In 2003 I went to Kuwait for a month, not long after the war began. We stayed at an inexpensive, but nice hotel, and shared it with several NGO teams. They had their SUVs, and arose each morning by nine to prepare for a day of assessing. They were easy to spot–every one wore the vest. You know the one I mean–all professional photographers once wore them, with all kinds of pockets to carry things in. Of course, they wore them constantly as a uniform.
I really don’t know what they did. They usually returned to the hotel before we did. They were obviously not going into Iraq. It was too far away for a round trip in the time they spent away unless they simply went across the border, had lunch, and then returned.
The Diplomad sees the same things happening in south Asia. No wonder Kofi wants all money to go through the UN. How else could he fund their lavish lifestyle?
Hubby and I have been watching Tiger falter on the greens, and VJ getting ahead, (booooo) and it occured to us to ask, “Has VJ spoken out about the tsunami damage? Given aid to the stricken areas? Anyone know? We’re just curious.
Comment by DagneyT — January 8, 2005 @ 8:41 pm
It seems like you had the opportunity to ask them every day, so why didn’t you?
Comment by Bogey — January 9, 2005 @ 9:44 am
Never crossed my mind. I would have ended up in an argument!
Comment by Bunker — January 9, 2005 @ 12:48 pm
So, now that we’ve established that you don’t have any idea what they did and didn’t bother to ask, can you explain your accusation of their organization’s “lavish lifestyle” when you’ve already said yourself that this particular hotel was inexpensive?
Sorry, I’m in troublemaker mode today 🙂
Comment by Bogey — January 10, 2005 @ 2:20 pm
Actually, I didn’t say the folks in Kuwait were living a lavish lifestyle. Diplomad has said that about the UN folks in Sri Lanka. My goal was to be as low-profile as possible. Although most Kuwaitis were quite friendly, there were several Americans murdered during the time I was there.
No problem… cause all the trouble you want. That’s what I do!
Comment by Bunker — January 10, 2005 @ 7:07 pm