For those obsessed with the faux notion that the US needs international respect I offer the following...

"You don't help yourself with other nations . . . when you refuse to deal at length with the United Nations. You have to earn that respect. And I think we have a lot of earning back to do."--John Kerry, presidential debate, Sept. 30, 2004

"The United Nations is investigating 150 instances in which 50 peacekeeping troops or civilians in the Congo mission are suspected of having sexually abused or exploited women and girls, some as young as 12. Often, the victims were vulnerable, poverty-stricken girls engaged in what Congolese call 'obligation' or 'survival' sex. . . . Similar charges have been made about U.N. missions in Sierra Leone and Liberia, as well as Kosovo and Bosnia in Europe. The United Nations is also investigating reports of rape or sexual assault in Congo, including one case in which a French logistics employee was found with hundreds of videotapes that showed him torturing and sexually abusing naked girls."--Washington Post, March 21, 2005

And no, just because Kerry is a French-looking haughty elitist does not in any way link him to the ongoing program of UN rape atrocities. Inclusion of his qoute was only a way of illustrating a point.