[head]

mugwump,

Look, I don't know who you are (your profile is a vague, but it looks like you've been around here for a while so you may have been blessed off)... but just because they are saying "give war a chance" does not make me a fan of theirs. "It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it."

I don't think IC is bad and I reserve judgement on some of the other points... but they do oversimplify the "how" in a manner that turns me off. The photo of them posing with weapons merely amplifies this feeling.

I, like all soldiers, have to go fight wherever I'm told whether it's some bad intel about WMD's or it's college hipsters who use social media to rally the troops. I just don't like for "where" to be decided by the strength of ad campaign or by the calls to war from the people who didn't know the man they want capture/dead even existed two days ago (that didn't attack the US, thanks)

But it is funny that the ones who will make up that military presence... are about the same demographic as the ones running around wearing pins and wristbands asking for the troops to go there. I'm not saying for them to sign up in the military, I just want them to recognize that there is always a price to be paid - look at "Blackhawk Down." Is Kony worth American lives? Is Kony worth THEIR lives?

Let's finish the job? Sure... when is the job finished? Take out Kony? What about the next Kony? Are we now America World Police and should start going down the list of the world's top criminals? I'm not saying that Kony isn't a bad guy that deserves to die... but what is the strategic benefit to America for hunting down this guy? If we can accomplish any our strategic goals by simply conducting FID and letting the LN armies keep him on the run, why do we need to commit any more troops or go after him ourselves?

I don't think we'll be out of a job without IC. There will always be shitty militaries to train and humanitarian problemsto fix in Africa. We've had trainers in there under ACRI since the 90's. I agree that we could capitalize on the current media spotlight in that area - turn it into a little recruitment campaign for SF.