Another U.N. story not getting any media or forum play....

[vidcc]

Isn't that the idea of setting up an international criminal court ? so that such crimes can be punished.

[lynx]

I think Ms. Malkin is saying that the U.N. escapes any blame by reasoning as you have about the assets it can bring to bear on any situation, Biggles.

The situation she describes is that of the organized and entrenched Authority-on-the-Scene, which answers to nobody, and which also has a penchant for offending repeatedly.

These are not the actions of a "few bad apples", or "renegades", these are the systematic actions of a U.N. "cabal" operating with the impugnity born of past experience.

If the U.N. decides to intercede internationally, and then is given a pass based on the presumption it cannot field a capable and disciplined force, what good is it?

I believe she would agree with you about the damage done to American efforts by Lyndee England, but might disagree as to the relativity of your characterization.

You are quite right, J2, that is exactly what she is saying.
But as I pointed out earlier, how about a little proof? How much does she present? NONE!
Yet because of it's position the U.N. is incapable of presenting any defense against these scurrilous attacks on it's integrity.

I think you should look deeper into her "mandate", I think you will find it rather dubious to say the least. Why not present it honestly. I don't have time right now, but if you haven't done so later then I certainly will. It doesn't make for pleasant reading.

[j2k4]

Isn't that the idea of setting up an international criminal court ? so that such crimes can be punished.

If your International Criminal Court is as much a pleasure to watch as the U.N.'s sundry field operations, it should be a resounding success.

I have no doubt it will be judged with the same lack of discrimination the U.N. has been.

[j2k4]

You are quite right, J2, that is exactly what she is saying.
But as I pointed out earlier, how about a little proof? How much does she present? NONE!
Yet because of it's position the U.N. is incapable of presenting any defense against these scurrilous attacks on it's integrity.

I think you should look deeper into her "mandate", I think you will find it rather dubious to say the least. Why not present it honestly. I don't have time right now, but if you haven't done so later then I certainly will. It doesn't make for pleasant reading.

I look forward to your complete and utter refutation of her charges, Lynx.

[TheDave]

so the united nations is just a front kept for a network of peadophiles and rapists.

...and i'm crazy for doubting a plane hit the pentagon

[lynx]

I look forward to your complete and utter refutation of her charges, Lynx.

I think you have that backwards. When you present charges, the idea is that you also present some credible evidence, not just hearsay and gossip. It is evidence that gets refuted, not wild accusations.

As far as I can tell, no-one has suggested that there are no rapists and pedophiles among the U.N. forces, it is probable that they are there in the same proportions as any other armed force.

Hmmm, that means that they exist in the U.S. forces too, at least the U.N. is trying to hold an investigation. Why is there no active investigation by the Pentagon? What sort of perverts, rapists, pedophiles and child murderers are running your country? You don't need to answer that, on the grounds that it may be incriminating.

[j2k4]

I think you have that backwards. When you present charges, the idea is that you also present some credible evidence, not just hearsay and gossip. It is evidence that gets refuted, not wild accusations.

As far as I can tell, no-one has suggested that there are no rapists and pedophiles among the U.N. forces, it is probable that they are there in the same proportions as any other armed force.

Hmmm, that means that they exist in the U.S. forces too, at least the U.N. is trying to hold an investigation. Why is there no active investigation by the Pentagon? What sort of perverts, rapists, pedophiles and child murderers are running your country? You don't need to answer that, on the grounds that it may be incriminating.

Well, I haven't ever caught you trying to defend the U.S., it's foreign policy, it's military personnel, or anything else, Lynx, yet you will defend or deflect criticism of the U.N. at the drop of a hat...

Why is this?

Overt corruption doesn't bother you?

The Oil-for-Food scandal is a ruse, to be rejected for "lack of proof"?

Are you wracked with doubt about whether the Holocaust actually occurred?

Have you got any proof of global warning, BTW?

[j2k4]

Besides which, it is not exactly a new story...

THE NEW WORLD DISORDER
U.N. 'peacekeepers' rape women, children
Widespread sex scandal threatens to become 'United Nations' Abu Ghraib'
Posted: December 24, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern


© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

With the United Nations already under fire for the Oil-for-Food mega-scandal and other corruption, sensational allegations of rampant sexual exploitation and rape of young girls and women by the U.N.'s so-called "peacekeepers" and civilian staffers in the Congo is dragging the global body's reputation to an all-time low.


