The pictures on international television have been tragic, illustrating gross injustice and a dictatorial mentality to thwart democracy.

Those pictures have been indelibly frozen into the minds and hearts of anyone who saw them and cares about justice.  

In an effort to squelch democratic efforts to challenge the harsh authoritarian rule of Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe, his hired thugs have captured elements known to be opposed to his rule and cut off their legs.  

Thank goodness the international media made certain that filmed footage of the punished souls who sought to fight for democracy were shown for proponents of democracy to see.

The Bush administration is continuing their sick and pathetic policy of torturing people in Iraq when they think that all the lights and cameras are off. This is the subject of a new report out of Iraq from Amnesty International. The Bush administration would like you to think that the Abu Girhab photos were just a matter of a few frat boys gotten out of control. But this new report shows that the Bush administration's torture plans are far broader than that. In their twisted logic, they thought that as soon as all the lights and cameras were off, they could go right back to doing whatever they wanted to.