Peacekeepers, huh?

"When I see people being tainted by the actions of those who've committed abuse, it demoralizes the mission, it destroys the trust that the Congolese have in the U.N'.s peacekeeping mission in Congo and in the effort of the United Nations. It is a big stain on us," Guehenno said.

It seems to me that if the UN peacekeepers wanted the trust of the Congolese, they should have been behaving in such a way as to deserve it. And what's more, while I agree that "it's a big stain[...]," ignoring it doesn't make it go away. The refusal to "name and shame" the parties and countries involved is a large part of why this sort of thing happens -- and not just in the international picture. It's symptomatic of a far more localized problem that's made repeat debut on the international stage.

If it were the "bad guys" who'd done this, we couldn't name them fast enough. We'd plaster their pictures all over national news and people would talk about "those evil [insert particular nationality here]" for decades. But when WE or any of "our guys" do it -- "shhhhh. This sort of thing is ... demoralizing to the mission."

I'm sure it's slightly more than demoralizing to the 13 year old girl who's forced to sell herself to some anonymous UN "peacekeeping" troop for a couple of eggs or a dollar in order to live.

And what's more, this is a problem that will endure and only worsen. It's a pattern that's been set in motion. This won't simply go away once the UN peacekeepers have withdrawn. This has set up an entire mentality and "acceptable" course of action for these girls -- and the adolescent boys (some as young as 8) who've played the pimp.

Thank you, U.N. You've given an already sickened area yet another cancer.