In a new report referring to the widespread sex scandal as "the U.N.'s Abu Ghraib," the London Times provides some specific examples, including:

* A French U.N. logistics expert in the Congo shot pornographic videos in his home, in which he had converted his bedroom into a photo studio for videotaping his sexual abuse of young girls. When police raided his home, the man was allegedly about to rape a 12-year-old girl sent to him in a law enforcement sting operation. As the Times reported, a senior Congolese police officer confirmed the bed was surrounded by large mirrors on three sides, with a remote control camera on the fourth side.

* U.N. officials are worried that the scandal, which already has netted 150 allegations of sex crimes by U.N. staffers, will explode if the pornographic videos and photos, now on sale in Congo, becoming public

"It would be a pretty big problem for the U.N. if these pictures come out," one senior official told the Times.

* Two Russian pilots paid young girls with jars of mayonnaise and jam to have sex with them, the report adds.

* U.N. "peacekeepers" from Morocco based in Kisangani – a secluded town on the Congo River – are notorious for impregnating local women and girls. In March, an international group probing the scandal found 82 women and girls had been made pregnant by Moroccan U.N. staffers and 59 others by Uruguayan staffers. One U.N. soldier accused of rape was apparently hidden in the barracks for a year.

Congo's Minister of Defense Maj.-Gen. Jean Pierre Ondekane told a top U.N. official that all U.N. "peacekeepers" in Kisangani would be remember for would be "for running after little girls," the Times reported.

* And at least two U.N. officials – a Ukrainian and a Canadian – have been forced to leave the African nation after getting local women pregnant.

Most of the sexual abuse and exploitation, says the report, involves trading sex for money, food or jobs. However, some victims say they were raped, but later given food or money to make the incident appear to have been consensual – "rape disguised as prostitution."

U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno told the London paper: "The fact that these things happened is a blot on us. It's awful. What is important is to get to the bottom of it and fight it and make sure that people who do that pay for what they have done."

Despite the fact that the U.N.'s sexual code of conduct is prominently displayed on U.N. facilities Congo – forbidding sex with prostitutes or women under 18 – the U.N. continues to hand out free condoms to "peacekeepers" to protect them from AIDS.

The U.N. has promised to investigate and prosecute the widespread allegations. But, as WND reported last month, the global organization is not known for its forthrightness and candor in such internal investigations. The agency has been criticized for ignoring evidence or wrongdoing in the past – including accusations of rape and murder by "peacekeepers."

In fact, previous revelations of peacekeeping abuses have only been revealed by news organizations. Such was the case in Cambodia in the early 1990s and later in Somalia, Bosnia and Ethiopia.

"I am afraid there is clear evidence that acts of gross misconduct have taken place," Secretary-General Kofi Annan admitted. "This is a shameful thing for the United Nations to have to say, and I am absolutely outraged by it."

Annan said the allegations concerned a small number of U.N. personnel and promised to hold those involved accountable.

"I have long made it clear that my attitude to sexual exploitation and abuse is one of zero tolerance, without exception, and I am determined to implement this policy in the most transparent manner," Annan said.

But Jordan’s Prince Zeid Raad Al Hussein, a special adviser to Annan and who led one investigative team, said in a confidential report obtained by The Times: "The situation appears to be one of 'zero-compliance with zero-tolerance' throughout the mission."

The new charges of rape and pedophilia by U.N. troops and workers in Congo are not the first scandal involving U.N. workers and troops in Africa.

Former United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali's tenure was marked by scandalous charges that he played a leading role in supplying weapons to the Hutu regime that carried out a campaign of genocide against the Tutsi tribe in 1994.

As minister of foreign affairs in Egypt, Boutros-Ghali facilitated an arms deal in 1990, which was to result in $26 million of mortar bombs, rocket launchers, grenades and ammunition being flown from Cairo to Rwanda. The arms were used by Hutus in attacks which led to up to a million deaths. The role of Boutros-Ghali, who was in charge at the U.N. when it turned its back on the killings in 1994, was revealed in a book by Linda Melvern. In "A People Betrayed: The Role of the West in Rwanda's Genocide," Boutros-Ghali admits his role in approving an initial $5.8 million arms deal in 1990, which led to Egypt supplying arms to Rwanda until 1992. He says he approved it because it was his job as foreign minister to sell weapons for Egypt.

