LAST WEEK, the last major independent newspaper in Zimbabwe was shut down in the latest move by tyrannical and thuggish president Robert Mugabe ("Zimbabwe Police Close Down Nation's Largest Daily Paper," NYTimes.com, Sept. 14). While President George W. Bush is appearing in prime time trying to justify the continued U.S. presence in Iraq, hundreds of people are dying each day in the hellhole Mugabe has created. America's obtuse and overt blindness to yet another nation in crisis is deplorable, reprehensible and downright pathetic.
Secretary of State Colin Powell underscored the crisis in a June 24 New York Times opinion column ("Freeing a Nation from a Tyrant's Grip"). "Millions of people are desperately hungry because the country's once-thriving agricultural sector collapsed last year after ... Mugabe confiscated commercial farms," Powell wrote. "Worse still, the entire Zimbabwean economy is near collapse."
The laundry list of atrocities committed by the Mugabe administration is as saddening as it is sickening: According to the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum, there were 58 confirmed political murders in 2002, coupled with 1,061 instances of torture.
"We were surrounded by security guards so we could not get out," one victim reported to The Guardian. "There were hundreds of us. We were fed horse meat and rotten food. They woke us up at 3 a.m. and we had to run 20 kilometers. Then we had to do 200 press ups and other exercises. If anyone failed to do so, they were beaten." Rape is used as a political tool, and government soldiers regularly force young girls into service as concubines. Sound a bit like Nazi Germany? Mugabe has publicly boasted that he could be a "black Hitler, tenfold."
Yet America stands silent. Oh, yes, conditions in Zimbabwe are terrible, President Bush agrees, but let other African nations deal with it. He even had the audacity to declare his hope that "not only Mr. Mbeki [President of South Africa], but other leaders convince the current leadership to promote democracy." How about the American leadership? With respect to a country where nearly 6.7 million people are starving, we are going to sit on our hands? Sadly, the Bush Administration's action -- or lack thereof -- answers for itself.
Clearly, America can't be expected to intervene everywhere an atrocity is committed. Our forces are spread thin right now in Iraq, Afghanistan and throughout the world. Given our limited resources, American foreign policy must be geared somewhat toward America's self-interest, and there is no interest for America in Zimbabwe, the argument goes. This is all understandable, but we should reject the very notion that not acting in the face of such evil is ever acceptable.
The Holocaust taught us that the world cannot turn a blind eye to genocide. Sadly, this has not been a lesson well-learned. The past half-century is littered with mass graves, the result of unchecked massacres in Cambodia, Rwanda and most recently Liberia. There have, however, been moments where a population has stood up and said "enough! -- the killing must stop." NATO intervention in Kosovo ended Slobadon Milosevic's reign of terror. American troops in Iraq have deposed Saddam Hussein, a despot who ruthlessly hunted and gassed his own citizens. Today, French and British troops in the Congo, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone stand between innocent civilians and those who would recreate Hitler's gas chambers.
The people of Zimbabwe now call to the citizens of the world -- they call for peace; they call for the rule of law; they call for the freedom to live without summary executions, senseless bloodshed and violence that defies reason and morality.We cannot afford to turn them away.
Our country should come down hard on Mugabe with overwhelming, unforgiving pressure. Assault him diplomatically and economically at first, and if that doesn't work -- which is likely, since sanctions have already been imposed to no avail -- sweep into Zimbabwe and militarily depose this wretch of a man.
Zimbabwe is a country that once was a functional democracy. There are opposition parties and charismatic leaders waiting to step into the power vacuum. Democratic institutions still exist; there were even ostensibly free elections a few months ago (though they resulted in government forces slaughtering members of opposition parties). A continued American military presence will not be required; neighboring South Africa is strong and capable of keeping the peace. This is not a recipe for disaster -- this will not be Mogadishu.
Zimbabwe is being raped. America cannot afford to stand idly by -- America must act.
(Elliot Haspel is a Cavalier Daily viewpoint writer.)
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