Zimbabwe self-destructs as the world watches

CAPETOWN, S. Africa - Robert Mugabe joins a long list of indigenous dictators who have squandered a generation of their people and poisoned the well. Only a few decades ago, observers hoped that discarding the yoke of colonialism would reshape a continent in peaceful, productive ways--education, health care and social justice were expected to clear the path for the next generations to sustain themselves on plentiful natural resources and small-scale industrial output.

Instead, Zimbabwe's population is slowly starving to death (literally) and civil society is crumbling before the world's eyes. It is time for those who remain silent as Zimbabwe commits national suicide because of some misguided respect for a man who freed his people from colonial rule but imposed his own ruthless form of despotism. It is time for Mugabe to go.