Was Obama an accomplice in David Kato's murder?

David Kato, LGBT activist, Advocacy Officer for
Sexual Minorities Uganda, slain by an assailant, who
broke into his home and hit him over the head
with a hammer until he was dead on 01.26.2011.

Would Ugandan LGBT advocate David Kato be alive if Barack Obama, the most powerful man in the world, had not asked Reverend Rick Warren to say the opening prayers, or invocation, at his inauguration on January 20, 2009, then attempted to justify the invitation with reference to Reverend Rick Warren's humanitarian work in Africa?

Warren had been a longstanding ally of Uganda's infamously homophobic Pastor Martin Ssempa, although outrage over Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act, a.k.a. "Hang-the-Gays Bill," has since compelled him to take his distance.

In Uganda, Warren had, in March 2008, encouraged a schism in the Anglican Communion over gay Episcopalian Bishop Gene Robinson, and said "we shall not tolerate this aspect [homosexuality], not at all."

Warren had also, during his campaign for Proposition 8, California's gay marriage ban, equated homosexuality with incest, pedophilia and bestiality, in this interview on Beliefnet:



In 2008, after the outrage consequent to his invitation to Warren, Obama justified his invitation to Rick Warren as an instance of inclusion, including Reverend Rick Warren's voice as one of many in his inauguration:

Here is the White House statement of sorrow and affirmation of LGBT rights as fundamental human rights, in response to David Kato's murder in Uganda:

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

January 27, 2011

Statement by the President on the Killing of David Kato

I am deeply saddened to learn of the murder of David Kato.  In Uganda, David showed tremendous courage in speaking out against hate.  He was a powerful advocate for fairness and freedom.  The United States mourns his murder, and we recommit ourselves to David’s work.

At home and around the world, LGBT persons continue to be subjected to unconscionable bullying, discrimination, and hate.  In the weeks preceding David Kato’s murder in Uganda, five members of the LGBT community in Honduras were also murdered.  It is essential that the Governments of Uganda and Honduras investigate these killings and hold the perpetrators accountable.

LGBT rights are not special rights; they are human rights.  My Administration will continue to strongly support human rights and assistance work on behalf of LGBT persons abroad.  We do this because we recognize the threat faced by leaders like David Kato, and we share their commitment to advancing freedom, fairness, and equality for all.

Of course we have to be glad that President Obama was moved, and/or obliged to make such a statement, but many questions remain unanswered, regarding Obama, Reverend Rick Warren, and the East African Presidents, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, and Burundian President Pierre Nkrunziza, all three of whom have promoted the criminalization of homosexuality, and provided troops in service to the American military agenda in Africa.

Unlike other forms of violence in Africa, David Kato's murder, and Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act, makes 10-20% of the world, regardless of racial and national identities, feel targeted. 

Anniversary: Obama's Invasion of Congo on Inauguration Day

Two years ago, on January 20, 2009, Barack Obama, the U.S.A.'s first African American president, invaded the Democratic Republic of Congo, the heart of Africa, on his Inauguration Day.

Most Americans, including those who campaigned hardest for Obama, would have a hard time making sense of this, or of the military forces involved. Most would not recognize the acronyms of the Rwandan Defense Force (RDF), the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), the Ugandan People's Defense Force (UPDF), or the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). 

So, what sense does it make, to say that Barack Obama invaded Congo, the heart of Africa, on his Inauguration Day?  It makes sense because:

1)  On his Inauguration Day, Obama became the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces.

2)   The Rwandan and Ugandan armies serve as the U.S. military's proxies in Africa.

The only media outlet willing and able to produce something akin to a news report about this was the Assassinated Press, in "Obama Invades the Congo on Inauguration Day."

I had been a guest on the KPFA Radio Morning Show the day before Obama's Inauguration, where I had tried to explain that Reverend Rick Warren, a world class homophobe, and Obama's controversial pick to say his inaugural invocation, was not a benevolent presence in Africa, as reported by Team Obama in their attempts at damage control.  I later turned what I'd tried to explain into a video, "Imperial Evangelism."

But, I was so staggered by what happened the next day, during the Obama Inauguration, that I was unable to write about it for over a year and a half, not until October 1, 2010, when I wrote "Obama’s Congo moment: genocide, the U.N. report and Senate Bill 2125," an essay published first in the SF Bay View, then Global Research, the Black Star News, and The Newsline EA (East Africa).

Ugandan American Black Star News Editor Milton Allimadi, gave that report a more straightforward title:  "Congo Genocide: Obama Knows the Real Story."

Obama Inauguration on screen, Times Square,
New York City, January 20, 2009.
Photo:  Jeremy Gordon, Flckr

Today, two years after Obama's Inauguration Day, many of Obama's near fanatical 2008 supporters have turned away, calling him a disaster and searching for another candidate to step up and challenge him in the 2011 primary.   But, what more can we expect from presidential elections that now cost well over half a billion dollars?   The London Guardian reported, on October 23, that the Obama and McCain campaign costs were approaching $1 billion.

Though I myself felt psychologically battered by Obama fanatics by the end of the 2008 election, I can now hardly imagine a bigger waste of time than trying to knock Obama out of the Democratic primary in 2011.

