U.S. aircraft join the pursuit of a rebel leader who has spent years plundering villages, mutilating civilians and kidnapping children across large swaths of Central Africa Military aircraft are for the first time to join an enlarged U.S. special-operations force in Uganda as President Barack Obama ramps up efforts to hunt down notorious warlord Joseph Kony. CV-22 Osprey aircraft will arrive by midweek, along with refueling aircraft and some 150 Air Force special-operations personnel, according to the Washington Post. A total of 300 U.S. troops will now be stationed in the restive Central African state. Kony, whose brutal Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has spent years plundering villages, mutilating civilians and kidnapping children across large swaths of Uganda, the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Congo, has been indicted by the International Criminal Court. LRA atrocities publicized on the Internet have sparked waves of revulsion around the world ...
President Obama departed for a whirlwind tour of four allied nations, but Crimea and other global crises mean he's got more on his plate than he bargained for as he seeks to reassure Washington's friends amid increasing tensions abroad This won’t be the trip he planned. President Barack Obama departed Sunday night for a six-day whirlwind tour through Europe and the Middle East that was supposed to be an ordinary trip to friendly countries to discuss nuclear security and trade while basking in the glow of the new Pope. Instead, as he visits the Hague, Brussels, Rome and Riyadh, Obama will be devoting his time to maintaining increasingly strained alliances with American allies across the globe, as global conflicts are placing the concerns of jittery partners on the front burner. “If there’s a common theme to this trip, it’s the fundamental strength and importance of our alliances and partnerships,” National Security Adviser Susan Rice said Friday. “The s...