Barney Frank: “we are about to see the world sit by silently, not silently perhaps, but ineffectively, and allow one of the most…”

“we are about to see the world sit by silently, not silently perhaps, but ineffectively, and allow one of the most outrageous abuses of human rights that we have seen in a long time to go forward. The president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, is engaging in a pattern of oppression and tyranny and thuggery and despicable conduct towards his own people. He lost a preliminary election for the presidency despite every effort he could make to rig the election. Rather than allow the second round to go forward, he has ramped up the terror to the point where the man who got more votes than he in the first round understandably said he wouldn't participate in a run-off election which would not only be a fraud but which has already led to the murder and abuse of many innocent people. Robert Rotberg, a very distinguished scholar of Africa, wrote an article that was published in yesterday's Boston Globe. The headline is, ``Who will have the courage to save Zimbabwe?'' He starts with a little history. He writes, ``After Idi Amin terrorized and killed his own Ugandans throughout the 1970s, President Julius Nyerere of neighboring Tanzania finally sent his army across the border to end the mayhem and restore stability. Who will now do the same for beleaguered Zimbabwe?…”