Back in 1997, there were reports Belgian U.N. troops roasted a Somali boy. A military court reportedly sentenced two paratroopers to a month in jail and a fine of 200 pounds for the offense.

Another Belgian soldier reportedly forced a young Somali to eat pork, drink salt water and then eat his own vomit. Another sergeant was accused of murdering a Somali whom he was photographed urinating upon. Another child, accused of stealing food from the paratroopers' base, died after being locked in a storage container for 48 hours. Fifteen other members of the same regiment were investigated in 1995 for "acts of sadism and torture" against Somali civilians.

The pattern of abuse was not confined to Belgian troops. Belgium was actually the third country in the peacekeeping group to charge troops with serious crimes against Somali citizens -- including rape, torture and murder. In 1995, a group of Canadian paratroopers were investigated for torturing a Somali to death and killing three others.

Gruesome photos were published in a Milan magazine of Italian soldiers torturing a Somali youth and abusing and raping a Somali girl. Paratroopers claim they were specifically trained in methods of torture to aid interrogation. According to one witness, Italian soldiers tied a young Somali girl to the front of an armored personnel carrier and raped her while officers looked on.

This is merely an article, not video, possibly not graphic enough testimony that something actually has happened, so if you take exception to the provenance of this piece, I'll understand, Lynx.

If you require additional proof, I will endeavor to provide it.

[Busyman]

The UN is always a "sticky" group when it comes to accountabilty.

Are the donor countries at fault or the UN?

If it's the UN then it's leader needs to take action.

If it's the donor country then it's leader.....

At the same time does the UN get the credit when it puts together a peacekeeping mission but at the same time holds no responsibility when things go awry on those missions.

The article may be slanted but brings forth valid arguments underneath the bullshit.

[lynx]

Besides which, it is not exactly a new story...

THE NEW WORLD DISORDER
U.N. 'peacekeepers' rape women, children
Widespread sex scandal threatens to become 'United Nations' Abu Ghraib'
Posted: December 24, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern


© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

With the United Nations already under fire for the Oil-for-Food mega-scandal and other corruption, sensational allegations of rampant sexual exploitation and rape of young girls and women by the U.N.'s so-called "peacekeepers" and civilian staffers in the Congo is dragging the global body's reputation to an all-time low.


In a new report referring to the widespread sex scandal as "the U.N.'s Abu Ghraib," the London Times provides some specific examples, including:

* A French U.N. logistics expert in the Congo shot pornographic videos in his home, in which he had converted his bedroom into a photo studio for videotaping his sexual abuse of young girls. When police raided his home, the man was allegedly about to rape a 12-year-old girl sent to him in a law enforcement sting operation. As the Times reported, a senior Congolese police officer confirmed the bed was surrounded by large mirrors on three sides, with a remote control camera on the fourth side.

* U.N. officials are worried that the scandal, which already has netted 150 allegations of sex crimes by U.N. staffers, will explode if the pornographic videos and photos, now on sale in Congo, becoming public

"It would be a pretty big problem for the U.N. if these pictures come out," one senior official told the Times.

* Two Russian pilots paid young girls with jars of mayonnaise and jam to have sex with them, the report adds.

* U.N. "peacekeepers" from Morocco based in Kisangani – a secluded town on the Congo River – are notorious for impregnating local women and girls. In March, an international group probing the scandal found 82 women and girls had been made pregnant by Moroccan U.N. staffers and 59 others by Uruguayan staffers. One U.N. soldier accused of rape was apparently hidden in the barracks for a year.

Congo's Minister of Defense Maj.-Gen. Jean Pierre Ondekane told a top U.N. official that all U.N. "peacekeepers" in Kisangani would be remember for would be "for running after little girls," the Times reported.

* And at least two U.N. officials – a Ukrainian and a Canadian – have been forced to leave the African nation after getting local women pregnant.

Most of the sexual abuse and exploitation, says the report, involves trading sex for money, food or jobs. However, some victims say they were raped, but later given food or money to make the incident appear to have been consensual – "rape disguised as prostitution."

U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno told the London paper: "The fact that these things happened is a blot on us. It's awful. What is important is to get to the bottom of it and fight it and make sure that people who do that pay for what they have done."

Despite the fact that the U.N.'s sexual code of conduct is prominently displayed on U.N. facilities Congo – forbidding sex with prostitutes or women under 18 – the U.N. continues to hand out free condoms to "peacekeepers" to protect them from AIDS.

