How to capture or kill the LRA’s Joseph Kony of Uganda

By Steve Paterno

18 October 2011 — The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan rebel group led by Joseph Konyi has caused untold human misery for the last two decades. Their atrocious activities expand into four different countries of Uganda, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic. The US President Barack Obama has just announced that America is dispatching 100 US Special Forces into the region to assist in ending Konyi’s reign of terror.

The news of direct involvement of US Special Forces in a fight against the LRA, couple by a coordinated regional operation, is indeed very encouraging. Konyi, like any of those ruthless characters who walked the earth before him, tends not to respond well under mounted pressure. Such characters flip out the moment they are pushed. People of this nature share some common traits for being narcissistic, paranoid, and timid. They tend to share the belief that the universe revolves around them, fueling their over-inflated egos and feeling of self importance, devoid of any sense of morality. These personalities are delusional, thinking that everyone is out to get them. In the process, they trust no one. They are fearful to face and confront the realities. These traits have been exhibited by the likes of Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin-Laden and Joseph Konyi, to mention just a few. They all contributed to carnage of humanity, but when it was their turn to take their share, they turned out to be the bigger cowards than the most innocent of their victims.

In the case of Saddam Hussein, he fashioned himself as a Saladin, a legendary Muslim conqueror of 12th century AD, who drove the European crusaders out of the Middle East. As the conqueror he thought he was, Saddam put his thirst for conquest into actions. On many occasions, he attempted to invade Iraq’s neighboring countries. Saddam Hussein admired Adolf Hitler for his sheer brutality. He even wore Hitler’s mustache as a token of honor. At a click of his fingers, hundreds, if not thousands could be ordered to meet their doom. Saddam trusted no one. Even family members and his most inner circles were suspects. He employed a food taster to take the bait, in case his food had been poisoned. During dining, Saddam would abruptly switch plates, to avoid the risk of eating from a contaminated plate. He never sleep in one house for two days in a row and he constantly moving from one bed into another. However, when it came to the day of reckoning, the clown found no other place on earth to hide than underground; in an eight by six ft hole. Saddam was pulled out of the hole, resembling a rat. At the time, he could not even muster any courage to use his gun — an episode which pretty much shielded his fate — a fate of a person who once exalted above everyone else and in the process, cast a false self image.

Osama Bin-Laden also offers insightful characteristics of a megalomaniac personality. Bin-Laden saw himself as the real representative of Islam on earth. He falsely believed that he was capable of bringing the true religion of Islam to the six billion people occupying the earth. For him, his daddy’s fortune was enough to buy off young brainwashed Muslims to do the biting for him. His modus operandi was to scare people through terrorist acts until they capitulated and submitted to his great vision of ‘true Islam.’ Bin-Laden was a one man army, taking the jihad against six billion souls. He could kill at will and had no remorse for any loss of lives. Bin-Laden isolated himself from the realm of real world, but once he came face to face with a real gun directed at him, the best the monster could do was to shield himself behind his young wife, intending her to take the bullets for him. This was a fellow who was showing to the world through video recording that he could shoot people with guns, but when it came to a real shootout, he was helpless. This was also a macho man who preached endlessly to the entire world that men are generally more stronger and courageous than women, only to hide behind a woman when the going got tough. This leaves one to wonder whether proper autopsy was undertaken to determine Bin-Laden’s definitive gender.

Joseph Konyi is not far behind his megalomaniac accomplices when it comes to displaying his characteristics. Konyi is a misfit adulteration of a bad Christian upbringing who fell under the spell of witchcraft and sorcery. The former alter-boy can hardly recite the biblical Ten Commandments, let alone make sense of them. And yet, he has an ambition to rule Uganda under the Ten Commandments. Konyi claims that he hears raging voices in his brain; a clinical diagnosis for a mentally ill patient. He survives by inflicting fear among his subordinates as well as terrorizing the victims. He feels like he is surrounded by enemies at all time, making him always insecure and a danger onto his surrounding.

Now, with the news of coordinated regional operations against him, aided by American commandos, Konyi’s lunacy will soon reach a fever pitch, leading into him making incoherent decisions, which will in turn lead to his capture or being killed. Konyi’s mistrust toward his commanders is going to increase dramatically as he feels the exerted pressure. This will work well into the hands of the regional forces, as it will cause schism among the LRA combatants. Just as he has done before, Konyi without doubt will preemptively strike against his distrusted commanders. As a result, there will be mass defections, a process the regional forces must encourage by all means possible, since all of these combatants will qualify under the amnesty, with the exception of the indicted top commanders, including Joseph Konyi. With increased defections among the ranks and files, Konyi will be vulnerable; abandoned in isolation with only fewer forces who will not have the ability to protect him. These defectors will be leaving the jungle with the most valuable weapon: the intelligence that will lead into Konyi’s ultimate demise. Not only that, those LRA commanders who will feel threatened by Konyi’s sense of suspicions, can strike back against him in self defense, where Konyi will be susceptible to fall by the bullets of his own comrades in arms. In the end, what Konyi thought was his strength during his state of paranoia, may actually finish him up. So, let the pressure commence and Konyi’s paranoia take its due course.

Steve Paterno is the author of The Rev. Fr. Saturnino Lohure, A Roman Catholic Priest Turned Rebel. He can be reached at [email protected]