A Very Bad Guy Dies

Raska Lukwiya is dead. One of the top five dogs in the Uganda civil war's Lord's Resistance Army, Lukwiya was killed yesterday in a military action on the eve of a ceasefire.

He and all the LRA leadership, including top bad guy Joseph Kony, are sought by the International Criminal Court to face justice for their routine practices of murder, rape and forcibly enlisting children into their war.

How bad are these guys? Here's more from Global Security:

The LRA has abducted large numbers of civilians for training as guerrillas; most victims were children and young adults. The LRA abducted young girls as sex
and labor slaves. Other children, mainly girls, were reported to have been sold, traded, or given as gifts by the LRA to arms dealers in Sudan. While some later
escaped or were rescued, the whereabouts of many children remain unknown.

In particular, the LRA abducted numerous children and, at clandestine bases, terrorized them into virtual slavery as guards, concubines, and soldiers. In addition to being beaten, raped, and forced to march until exhausted, abducted children were forced to participate in the killing of other children who had attempted to escape. Amnesty International reported that without child abductions, the LRA would have few combatants. More than 6,000 children were abducted during 1998, although many of those abducted later escaped or were released. Most human rights NGOâs place the number of abducted children still held captive by the LRA at around 3,000, although estimates vary substantially. ...

Forty-eight people were hacked to death near the town of Kitgum in the far north of Uganda on 25 July 2002. Local newspaper reports said elderly people were killed with machetes and spears, and babies were flung against trees. Ugandans were shocked by the brutality of the latest attack by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army.

Now let's search our souls ... what has America done to cause the LRA to behave like this? What hook is there for us to hang our shame on?

hat-tip and photo: BBC
Related Tags: Lord's Resistance Army, Uganda