I haven't read the book but its possible that Snow started researching it based on what he saw.

I once went to a lecture by the Canadian guy who was in charge of peacekeeping forces for the UN during the Rwanda genocide and due to his experience there he nearly killed himself. He left the job so distraught by what he saw and was up against (by internal UN policies) that he became suicidal and alcoholic and it took him years to recover. He eventually started doing a lecture circuit and giving presentations to expose the atrocity of what was really going on.

I don't remember his name but he had very disturbing pictures, first hand accounts of how the Belgian government incited contentions between the two local formerly peaceful tribes, provided them with weapons, and worst of all, how he was directed to force his people to stand down and not stop the brutal killings right in front of them. As you can imagine, he had nothing good to say about the UN (or Bill Clinton) and yet he had worked there for many years up to that.