Instead I would urge all those who campaigned for Obama, then turned away in disgust, to take some responsibility by reading Senate Bill 2125, the only Senate Bill that will ever bear Barack Obama's name alone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act of 2006. I explained why in my essay, "Obama’s Congo moment: Genocide, the U.N. report and Senate Bill 2125."

Obama did not have to invade Congo, the heart of Africa, on his Inauguration Day.   He does not have to continue, now, to ignore the UN Mapping Report, released October 1st, which documents our proxy armies' war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocidal civilian massacres in Congo.  Obama knows the truth about Congo; he knows that, as he wrote in his 2006 legislation, "the real and perceived presence of armed groups hostile to the Governments of Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi continue to serve as a major source of regional instability and an apparent pretext for continued interference in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by its neighbors [Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi]."

 

But, the full force of the national security state now surrounding Obama could not be more invested in Congo, the most lethal conflict since World War II, which might well be understood as the back end of "the war."

Big bombs drop out of jet fighter bombers and U.S. soldier die in the front end of the war in Afghanistan, and U.S. soldiers continue to die in Iraq, but in Congo, where our African proxies serve U.S. security state interests, rape and HIV seem to be the most lethal weapons.

Southern Africa's resources, and most of all Congo's, are essential to our military industries' ability to manufacture for war.   The war in Congo is, as I wrote, on March 11, 2009, in the San Francisco Bay View, war for the sake of war itself.

George W. Bush returns to Rev. Rick Warren's Saddleback Civic Forum

Reverend Rick Warren's November Saddleback Forum returns on November 29th, one year after the Reverend hung his International Medal of P.E.A.C.E. around Rwandan President Paul Kagame's neck, three months after the Reverend showed up, waving his Rwandan passport, to say the prayer invocation at incumbent Rwandan President Paul Kagame's inauguration, just as he had, almost two years earlier at Barack Obama's.

Who will be his Saddleback Forum guest this time?  George W. Bush, once again, as on December 1, 2008, when Warren honored Bush with his first International Medal for P.E.A.C.E., to say thanks for PEPFAR, the $18 billion President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief that became Warren's abstinence-only-until-heterosexual-married-monogamy power base in East Africa, most of all in Rwanda and Uganda.

Isn't it time for Reverend Rick Warren to stand trial in the court of public opinion, like the epic war criminals he advises and prays for?

Published: Nov. 9, 2010
Updated: 7:09 p.m.

President Bush to speak at Saddleback forum with Rick Warren

BY ERIKA I. RITCHIE

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Next Article »111

Share

57

  

• ARTICLE
  

LAKE FOREST – Former President George W. Bush will sit down for a conversation on leadership with Pastor Rick Warren during Saddleback Church's 6th Civil Forum later this month.

The forum, planned for Nov. 29, will focus on Bush's leadership and is expected to include discussion of excerpts from the former president's book, "Decision Points," Warren's chief of staff David Chrzan said.

President George W. Bush talks with pastor Rick Warren, founder of the Saddleback Valley Church, Lake Forest, Calif. after receiving an award from Warren as they participate in the Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health, Monday, Dec. 1, 2008, at the Newseum in Washington.

RON EDMONDS, AP

ADVERTISEMENT

More from Lake Forest

• El Toro wins challenge, collects almost 77,000 cans
• Shepherd pup recovers well from surgery
• Kids and family weekend events in Orange County (Nov. 19-21)

The book, released Tuesday, chronicles what Bush considers to be pivotal moments in his eight-year presidency and is aimed at defining his role as a world leader. Bush details a range of decisions from quitting drinking to deploying American troops after Sept. 11.

"The forum will include a personal conversation between Pastor Rick and President Bush," Chrzan said. "The goal is to create a forum where the community around Saddleback Church can hear from speakers who are great leaders and those who have positively impacted humanity."

Bush has been on national TV book tour, appearing in prime time Monday night in an interview with "Today Show's" Matt Lauer, and sitting with Oprah Tuesday afternoon.

The former president pointed to the 9/11 attacks as the moment when his administration was given an objective. As he wrote: "In a single morning, the purpose of my presidency had grown clear: to defend our freedom that had come under attack."

He also writes about the use of torture on members of Al Qaeda, and the bad intelligence regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Saddleback Church's previous forums have focused on orphans and adoption, Holocaust survivors, global health, persecution of Christians, the presidency, and the power of reconciliation, a discussion that featured the president of Rwanda.

The 6th Saddleback Civil Forum will be held at Saddleback Church, 1 Saddleback Parkway. The event is open to the public. The time is still to be determined, Chrzan said.

Contact the writer: 949-454-7307 oreritchie@ocregister.com

Anti-war protesters follow Obama in India

Bloomberg News provided additional cues as to what Obama's visit to India was really about, including $4.5 billion worth of Boeing C-17 Globemaster III military transport aircraft:

"With Obama in attendance, Indian companies and ministries will probably ink a half a dozen deals with U.S. outfits, some of them months in the making. There's a $4.5 billion order for Boeing C-17 transports, says Ron Somers, president of the U.S.-India Business Council. He says the Indians may announce a $4 billion contract for either GE or Caterpillar (CAT) to supply diesel locomotives."

Boeing C-17 military transport aircraft.