• Title: We Did Nothing: Why the Truth Doesn’t Always Come Out When the UN Goes In
• Author: Linda Polman
• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult (Penguin Books), 29 May 2003
• ISBN: 067091424X

Found this book at the English Book Exchange in Florence on vacation – I had finished the two I’d brought, was reading a couple of the short books we purchased, and knew I needed something for the flight home (it was between this and a book on the Medicis).

And this is a good one. The author begins by describing and R&R trip by some of the Somalia “blue helmets” (the UN troops all wear blue helmets). She then proceeds to describe the “peace keeping” efforts she observed. The UN operates in a very strange way – the member states set the rules for what can and can’t be done. Typically, this means that the country being impacted has a big say in the range of options available to the UN troops. This means that the UN can’t keep peace, it can barely keep its solders safe. Its also a wake up call for the United States, which keeps invading countries only to ask the UN to come in and clean up the mess, which it can’t, and then blame the UN for the mess!

Also interesting – the author is a Dutch journalist, and amazon.com doesn’t carry the book, so perhaps I was lucky to find it!