The U.N. has promised to investigate and prosecute the widespread allegations. But, as WND reported last month, the global organization is not known for its forthrightness and candor in such internal investigations. The agency has been criticized for ignoring evidence or wrongdoing in the past – including accusations of rape and murder by "peacekeepers."

In fact, previous revelations of peacekeeping abuses have only been revealed by news organizations. Such was the case in Cambodia in the early 1990s and later in Somalia, Bosnia and Ethiopia.

"I am afraid there is clear evidence that acts of gross misconduct have taken place," Secretary-General Kofi Annan admitted. "This is a shameful thing for the United Nations to have to say, and I am absolutely outraged by it."

Annan said the allegations concerned a small number of U.N. personnel and promised to hold those involved accountable.

"I have long made it clear that my attitude to sexual exploitation and abuse is one of zero tolerance, without exception, and I am determined to implement this policy in the most transparent manner," Annan said.

But Jordan’s Prince Zeid Raad Al Hussein, a special adviser to Annan and who led one investigative team, said in a confidential report obtained by The Times: "The situation appears to be one of 'zero-compliance with zero-tolerance' throughout the mission."

The new charges of rape and pedophilia by U.N. troops and workers in Congo are not the first scandal involving U.N. workers and troops in Africa.

Former United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali's tenure was marked by scandalous charges that he played a leading role in supplying weapons to the Hutu regime that carried out a campaign of genocide against the Tutsi tribe in 1994.

As minister of foreign affairs in Egypt, Boutros-Ghali facilitated an arms deal in 1990, which was to result in $26 million of mortar bombs, rocket launchers, grenades and ammunition being flown from Cairo to Rwanda. The arms were used by Hutus in attacks which led to up to a million deaths. The role of Boutros-Ghali, who was in charge at the U.N. when it turned its back on the killings in 1994, was revealed in a book by Linda Melvern. In "A People Betrayed: The Role of the West in Rwanda's Genocide," Boutros-Ghali admits his role in approving an initial $5.8 million arms deal in 1990, which led to Egypt supplying arms to Rwanda until 1992. He says he approved it because it was his job as foreign minister to sell weapons for Egypt.

Back in 1997, there were reports Belgian U.N. troops roasted a Somali boy. A military court reportedly sentenced two paratroopers to a month in jail and a fine of 200 pounds for the offense.

Another Belgian soldier reportedly forced a young Somali to eat pork, drink salt water and then eat his own vomit. Another sergeant was accused of murdering a Somali whom he was photographed urinating upon. Another child, accused of stealing food from the paratroopers' base, died after being locked in a storage container for 48 hours. Fifteen other members of the same regiment were investigated in 1995 for "acts of sadism and torture" against Somali civilians.

The pattern of abuse was not confined to Belgian troops. Belgium was actually the third country in the peacekeeping group to charge troops with serious crimes against Somali citizens -- including rape, torture and murder. In 1995, a group of Canadian paratroopers were investigated for torturing a Somali to death and killing three others.

Gruesome photos were published in a Milan magazine of Italian soldiers torturing a Somali youth and abusing and raping a Somali girl. Paratroopers claim they were specifically trained in methods of torture to aid interrogation. According to one witness, Italian soldiers tied a young Somali girl to the front of an armored personnel carrier and raped her while officers looked on.

This is merely an article, not video, possibly not graphic enough testimony that something actually has happened, so if you take exception to the provenance of this piece, I'll understand, Lynx.

If you require additional proof, I will endeavor to provide it.

You now appear to be trying (but failing miserably) to pretend to have missed the point of the original article, which wasn't to highlight what has been done by a relatively small number of troops (out of many thousands deployed) but to attempt to suggest that the U.N. is doing nothing about it.

The charges being laid were against those at the top for inaction, that's what there is no proof about. Indeed, the article you have just quoted shows that action is indeed being taken. "There were reports", "In another report", "a group of Canadian paratroopers were investigated". Just who do you think is making these reports and performing these investigations?

It certainly isn't Michelle Malkin, judging from her blogs she appears to have an attention span of about 10 minutes, and just about everything she produces is a version of something which has appeared elsewhere, but twisted to meet her own distorted agenda.

Keep twisting things however much you want, J2, if you think you are convincing anyone of your sincerity you are simply fooling yourself.