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Written by David Tredrea,
12 Harley Street, London, UK
email: davidtredrea@yahoo.com
mobile: 070 107 56789

So … Peter Teahen wishes to be honoured as an extraordinary Iowan. Well, as a Brit I truly agree he meets the criteria for being extraordinary. He wants us to see him as an Indiana Jones replacement, swashbuckler, universal hero and amazing international humanitarian. His claims and ambitions are very enticing and impressive – but what if his true reality is more like that of a Walter Mitty character? Let’s dig a little and take his 8 page résumé for example.

Does he really have an MA degree from Liberty University? Is he really a certified traumatologist? Was he really a deputy medical examiner at the Oklahoma City bombing? The hard evidences say no even though Peter says yes. Peter inherited the funeral business set up by his parents and he also sells life insurance when not helping others. All good stuff but it would be truly sad if some of the very strong mortuary chemicals could have seeped into his brain leading him to think he was licensed or competent for anything more.

Concerning the certificates he lists from the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation anyone from able actor to zulu warrior can join the ICISF. Peter’s studies with them on short courses with long names over 8 years probably don’t exceed 14 days in total. He also claims Presidency of some grand sounding Companies. However, only yesterday AmericaReady.com was a garage in Korea re-engineering Toyota cars for export. Today, one can buy “premium tv” from AmericaReady.us. Other than its fine web-site, it is difficult to find any filed accounts or indicators of life for his International Mass Fatalities Centre. Even though it may not be his fault (just unfortunate coincidences), Peter is well qualified in divorce though – but endearingly and, perhaps not surprisingly, he fails to promote that.

Peter wants us to rejoice with him in his work as an extraordinary volunteer with the American Red Cross and as an innovative mental health professional. One might wonder how this comes about as he has no in-depth training nor qualification nor registration anywhere in mental health, psychology or related subjects. He has zero military experience nor ever treated anyone for mental health trauma and does not know how to – yet he lectures widely as if he is well read, competent and safe. He likes to talk about being “personally selected” for Mayor Giuliani’s HQ staff for 9/11and then contracting anthrax – and surviving, just! He says he has served in leadership roles following more than 40 large disasters including Hurricane Katrina, the South Asia Tsunami and the conflict in Darfur. Was he really in action for Operation Desert Storm as well?

Let’s explore a further selection of these claims: his leadership and teaching roles after the tsunami in Sri Lanka were, in reality, very minor – and largely set up by others. He followed me out as Team Leader 2. After I left, Peter went off track quickly and without anyone’s knowledge or consent to set up private initiatives. About Darfur last year, Peter Teahen was invited out by me as a junior, pro-bono assistant for a project to run a stress management programme for aid workers. He was very keen and persistent because he had never been to Africa (or even London) before and wanted to enhance his international status. Not known until much later, Peter has his sights focused on Condoleezza Rice’s job and needs credibility.

Peter Teahen has expensive tastes whilst on mission and enjoys talking about his unaudited US Red Cross credit card so he can stay in luxury hotels. Peter believes he has to look after himself properly – and he most certainly does. Despite perfectly adequate free and safe local housing, Peter was the only one who chose to stay in a luxurious hotel in Khartoum and sadly used Darfur aid money for that.

Out there, his mood swings were untamed and he was easily angered – especially if his chilled, diet Pepsi was not always readily available. His small teaching role was so problematic that he was asked to cease involvement. His delusions about events are legion.

“Last year in Darfur, I was 25 feet away from a truckload of Janjaweed rebels. That’s the group responsible for murdering 200,000 to 400,000 men women and children. You look into the eyes of those terrorists, and you look into the eyes of the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka” (John Deeth Blog , May 16, 2008)

Rubbish. He talks of being held at gunpoint and staring into a 50 calibre machine gun. Poop! Peter never looked into anything much out there save the occasional mirror when he could check his tinted hair was not ruffled. As a figure of fun, the locals laughed at his constant need to preen. His time in Darfur was so laid back in terms of security it would make Disneyland seem severe. Certainly Peter met nobody senior or politically important, saw no genocide, no danger, no guns no death, no starvation, nor any front-line action – a camel eating grass perhaps – oh yes, and a small, smelly donkey.

Peter was proud that he had upgraded his gun licence before coming to Africa in case he needed to save us. How lucky we were that he did not need to. Here is another of Peter’s wild claims printed in the Fort Madison Daily Democrat on 14 May 2008 :

“He was hired by the British government to start a mental health program in Darfur to help people there cope with the psychological impact of the fighting in that region. He was scheduled to go back several weeks ago, but aide workers were being killed so he was instructed to stay away” .

Balderdash.

Top line in his exit report for the pilot Darfur mission 12 months ago, Peter complains about not being told before he left Cedar Rapids that he might need to bring his own towel then refused to buy one from the many local markets we visited so I gave him one for peace. There were also loud moans from him about how many large suitcases he could bring and he was further annoyed at not being given a list of local quality restaurants or tourist spots. It seems possible he would have taken his deck-chair out there given the mildest opportunity!

His often unmanageable conduct could easily have us arrested – such as liberal photography despite well known and extremely strict rules. Peter seemed to think that if he had his personal copy of the Qur’an he could have saved us from all the vicissitudes of local law because that ownership conferred upon him degrees of freedom not available to us un-enlightened others. He thought Muslims would be impressed if he carried their Holy Book and that they would then treat him kindly. Those darned chemicals again.

Peter says he is the author of several articles and an industry-standard disaster management manual used by local governments in many states but it really is difficult to track any of them down and nothing seems to be peer-reviewed. In addition, Peter is the proud and loud recipient of several distinguished awards. Judge for yourself – but what if Peter Teahen actually is like this Walter Mitty character who is an expert at talking the talk but in no way has ever really walked the proper walk – not even nearly? OK, pranced about on the low trip-wire maybe but always with safety blanket, harness, quality credit card and sharp-angled photographers.

Regrettably, even Peter’s political stance is not consistent. He has been a Republican for a few months only. It was truly embarrassing to hear Peter describe his own friends and neighbours with the Iowan sobriquet of “Idiot Out – Walking About”. Sadly, Peter may be the blueprint because he was as useful in Darfur as an ink-blot. A considerable liability and serious mistake. So, is Peter Teahen really a disaster waiting to happen? That answer will depend upon which of his fuzzy personalities smiles at the next focused camera.

Vote for Peter Teahen if this is the kind of chap you want to represent you in Congress. Your vote doesn’t matter to me as I am not American. However, Peter might be safer in Washington rather than in the real world of proper disaster management where integrity, competency and decency are vital. Those are the more vital realities. Hence this note. As Dr. Phil says, the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour. Peter Teahen for Congress maybe but Peter Teahen for Confidence – definitely not.

The above was article is written by David Tredrea, a disaster aid worker from London, UK. BattlegroundIowa posted the article in its entirety. The views and claims of Mr. Tredrea are not necessarily the views of BattlegroundIowa.

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