US AND ITS INSATIABLE DESIRE FOR OIL

US IS SENDING ITS TROOPS WHEN KONY ALREADY GONE

There are several reasons to believe that US troops are hunting for oil in Uganda and not for Joseph Kony. Kony is the leader of the rebel group LRA (Lord Resistance Army). They had been notorious for kidnapping children from villages, forcing the boys to become soldiers and using girls as sex slaves. In October 2011, the US government sent a hundred soldiers to Uganda with the excuse of helping these children escape from the revolutionary group’s abuse. The problem is, the LRA been gone from Uganda for more than six years.
Nowadays, there seems to be a tendency from the US to invade countries like Iraq, Libya and now Uganda; countries with political problems, high corruption and poverty. Countries that are usually rich in oil.
To illustrate, the US army invaded Iraq on March 18, 2003. This country had the world’s fourth-largest oil reserves according to The World Factbook by CIA (cia.gov, Internet). The official reason for the attack was to disarm Sadam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction. Nine years have passed and they found only basic weapons. Many believe that they were really hunting oil. The fact that Exxon, Mobil, Shell, Total, BP, Chevron and a number of smaller oil companies got no-bid millionaire contracts to service Iraq’s largest fields seems to support this.
Before US invasion since 1973, these companies were obligated to leave the country excluding them from the Iraqi oil market. (Juhasz Antonia, Internet). These contracts gave the companies an advantage in bidding on future contracts in a country of a large-scale increase in oil production. (Andrew E. Kramer, Internet).
Presently the same situation is happening in Uganda. No doubt that this country needs help in order to against abuse of the revolutionary group. The country is seventieth in the list of the world’s poorest nations and has failed thus far to combat the LRA effectively enough to stop them. (Pinner Kevin, Internet). In addition, the high corruption level in their government system, low level of high expectancy (53 years) (Bureau of African Affairs. U.S. Department of State, Internet). All these characteristic seem to make Uganda the perfect target to send US troops. It seems to be that when US Foreign Policy sees oil and humanitarian crisis, they act. But, the question is why Obama not sent a credible humanitarian delegation before, instead of a bunch of soldiers. It looks like the typical Washington solution.
Uganda is currently not at war. The trick is that in 2009, was made a big discovery in Lake Albert at Uganda. The site contains at least 2.5 billion barrels of oil. Some estimate up to six billion barrels. This is the most important finding of the last two decades in Africa and one of the largest fields have been discovered during the past thirty five years. The Economist magazine reports that the country expect to earn two billion dollars a year beginning in 2015(Kampala, Internet). The new finding will further destabilize in this area, as there are many political groups that realize the value the oil represents today and want to take advantage.
The US has now come into Uganda of course they never had mention oil. They have gone after Kony. He proclaimed himself “Spokesman of God”. They say that they are fighting in the name of God based on Ten Commandments and local traditions. Although it is hard to explain what shitty god are they talking about. They had been notorious for kidnapping children between thirteen and eighteen year old from villages, forcing the boys to become fighters and using the girls as sex slaves. According to the World Bank report “sixty six thousands youth were forcibly recruited into Uganda's rebel Lord's Resistance Army in two-decade long insurgency in the northern region” (Xinhua, Reliefweb. Internet).
Despite this Kony has been gone since 2006. These scenes are fewer in Uganda. According to Laura Seay, a professor at Morehouse College, who studies conflict and community in central Africa, said "You have coffee shops and pizza places in Gulu – northen city in Uganda-. It's absolutely peaceful," she said (Mary Slosson, Internet). Now Ugandan people are rebuilding their country. The researchers say that Kony and his group have move to Sudan.
The US seems to have invaded due to the new trend of going after Kony. They spread this fake humanitarian idea through a campaign with videos, post and blogs through social media showing him as the worst war criminal in the world and the atrocities that he made as an actual situation. A month after the video was launched, a major Ugandan newspaper published a list of currently nationally chased war criminals and Kony was not in the list (New vision news, Internet). According to Infowar post “Invisible Children’s organization is staffed almost exclusively with young, ‘Christian activists’ and could very well have support links to other Christian evangelist organizations, some of whom have historical links to the CIA”. Also there exist rumors that the organization has been funding by the CIA and pretending that it is a charity-like organization, as it uses a false international crisis like Kony and the LRA in order to raise money around US. (Patrick Henningsen, Internet).
All the evidences seem to match to the US model of countries to invade. And it is amazing how the government could make this entire scenario trying to hide the true intention of getting advantage of the oil of these weakness countries.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

* Bureau of African Affairs. U.S. Department of State, 6 Apr. 2012. Web. 19 June 2012) * Jamail, Dahr. "Western Oil Firms Remain as US Exits Iraq” Al Jazeera." 7 Jan 2012. Web. 19 June 2012. * CIA. "Central Intelligence Agency.” 8 June 2012. Web. 19 June 2012. * Pinner, Kevin. "Oil Reserves in Uganda, US Sends 'Humanitarian Intervention'" Death and Taxes Magazine, 20 Oct. 2011. Web. 19 June 2012. * Andrew E. Kramer. "DEALS WITH IRAQ ARE SET TO BRING OIL GIANTS BACK." The New York Times, 19 June 2008. * Kampala. "A Bonanza Beckons." Editorial. The Economist 31 Mar. 2010: n. pag, 31 Mar. 2010. Web. 22 June 2012. * Slosson, Mary. "Anti-Kony Campaign in Turmoil after Filmmaker's Breakdown." Yahoo! News, 02 Apr. 2012. Web. 22 June 2012. * Carroll, Rory. "Kony 2012 Cover the Night Fails to Move from the Internet to the Streets." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 21 Apr. 2012. Web. 22 June 2012. * Miller, Nick. "Catch Kony Campaign Loses Couch Potatoes." The Sydney Morning Herald, 22 Apr. 2012. Web. 22 June 2012.