex slaves. Captives are often forced to kill or rape family members, making it impossible for them to think about returning home. Those who do resist or try to escape are tortured and killed...Children have been affected the most acutely by this conflict, with thousands abducted, used as soldiers and sex slaves, beaten and forced to torture and kill friends, family and innocent people." ( http://www.warchild.org.uk/issues/the-lords-resistance-army?_kk=LRA&_kt=a35dea99-cfb1-4fd9-8cb8-847c2ecd7db8&gclid=CNiU0O_S8KsCFYXb4AodlUfD5A )
That's the kind of threat they are.
Anyone who makes even the most feeble, half-hearted attemp to defend the LRA is a PIG, and anyone who attempts to defend Rush's LRA apologia is a pig as well.
Raul on October 18, 2011 4:11 AM:
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Lib on October 18, 2011 3:21 PM:
As a wise friend said, this is like supporting Hitler because he was a "Christian". The LRA are monsters. Pure, unadulterated evil. It breaks my heart that anyone, even as base a human being as Mr. Limbaugh, would use a position of power to promote the LRA's wicked agenda.
Red on October 23, 2011 9:58 PM:
Limbaugh is TOTALLY out of his element claiming the LRA is Christian. NO THEY ARE NOT! I've lived in Uganda and I have seen first hand the brutality of this guy and his followers. Children abducted to kill fellow Ugandans, young girls forced to serve as sex slaves for the soldiers, innocent victims' limbs cut off so they can't run and tell the world what is happening there and the list goes on. There's plenty of information out on the horror Kony and his troops have committed over the past two plus decades. The fact that this man Limbaugh claims that the LRA is Christian and is willing to castigate Obama for sending in troops to FINALLY end this human atrocity spearheaded by a mentally deranged Kony, is simply outragious. He claims, “We just found out about this today…” Kony has been at war with the Ugandan government since the mid 1980s. Where the heck has been Limbaugh living? Limbaugh needs to follow world news and find out what is really going on over there before he can talk such utter nonsense!