Dear Roger,
This is Taylor Hill once again, I have been given another opportunity to ask you a question. In your last response to my class mates and I, you said that you were in the pursuit of Joseph Kony, the leader of the LRA. I have just finished a project on Joseph and the LRA, so I was extremely excited to hear this. I have SO many questions about the LRA and Mr. Kony I do not know just which one to pick. I think that perhaps the question I would most like to ask you is this; if you had Joseph in your custody what would you ask him?
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Hi Taylor – To begin Mr.Theriault kinda gave me a Heads Up that you might be interested in our "Good Buddy" Joseph Kony and the LRA. He hinted that you may be doing some follow up work on the subject. I hope that I am not letting any "secret information" out of the bag?? Although we were chasing Kony all over South Sudan I did not get to physically meet him and his Deputy Vincent Oti until we met him in Garamba Park in the North of Congo. We facilitated his meeting with ex-President Chissano for Kony to ask Chissano to be a mediator in the Juba Sudan Peace negotiations. So although I did not have him in my custody I was at least in his presence. Before you might ask as to "why we did not arrest him when we had the chance?" I will advise you that there were 15 of us in the middle of the bush lightly armed while he came with his "Entourage" of approximately 250 of his fighters. Not a fair match at the time! Your question is thought provoking and I went with the first thought that sprang up in my mind as to what I would ask him should I ever have him in my custody. It would simply be "WHY?" This question is also difficult to answer such as the old clichés "Is there a God?" "What is the Meaning of Life?" "Is there Life after Death?" and so on. Do you feel what I am trying to project? I will try to elaborate. By asking the question “Why?” and should I ever get an honest answer it may be the first step in trying to find solutions on how to halt this form of anti-human behavior? Although having dealt with this example of a “Human Being” for most of my adult life and although I can even follow their way of thinking on the Military Tactical and Strategic Plane, it has always been a mystery to me as to Psychologically exactly WHY they decide to follow this Path? We in the Western Culture (and mind you I am not suggesting that ours is any better than any other) have our own parameters of what we consider our "boundaries". We believe we have a clear idea of the difference between wrong and right. I do not want to take this question into a Religion Discussion and I use the above in a way to introduce what we consider "moral values". These can be formed by all Religions around the world and Christianity does not have a monopoly on the matter. We firmly believe in our “moral high ground”. However, our North American Shores cannot fathom the depth of the atrocities inflicted upon Human Beings by Kony and those of his ilk? Yes, America has suffered the attack of 911. Can you remember the shock everybody expressed and are still expressing over the event? The number of deaths in 911 was in the range of 3000 people. For Kony and the like this would be considered a “slow month”! You are probably more aware of numbers than I am when I speak of how many people have been and still are being killed, women raped, children abducted and turned against their own families by the LRA. I will not elaborate on this particular aspect.
So “Why?” did Kony embark on such a campaign? His “basic philosophy” is that he wishes to rule Uganda by the true “Ten Commandments” as given to Moses by God? One could say that he has managed to break a fairly good number of them in the process. He conveniently and frequently forgets the one about “Thou shalt not kill”! It is too easy for us to use Pop Psychology and dismiss him as just being “Nuts”. That would be a grave mistake on anyone’s part. Anyone who can start a campaign in 1987 (over 20 years) and manage to survive in the bush and on the run while the Ugandan Army, Sudanese Army, the UN and now the Congolese Army have been trying to either capture him or kill him cannot be considered stupid or crazy. Because of this he is considered by his followers as being a “Visionary” and he has gained “Mythical Proportions” as they also believe that he cannot be killed or captured. But I may have drifted a bit from my own Question to Kony – Why? I guess that the reason I might ask this question is that I am also afraid that in reality there is “no answer”? Hopefully you won’t consider this a “cop-out”. Any answer to any question I might have for this person would probably not satisfy me. But again this is a “personal” issue. I dislike leaving you with an answer to your question to which for me there is no answer but maybe you can see my point? However, I will try to leave you on a positive note. I will refer to Katie’s question of the other day which is relevant to the Kony case. She asked about the International Criminal Court (ICC - who by the way has an International Warrant for Kony’s arrest) and whether it is worthwhile or not. When we went to talk to Kony in Garamba Park last year the discussions from ex-President Chissano centered on getting the Peace Talks started in Juba Sudan to end the conflict between Uganda and LRA. During the discussions in Garamba Park and no matter how hard Chissano tried to steer the talks in the right direction, every second or third sentence that Kony uttered he would ask the same question or make the same statement “Can you cancel the ICC’s warrants brought against me and my men?” Chissano of course could not offer him that deal. After the talks got started in Juba and for all intents and purposes they did reach agreements at the level of the negotiators, Kony did not sign the agreements in December of 2008 giving as his fundamental reason that the ICC Warrants had not been cancelled and that his freedom or his life could not be guaranteed. That was the last straw. With that the Talks failed and now we have Ugandan Troops with the approval of the Congo Government and the UN hunting Kony in the North of the Congo. That was his last chance to negotiate a deal for himself! That is the impact of the ICC. I hope that I have done justice to your question? Good Luck on your future project. If you think I might be able to contribute do not hesitate to contact me separately.
Roger Arsenault
07 January 2009
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