Quote Originally Posted by carl View Post
Stan:

I guess what I meant was A-Teams the way I understood them to work in Vietnam, not only training the people but staying with them and leading them in the field.

That is probably not politically feasible, but something along those lines or perhaps like the British officered Arab Legion from the old days is what I was thinking of. The leadership would have to be other than Congolese for the reasons you state.

This all pie in the sky most probably but if you could talk everybody into it, I don't think the force would have to do much fighting. Once the force was trained well, BS on the AP would get the rapists thinking about it, and then one real battle to prove the force was serious might cause everybody else to melt into the bush.

My basic idea is get a force of Congolese privates with trustworthy commisioned and non-commisioned officers who would probably have to be ex-pats.
Carl,

What you are describing happened in 1964-1965. I just don't think anyone has the stomach for it anymore.

The world's solution to this now is the same as it was in 1994-1996 when I wrote report after report warning it was coming. That is to say, make clucking noises over the 94 genocide and say, "never again" looking sternly at the camera until the lights go off. Then ignore it until it comes up again and repeat with variations authorized.

The reality is that if the Congolese (a term used most loosely) do not fix it, it will not be fixed. That is why I liked the RPA--they did something on their own and they stuck with it.

Best

Tom