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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (48069)	6/1/2004 7:12:20 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793916

Sex, drugs and peace missions book riles UN chiefs Tuesday June 1st 2004 - Irish Independent THREE United Nations fieldworkers are publishing details of sex, drugs and corruption inside UN missions, despite a UN attempt to block their book. 'Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures: A True Story from Hell on Earth' chronicles the experiences of a doctor, a human rights official and a secretary in UN operations in Cambodia, Somalia, Haiti, Rwanda, Liberia and Bosnia. The controversial volume, due out next week, charges that some UN officials demanded that 15pc of their local staff's salaries go directly to them instead; that Bulgaria sent freed criminals to serve as peacekeepers and that incompetent UN security has cost lives. Their first-person account of a decade in UN service also includes candid details of drug use - particularly a marijuana cocktail called "The Space Shuttle" - and casual sex."Almost a million civilians [whom] our peacekeepers were supposed to protect died in two genocides," Andrew Thomson, one of the co-authors said.The three fieldworkers do much good work - monitoring elections in Cambodia, visiting a Haitian prison, exhuming a mass grave in Bosnia - and the book never quite overcomes their latent sense of self-congratulation. But as they are hurled into one crisis after another they become increasingly demoralised. Particularly galling to them is the murder in Mogadishu in Somalia of a young American colleague, shot dead as he rode in a UN convoy. Kenneth Cain, an American human rights official, complains bitterly that the board of inquiry ignored failings in UN security. "The board is stacked with UN officials who oversee security," he writes. "I don't trust these f***s for a second to truly investigate and hold one of their own accountable." After he is evacuated from Haiti because of worsening violence, Dr Thomson advises readers: "If blue-helmeted UN peacekeepers show up in your town or village and offer to protect you, run." Bulgaria has denied that it sent freed prisoners as peacekeepers to Cambodia but some of the other allegations in the book have effectively been substantiated. For instance an inquiry into the bombing of the UN office in Baghdad last year found the whole UN security system to be "dysfunctional".(© The Times, London) James Bone in New York © Irish Independent unison.ie & unison.ie

To: LindyBill who wrote (48069)	6/1/2004 7:16:23 AM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793916

It will be interesting to see if anyone was videotaping this. Will the major media pick it up? They can't spike this one. I will see what the blogs do with it. That's an interesting report. Funny, the article doesn't reveal a source. It doesn't even allude to a source. Should we infer that the reporter observed the incident?

To: LindyBill who wrote (48069)	6/1/2004 7:30:31 AM
From: Bill Ulrich	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 793916

I'm sure Kerry just meant to salute Mr. Sampley before he decided against saluting him. Inadvertently, some poor SOB Secret Service agent fell against Kerry's arm, dislodging and impairing his finger positioning. A previous war wound from when Kerry served in Vietnam, served in Vietnam, served in Vietnam, served in Vietnam further exacerbated the matter. Anyway, that finger isn't John's, it instead belongs to his hand (which also served, alongside John, in Vietnam). Pelosi will guarantee it. Everything you wanted to know about this year's DNC platform (but were afraid to ask).

To: LindyBill who wrote (48069)	6/2/2004 7:35:14 AM
From: greenspirit	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 793916

I would believe Newsmax over the N.Y. Times any day. Time and time again they've led reporting of controversial subjects like this. Still unconfirmed by the national media though. Here is a couple of additional references I've found. -------------------------------------------------------- I went to Ted Sampley's booth this morning to arrange a wholesale purchase of his anti-Kerry stickers for distribution over the summer. He told me that he heard that Kerry snuck over to The Wall for a photo-op early this morning while it was raining and no vets were around. Sampley immediately went over there and approached Kerry with his hand extended. As Kerry took his hand, Sampley opened his vest to reveal his "Stop Hanoi John Kerry" T-shirt and then said, "Mr. Kerry, my name is Ted Sampley and I'm here to escort you from The Wall." Mr. Kerry's secret service agent then stepped in and Kerry gave Sampley the "Bird." Mr. Sampley's response was, "Very Presidential!" B. Tony Snesko, BM2 Swift #58, Qui Nhon, Chu Lai, Da Nang, Cua Viet June 67-June 68 ice.he.net finger Inside Politics By Greg Pierce "Democratic senator — and certain presidential nominee — John F. Kerry, gave the middle finger to a Vietnam veteran at the Vietnam Memorial Wall on Memorial Day morning," NewsMax.com reported yesterday. "Ted Sampley, a former Green Beret who served two full tours in Vietnam, spotted Kerry and his Secret Service detail at about 9 a.m. Monday morning at the Wall. Sampley walked up to Kerry, extended his hand and said, 'Senator, I am Ted Sampley, the head of Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry, and I am here to escort you away from the Wall because you do not belong here.' "At that point, a Secret Service officer told Sampley to back away from Kerry. Sampley moved about 6 feet away and opened his jacket to reveal a HANOI JOHN T-shirt," NewsMax reported. "Kerry then began talking to a group of schoolchildren. Sampley then showed the T-shirt to the children and said, 'Kerry does not belong at the Wall because he betrayed the brave soldiers who fought in Vietnam.' "Just then, Kerry — in front of the schoolchildren, other visitors and Secret Service agents — brazenly 'flashed the bird' at Sampley and then yelled out to everyone, 'Sampley is a felon!' "Kerry was referring to an incident 12 years ago when Sampley confronted Sen. John McCain's chief aide, Mark Salter, in a Senate stairwell after McCain repeatedly offended POW families at a Senate POW hearing. Sampley, whose father-in-law at that time was MIA in Laos, followed Salter into the stairwell and, when they emerged, Salter had a bloody lip and a broken nose." washtimes.com