Absent Monk

The Monk had a busy day at work today and the computer went schizoid on him last night, so I'll try to catch up all at once.

First, read Safire on the detonation of the Sarin shell in Iraq and the press' willful ignorance.

Second, read Mark Steyn on the Abu Ghraib kerfuffle and the attendant feeding frenzy.

Note these points for all you UN-phile multilateralists out there, courtesy Steyn's edit:

In Eritrea, the government recently accused the UN mission of, among other offences, pedophilia. In Cambodia, UN troops fueled an explosion of child prostitutes and AIDS. Amnesty International reports that the UN mission in Kosovo has presided over a massive expansion of the sex trade, with girls as young as 11 being lured from Moldova and Bulgaria to service international peacekeepers.

In Bosnia, where the sex-slave trade barely existed before the UN showed up in 1995, there are now hundreds of brothels with underage girls living as captives. The 2002 Save the Children report on the UN's cover-up of the sex-for-food scandal in West Africa provides grim details of peacekeepers' demanding sexual favors from children as young as four in exchange for biscuits and cake powder. "What is particularly shocking and appalling is that those people who ought to be there protecting the local population have actually become perpetrators," said Steve Crawshaw, the director of Human Rights Watch.

Yeah, the UN would handle Iraq better than the US. Did I tell you that my hobby is selling bridges?

Third, check out Claudia Rosett's latest expose of the UN Oil-for-Saddam-money scam. After that, read chess champ and Russian democrat Garry Kasparov on the fight against terrorists.

After all that, get back to work.