US special ops troops sent to Uganda

Telegraph:

In a letter to Congress, Mr Obama said: "These forces will act as advisers to partner forces that have the goal of removing from the battlefield Joseph Kony and other senior leadership of the LRA."

In an attempt to head off criticism from his war-weary country, Mr Obama stressed that the American troops would not act independently and would only fire on LRA forces "in self-defence".

"Although the US forces are combat-equipped, they will only be providing information, advice, and assistance to partner nation forces," the president said.

The Friday afternoon timing of the announcement seemed a deliberate attempt by the White House to avoid an extended public debate about sending US ground forces into Africa for the first time since the "Black Hawk Down" incident in Somalia in 1993, when 18 US military personnel died in a botched attempt to capture a warlord.

But what promises to be a dangerous and sensitive mission immediately prompted doubts.

 Senator John McCain, the ranking Republican on the Senate armed services committee, told CNN: "The LRA is one of the most atrocious and barbaric organisations in history. I applaud the goal, but I would like to know more.

 "We have sent peacekeepers into places before and it has ended in tragedy. You don't want to get into something you can't get out of."

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The force appears to small.  The story sounds much like that used by Kennedy when he sent special ops troops to Vietnam.   If these guys are supported by some of the drones that have been sent to Africa recently it might make their mission more doable.  I am skeptical at this point.