Owen abroad

Archive for the ‘Quotations’ Category

Out now.  My Dad is in again.

Given the enormous difficulty that the US and its allies have had in establishing a peaceful democratic future for Iraq, it is natural that many people are sceptical of the idea that international intervention in the internal affairs of another country can ever lead to a successful conclusion.

So we should celebrate and learn from a remarkable experience which has just come to a positive conclusion.  The United Nations Assistance Mission in
Sierra Leone, UNAMSIL, successfully completed its mandate in December 2005 and the U.N. troops have been withdrawn over the last few weeks. The success of the U.N. mission in Sierra Leone has had very little attention in the media or among the bloggers presumably because failure makes better copy than success.

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Just back from Yosmite, where we went for Thanksgiving. We hiked to Cloud’s Rest (where this photo was taken), visited the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, and sat by log fires drinking cappucinos.