Try to imagine for a moment....

....how much less sympathetic this report would be if it involved US troops.

U.N. officials fear the sex-abuse scandal among peacekeepers in Africa is far more widespread and appears to be a problem in each of the global body's 16 missions around the world.

As the world body seeks to crack down on the abuse, it could bar countries from missions if they fail to prosecute offenders, even though the U.N. is hard-pressed to find contributing nations, the officials said on Friday.

Rocked by widespread abuse of women and girls, including gang rape, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Nations also has found sexual exploitation cases in at least four other missions -- in Burundi, Liberia, Ivory Coast -- as well as more recently in Haiti, they added.

Notice how officials are allowed to speak for themselves, without any interpretation of their comments by the reporter.

Then think of the coverage of Abu Ghraib, an incident that pales in comparison to the scandalous, widespread, commonplace abuse committed in every mission the UN has!

See, I can use adjectives too.