Republican lawmakers divided on Obama sending 100 Combat Troops to Uganda

**Editors Note: This story was written around October 18, 2011

(GoinsReport.com) – When asked whether he supports the President’s recent decision to send military advisors to Central Africa, Sen. John Thune says he hasn’t thought much about that—but added that he hopes it will be an “international, worldwide” commitment to address the problems in Uganda.

GoinsReport.com asked Senator Thune (R-S.D.) on Capitol Hill Tuesday, “Do You support the president unilaterally sending 100 troops to Uganda?”

Thune said: “I have to say I haven’t thought a lot about that. I know that’s something some of my colleagues who are more familiar with the issue have been discussing.”

He continued: “But obviously there is some tremendous atrocities being committed that hopefully it will be an international, worldwide commitment to try and address and the United States clearly is always taking a leadership role and we’ll probably continue to do that. But I need to look more at the details and particulars of it.”

In an electronic newsletter sent Tuesday, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) wrote that he supported President Obama in sending military advisors to Uganda to assist in apprehending Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army.

“This latest development is another step to bringing much awaited justice to the children and victims in Uganda devastated by the monstrous acts of Kony and the LRA,” Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla) wrote.

“As the pioneer for this cause in Congress for the past decade, it is my prayer that Kony will be held accountable for the violent acts the LRA has committed against the youth of Uganda and throughout the continent of Africa” he continued.

However, several members of Congress in the Senate and the House of Representatives have warned against sending troops to a foreign country without congressional approval.

Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.) said in a Friday Townhall in Iowa that she wasn’t very aware of President Obama’s recent action, according to CBSNews.

“I do not know enough about it to comment on it,” the report quoted Bachmann as saying. But she added “we will have to first demonstrate a vital American national interest” before sending troops overseas.

Referring to the president’s decision to aid pro-Democracy forces in Libya she is quoted as saying, “he did not get permission from Congress; he just did it unilaterally.” She added: “It just happened again.”

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said this past Sunday in an interview CNN’s “State of the Union” that he thinks it’s appropriate to “do what we can to prevent and eradicate” the Lord’s Resistance Army. However, he added that he doesn’t have all of the details and that a slippery slope situation could happen in Uganda.

“We don’t know any of the details,” McCain said. “I remember Somalia. I remember Lebanon. We’ve got to be very careful about how we engage. This slippery slope thing could happen there. I think it’s mainly humanitarian in this case.”